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Detroit council members press procurement on local hiring, sole bids and out-of-city contracts
Summary
Councilmembers pressed procurement staff and department directors about inconsistent vendor employment counts, the use of out-of-city firms for heavy repairs, and barriers that discourage Detroit-based businesses from bidding.
Council members pressed contracting and procurement staff Feb. 5 about apparent discrepancies in vendors’ reported employee counts and about why several contracts went to out-of-city firms or a single bidder.
Why it matters: councilmembers said accurate hiring counts and active outreach matter to city residents and Detroit-based small businesses seeking work with the city. Several members asked procurement to document outreach and vendor responses and to return with steps to increase Detroit-based participation.
What council asked Council member Santiago Romero asked for clarity after seeing different employee totals and Detroit-resident counts listed on separate contracts for the same vendor (one line item listed 88 total employees with three Detroit residents; another listed 40 employees with 23 Detroit residents). Romero said the discrepancies were “a little bit confusing” and asked staff to clarify which numbers reflected total employment and which reflected project-specific counts.
What procurement said Luann Counts, Group Executive, said Salabang (the vendor in question) leases space from Jenkins Construction and that the company was certified as Detroit-based within the last year but she did not have the exact certification date. Ashley Wilson of the Legislative Policy Division explained that the difference in the contracts' employment figures can reflect different reporting rules: one contract can list the vendor’s full company employment while a procurement-specific contract (a Prop Ins contract) may list only the employees assigned to that project. Procurement staff said the vendor has about 100 total employees company-wide, but only about 10 perform Detroit work directly, of whom three are Detroit residents.
Concerns about out-of-city contractors and capacity Council member Angel Whitfield Callaway and others questioned why heavy-repair contracts for fire vehicles were awarded in part to firms outside the city (contract 6006913 to McQueen Equipment LLC for $600,000 to Grand Ledge) while some smaller Detroit-based vendors received smaller awards. Jarell Harris, Deputy Director of General Services, said the department is pursuing a two-pronged approach: hiring more mechanics, conducting job fairs, and expanding training for existing mechanics while using outside vendors now to keep the fleet operational.
Sole-bid tailoring contract Council member Angel Whitfield Callaway asked that a two-year, $100,000 tailoring contract be postponed so members could explore whether Detroit-based tailors could provide the service. Chris Jones of the Office of Contracting and Procurement (OCP) said the solicitation was issued multiple times and that staff personally contacted Detroit tailoring shops; he said 330 suppliers were contacted and outreach included social media and direct contacts, but only one vendor submitted a bid.
Follow-up and next steps Procurement agreed to provide: the scope of work for the tailoring contract, a list of the vendors contacted and their responses, and clarification of how employment numbers were collected and reported for the contracts in question. General Services committed to provide a plan and timeline for expanding in-house mechanic capacity.
Ending: Councilmembers asked staff to return within one week with documentation and outreach information so members can decide whether to proceed with the sole-bid tailoring contract and to reconcile hiring figures for demolition and other service vendors.
