Providence board seeks clearer accounting of school-construction subcontracting and local economic impact

The Providence Board of Contract and Supply on Jan. 13 asked city staff to produce more detailed data showing how school-construction dollars flow to Providence residents, including subcontractor payment amounts and where subcontractors are located.

Board members said city documents for ongoing school-construction projects list prime contractors and some subcontractors but do not break out how much each subcontractor receives or whether work and spending benefit Providence households. A board member said the city should be able to document the dollar amounts that remain in the city to measure economic impact from roughly $700,000,000 in planned school construction that was discussed during the meeting.

The request came during Section E of the board’s agenda, a standing discussion item. Staff said they have some compliance and dollar-level data at the vendor level and can combine that with first-source and MWBE (minority- and women-owned business enterprise) compliance records as a first step. Staff cautioned that asking subcontractors for employee-residence data raises legal and practical questions and said some of the information vendors can reasonably provide will vary by contract and the size of the subcontractor.

Board members pressed two lines of inquiry: (1) a clearer, contract-level report of dollars paid to each prime and subcontractor on school projects and (2) whether the city’s purchasing ordinance or state law allows the city…