Topeka staff recommends holding 40% MWDBE utilization goal after 2024 gains

City procurement manager Luis Matos briefed the Topeka Governing Body on Jan. 14 on the recommended 2025 Minority, Women and Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (MWDBE) utilization goal and the city’s vendor outreach plans.

Matos said the program review committee — established under the Topeka Municipal Code and chaired by procurement staff — recommends maintaining a 40% utilization goal for 2025. He told council staff had tracked 174 bids in 2024, with diverse vendors participating in 131 bids; 51 contracts were awarded to diverse vendors, producing a 38.93% utilization rate at the time the memo was drafted. Matos later said year-end numbers closed at 43% MWDBE utilization after additional awards in late 2024.

Staff outlined recommended actions for 2025 including bilingual vendor-registration workshops, quarterly supplier diversity roundtables with the Greater Topeka Partnership and Go Topeka, a Supplier Diversity Expo supported by anchor institutions, and expanded outreach to increase both participation and awarded contract dollars to diverse firms. Matos said the 40% metric is calculated only from bids in which diverse vendors participated, and that procurement staff are tracking prime contractor spending but cannot directly report on subcontractor flows without further data-sharing.

Council members pressed for more granularity: Councilman Duncan asked for the dollar share equivalent of the 43% utilization figure and whether the diversity reflected many different firms or a small number of repeat contractors. Matos said the 43% equated to roughly 2.5% of total city spending by dollars (across all department spending), and staff said they can provide the exact dollar figure and a breakdown of number of unique contractors in follow-up reports. Members also suggested improved e-procurement notifications and registration assistance so small vendors can receive targeted bid alerts.