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OMWBD outlines 2026 budget, rollout of disparity study and software switch to streamline vendor certification
Summary
The Office of Minority and Women Business Development presented its 2026 budget and a plan to implement a new vendor management platform and public disparity-study recommendations; staff said certification throughput and outreach rose despite temporary understaffing in 2024.
Director Fredericks, director of the Office of Minority and Women Business Development, presented the office’s proposed 2026 budget and priorities to the Indianapolis City-County Council Admin & Finance Committee and described program goals including launch of a new vendor-management platform and implementation of the 2025 disparity study.
The office gave a data-driven overview of its work supporting supplier diversity and small, local businesses. Fredericks told the committee the office has reached nearly 1,000 community members and has seen “record breaking increase in certified vendors over the past 5 years” following the 2020 update to the business utilization plan. The presentation included the office’s certification metrics through August 2025: roughly 112 certified vendors, 61 pending certifications, 242 new and recertification applications this year, 166 business and bid consultations, 73 bid opportunities reviewed, 17 site visits and two commercial useful function visits. Fredericks said the average time to certify or recertify a business is 76 days (noting paperwork indicates the process can take up to 90 days).
Fredericks said the office prioritized processing certification applications in 2024 because staffing shortages forced a temporary shift away from consultations and outreach; earlier in 2025 the office reached full staffing and resumed outreach. The office is switching from a paper application process to a B2G software platform (vendor management software) to streamline online applications and outreach; staff said they expect a phased launch in the fall.
On the disparity study, Fredericks said the consultant’s work covers city spending and usage of diverse businesses from 2019–2024, examining major spending categories (construction, professional services and public-private partnerships), procurement practices and legal framework, and will include recommendations. The office plans stakeholder meetings in the weeks after the study’s release, an internal working group to review recommendations, and a return to the council and the mayor’s office with proposed changes. Fredericks emphasized the council and mayor will decide which consultant recommendations to adopt.
Councilors asked about specific trends: Councilor Maggie Lewis asked why spending with veteran-owned businesses (VBEs) decreased; Fredericks said relatively few VBEs are certified and the 2024 contract activity had not yet produced payments to those firms, predicting a likely increase in reported spending in the next year as projects mature. Councilor Derek Cahill asked about an apparent character-1 (personnel) reduction in the OMWBD budget despite cost-of-living and insurance increases; Fredericks said Office of Finance and Management (OFM) would need to provide the precise budget mechanics and offered to obtain a written explanation. Councilor Boots asked the disparity-study scope and Fredericks confirmed it spans 2019–2024 and includes procurement and public-private partnerships.
Fredericks described enforcement and compliance tools for contractors that fail to meet diversity goals: the office examines contractors’ documented “good faith efforts” and, where those efforts were followed, may accept noncompliance; where no plan or inadequate effort exists the office may withhold payments and, in extreme or repeated cases, pursue debarment from city projects. Fredericks said the office prioritizes early engagement and training for developers and contractors to avoid sanctionable noncompliance.
The office highlighted outreach programs including three annual certification workshops, a good-faith-effort workshop, ten bid-submission workshops (conducted with the purchasing department), a vendor-of-the-month promotion with media partners, reverse trade shows and a large networking event at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Fredericks said the office will expand outreach to community groups the office is not fully reaching, including the Burmese community.
The committee did not take a final vote on the budget during the presentation; the office offered to provide additional data on the 2023–2024 spend percentages and to follow up on budget-line clarifications.
