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City purchasing staff outline vendor outreach and trainings to expand MBE/WBE participation and speed procurement
Summary
Procurement told the Finance Committee it is using state-certified lists, targeted outreach and a consultant to recruit minority- and women-owned vendors and has instituted training sessions and power hours for departments to reduce processing time for purchase orders and solicitations.
The Providence purchasing office described efforts to increase participation by minority- and women-owned businesses and to reduce procurement processing time.
Procurement staff said they rely on the states certified vendor lists for initial outreach and supplement that by working with chambers of commerce and trade associations to recruit firms for solicitations. The department has engaged a consultant to reach subcontractors and MBEs on individual RFPs, and staff said they have been successful in getting certain service contracts performed by certified local firms (for example, the waste-management service contractor noted during the hearing). Staff said they also conduct procurement power hours (open office hours) and one-on-one trainings for department staff who enter requisitions to cut administrative delays.
The office provided a procurement performance metric: average time to process a purchase order from entry and departmental approval to issuance of a purchase order is typically measured in business days and the department reported a target average near four business days for routine processing when the requisition is complete and approved by the requester. Purchasing staff said processing delays commonly come from incomplete departmental planning or late requests and encouraged departments to plan earlier for fall and seasonal programming to avoid delays.
Councilors asked about whether translation and interpretation spend across departments might be consolidated or whether a staff position could be cost-effective relative to vendor fees. Procurement responded that specialized interpretation needs vary across departments (housing court, RFP translation, event interpretation) and that while bilingual staff are used where appropriate, in-person certified interpreters for legal proceedings or technical RFPs still require outside contracting; procurement said it will review cross-departmental spend for possible consolidation.
Ending: Procurement said it will continue outreach to small and certified firms, share data on vendor participation by MBEs/WBEs, and offer more targeted trainings to department users to shorten the procurement timeline.
