Office of Business Opportunity outlines disparity-study outreach; stakeholders urge all‑SBE approach

Celentia Hoard, director of the Houston Office of Business Opportunity (OBO), told the Economic Development Committee the office has completed a series of community engagement meetings about the city's disparity study and is preparing policy changes informed by that feedback.

Hoard said OBO’s outreach explained the legal rationale for disparity studies, including the Croson case, and clarified that the study’s quantitative conclusions are based on ‘‘all spend’’ recorded in the city’s SAP procurement system over a five‑year period while qualitative vendor interviews are anecdotal and do not determine the disparity calculation. "We wanted to clear up that the anecdotal data speaks to why individuals feel they are discriminated against," Hoard said during the presentation.

Hoard summarized stakeholder suggestions collected during meetings and online submissions: better use of the city’s procurement platform and dashboards; focused outreach to firms in NAICS codes with low utilization; tiered bidding and breaking work into smaller packages so more small firms can prime; more frequent, smaller "meet the buyer" events and matchmaking between primes and subcontractors; earlier contract kickoffs and requiring subcontractor agreements at system access; consistent progress‑meeting payment reporting and improved prompt payment; and expanded use of partners for anonymous anecdotal reporting and local training clinics.

Hoard presented contract‑specific examples illustrating how goals would look under an updated method that adds a separate Small Business Enterprise (SBE) availability category alongside Minority‑ and Women‑owned business categories. Using sample contracts from 2022, OBO showed how calculated goals can shift by procurement category (construction, professional/engineering, goods, services) when SBE availability is included.

Committee members probed operational details. Council Member Ramirez asked about the data sources OBO used to measure market availability; Hoard said consultants used U.S. Census and Dun & Bradstreet data, scrubbed by statisticians and outreach calls to remove outliers and businesses no longer operating. Ramirez asked whether the raw data and appendices will be available; Hoard said she believes the raw data are included in the study appendices.

Several council members and public speakers urged changes to how the city implements contracting goals. Council Member Martinez and others asked whether breaking larger contracts into smaller packages or rotating subcontractors would improve prime‑contractor opportunities for small firms. Several public speakers — including Dr. Laura Marillo of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and representatives of multiple chambers — proposed that the city adopt a citywide Small Business Enterprise program that would be race/gender neutral and allow certified small businesses broader access to contract opportunities. "The best way to move forward is just to urge you all to consider the establishment of a small business enterprise program," Dr. Marillo told the committee while presenting a multi‑chamber proposal.

Other public commenters urged caution. One attendee urged the council to ensure a careful analysis of impacts and consultation with general contractors before moving quickly to any structural change, and to provide the committee with any stakeholder proposals in writing so all councilmembers can review them before votes.

Hoard said OBO will take the outreach input and return with proposed policy and ordinance changes; the committee referred the item back to allow additional review and to prepare materials for full council consideration. No formal council vote on ordinance language was taken at the committee meeting.