OCII review finds SFUSD schoolyard contracting fell far short of SBE goals; commissioners demand documents and follow-up

The Commission on Community Investment and Infrastructure (OCII) reviewed a staff analysis on Jan. 7 that found San Francisco Unified School District’s (SFUSD) Mission Bay elementary schoolyard contracting fell far short of the agency’s small-business enterprise (SBE) participation goal.

OCII’s senior contract compliance officer, Maria Picot, told commissioners that OCII’s SBE policy sets a 50% contracting goal for eligible projects, with first consideration to project-area SBEs and then San Francisco-based SBEs. “At the time of the reporting, McCarthy’s efforts resulted in an SB participation of just under 6% for the schoolyard related scopes on this project,” Picot said.

The finding prompted extended debate among commissioners, public commenters and OCII staff about whether SFUSD and prime contractor McCarthy met the policy’s advertising, outreach, unbundling and monitoring requirements. Commissioner Bavette Brackett, who led much of the questioning, said OCII staff had repeatedly been excluded from pre-bid meetings and that SFUSD and McCarthy had promised OCII they would follow OCII SBE requirements when the commission approved a design-build approach in 2020.

“Had this commission known that they would not follow our SBE policies, we would have never approved this project in 2020 to move forward in this way,” Commissioner Brackett said. She characterized the current 6% result as unacceptable and said the commission needs…