Portland council approves disparity studies on contracting and workforce; directs separate report on wages

PORTLAND, Ore. — The Portland City Council voted Oct. 30 to initiate two disparity studies of city contracting and workforce participation and to direct staff to prepare a separate report on workforce wage and compensation data.

The resolution, as amended, directs the city to commission disparity studies of contracting and workforce participation and adds a final "be it further resolved" requiring the city administrator, with guidance from the Fair Contracting Forum (FCF), to present project-specific wage and compensation data, methods of data collection and an analysis of exemption programs intended to increase contractor and workforce diversity.

Councilor Jo Ann Smith, who brought the resolution, said disparity studies help local governments "identify and understand potential inequities within their procurement processes" and give the city information to develop targeted strategies. "We spend billions of dollars contracting and we need to make sure that all of our vendors and contractors have a fair shot," she said.

Councilor Ryan offered the amendment that added the wage-and-compensation language and asked that staff return with the requested workforce data. Ryan said the amendment was intended to make the study more inclusive and to provide "clarity on the data, demographic data on our workforce" so the city could use contracting leverage to build generational wealth.

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