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OCII reports continued SBE participation gains but local hiring goals lag; commissioners press for stronger outreach
Summary
OCII’s semi‑annual SBE and workforce report showed ~$28 million in small business participation (26% when including federal‑eligible firms) and local hiring of about 15.2% of logged work hours during the reporting period; commissioners urged more aggressive steps to meet a 50% local hiring goal and improve WMBE outcomes.
OCII staff presented its semi‑annual Small Business Enterprise (SBE) and local hiring report for July–December 2018, highlighting mixed results and renewed calls from commissioners for more aggressive outreach to local and historically disadvantaged firms.
Maria Pecot, contract compliance specialist, reported that during the reporting period OCII assigned more than $12 million in SBE credits (11% of current contract values); when adding firms that exceed OCII size standards but qualify as small businesses under federal rules, total small business participation exceeded $28 million (about 26%). On an accumulated basis since 2014 OCII’s SBE credit is 29.7%.
On workforce, staff reported contractors logged approximately 2,130,000 work hours during the period and about 324,176 hours (15.2%) were performed by San Francisco residents; the running accumulated number since 2014 shows roughly 17.6% of hours performed by San Francisco residents. Staff and CityBuild representatives noted construction labor demand in the region and described apprenticeship and sponsorship programs intended to increase resident placements.
Commissioners — notably Vice Chair Bustos — pressed staff and contractor partners to achieve OCII’s 50% local hiring goal, called for stronger protections against superficial ZIP‑code claims by recently relocated firms and asked for better debriefing and capacity building for small firms that lose bids. "You gotta get it done," Bustos said, stressing urgency as large construction volumes tied to projects such as the Chase Center wind down.
Ken Nim, acting CityBuild director, described workforce pipelines and invited commissioners to a CityBuild open house on March 20 to view training outcomes and employer engagement. Staff said OCII is exploring programmatic ideas including formal recognition of contractors who sponsor local hires and possible set‑asides for small contracts.
The presentation prompted requests for additional data (e.g., counts of unique subcontractors vs. repeated joint‑venture participants, and WMBE disaggregation) and staff committed to follow up with more detailed reports and suggested capacity studies to identify realistic set‑aside thresholds.
