BOSTON (AP) - Boston Mayor Marty Walsh announced an executive order that will award 25% of city contracts to firms owned by minorities or women.
Mayor Walsh said Thursday that the city still has work to do “in equitable access to city contracting and growing business opportunities” in communities of color.
The order will award 15% of the contracts to women-owned firms and 10% to firms owned by minorities.
A city commissioned analysis of almost 48,000 contracts between 2014 and 2019 showed companies owned by people of color won just 2.5% of the total dollar amount of contracts awarded, the Boston Globe reported. In that time frame, the city spent 8.5% of its funds through contracts with firms owned by women.
“I have never run away from these numbers or this challenge,” Walsh said. “We embrace the findings from the study, because this study now gives us a roadmap on how we move forward.”
The order will also “require goal tracking and reporting as part of the annual budget process” starting in fiscal year 2023, Walsh said.
Earlier this week, The Black Economic Council of Massachusetts, the Greater Boston Latino Network, Lawyers for Civil Rights and Amplify Latinx filed a federal complaint about the city’s contract selection process.
Iván Espinoza-Madrigal, executive director of Lawyers for Civil Rights Boston, said Thursday that a “federal intervention is still needed” and pushed for more aggressive contracting goals.
Walsh has been nominated to be the nation’s next labor secretary, and the U.S. Senate could vote on his confirmation in the coming days.
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