Disparity Study Fund

Project Description

To support educational institutions in developing inclusive procurement practices, Harris County created a fund for community colleges and Independent School Districts to conduct disparity studies regarding the utilization of Minority and Women-Owned Business Enterprises (M/WBE). The goal of this fund is to encourage the mitigation of racial and gender disparities where they may exist in public procurement practices, decrease barriers often experienced by MWBEs in contract procurement, and increase access to economic opportunities.

PRIMARY PARTNERSHIPS

SECONDARY PARTNERS

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

On Wednesday, May 31, 2023, Lone Star College hosted its Inaugural Business Opportunity Town Hall. It was an opportunity for vendors to learn more about available resources at Lone Star College. To network with the decision-makers and learn more about the procurement requirements. Additionally, Lone Star Business Opportunity Department intends to train Procurement staff to encourage continual community outreach along with the Disparity Fund selected vendor to provide a website for transparency in the research.

TARGET IMPACT

Encourage the mitigation of racial and gender disparities where they may exist in public procurement practices, decrease barriers often experienced by MWBEs in contract procurement, and increase access to economic opportunities. Harris County anticipates four studies to be conducted.

Throughout the implementation process, DEEO will collect data for the following activities:

Contracting with grantees:

  • # of Letters of Interest (LOI) submitted
  • # of institutions invited to complete an application
  • # of participating institutions

Cooperative Purchasing Support:

  • # of vendors selected to complete Disparity Studies
  • # of studies in progress/completed

Technical Assistance for grantees:

  • # of TA sessions 

WEBSITE LINK

USE OF EVIDENCE & PROGRAM EVALUATIONS

Based on the completed studies, DEEO will evaluate first, what impact the process of completing a disparity study has on institutional investment and awareness related to inclusive procurement practices and supporting MWBE firms. The data we collect from the LOI and the implementation process will give us a sense of how organizations shift behavior (if at all) throughout the process of completing the disparity study. We hope to observe shifts in behavior and address how those shifts have an impact. Second, are there short-term benefits that impact the small business community in this process? Finally, we’d like to understand what (if any) impact the cohort structure and technical assistance will have. Having multiple agencies partnered in a cohort managing the implementation of various disparity studies may have an impact on the future implementation of the best practices in the disparity studies.

Additionally, with the option to cooperatively procure a vendor, institutions may experience increased capacity. We can also observe, how grantees compare to non-grantees. And how do grantees that co-procure compare to those that do not?