Disparity Study & Post-Disparity Study Implementation
City Of Knoxville
Knoxville, TN
Overview
M³ Consulting, Inc. conducted the COK Disparity Study with the focus of evaluating the availability and utilization of Small, Minority, and Woman-Owned Business Enterprises (SMWBEs) in the city's contracting opportunities. M³ Consulting considered an acknowledged COK’s reference to their diverse-owned business community as Diversity Business Enterprises (DBEs) and included a concentration on identifying barriers that impact COK’s DBEs. Our comprehensive analysis of the environment faced by DBEs attempting to do business with, and in the COK, found that DBEs are statistically significantly underutilized in specific procurement areas of the COK’s contracting opportunities resulting in disparities in the utilization of DBEs.
Published Reports
Data Points
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Recommendations
1. Change Inclusion Focus from Programmatic (Compliance with SMWBE Regulations) to Organizational (Commitment to Inclusive Procurement Environment)
2. The Nature of the COK’s Centralized Procurement Process and Impact on DBE Participation
3. Identify Community Economic Development and Inclusive Procurement Objectives
4. Training and Development
5. Full Implementation of DBE Programmatic Initiatives
6. Culture Audit
7. Address Data Capture Issues
8. Budgeting, Forecasting and Scheduling
9. Increasing Pipeline of SMWBEs
10. Expanding Competition
Race-Conscious Outcomes
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