Ball has led the administration’s push for the bill, which would codify procurement goals in an executive order that Northam issued in mid-2019. It also would take more aggressive steps to close a substantial disparity documented by a newly released study of state purchasing from available woman- and minority-owned businesses.
The study found that from 2014 to 2019, 13.2% of state contracts went to firms owned by women or minorities, but those companies could have done 32.8% of the work awarded. The legislation would set a new annual goal of 23.1% of state contracts for businesses owned by women and minorities, and codify the 42% goal that Northam set for small businesses, as well as those owned by women and minorities, in his executive order.
“The measures we have applied historically have just not gotten the job done,” Ball told the committee.
Ward called the bill “a long time coming,” a sentiment echoed by Sen. Mamie Locke, D-Hampton. Locke said she has seen two other disparity studies done without the state addressing the problem they identified to expand opportunities for small, woman- or minority owned businesses to have a fair chance at winning state contracts.
“We know the disparity exists,” Locke said. “We know we have an opportunity to begin to address it. Why don’t we?”
The bill moved immediately to the Senate floor, where it would have to be advanced and approved quickly to allow the House of Delegates to consider amendments to the legislation, including the delayed enactment, a provision to exclude local governments from its requirements, and a one-year delay for applying the procurement rules to state colleges and universities, effective Jan. 1, 2023.
