Will we know 19 October 1st, after the end of the first 20 quarter? Will we know January 1st, at 21 the end of the second quarter? 22
Typically we report 23 out -- participation numbers come out in 24 November timeframe, if I'm not mistaken. 25 November timeframe. So after November 46 1/20/10 - COMMERCE - RESOLUTION 090860 1st, we would be able to have a good indication of where we were. I would --
So a year from now when we hold this hearing and you have a percent goal for Fiscal 7 Year '11 and we're halfway through Fiscal 8 Year '11, you'll be able to tell me -- 9
What I would hope to 10 be able to -- what I will be able to tell 11 you, excuse me, is that we are trending 12 in this direction or that direction, and 13 I will be able to tell you -- 14
But a year 15 from now, when we are halfway through 16 Fiscal Year '11, will you be able to give 17 me a number in terms of whether you're 18 reaching your goals? 19
I will be able to 20 give you a good estimate, yes. I can't 21 say -- 22
Why would it 23 be an estimate if you're doing quarterly 24 tracking and you've already had two 25 quarters pass? 47 1/20/10 - COMMERCE - RESOLUTION 090860
To be honest, I think it's really a systems. It's about when actual payments come in, when they don't come in. It's the process by which we go through our procurement process. So depending on how fast what happens in that particular aspect of it will dictate how much good information we will be able to account for. And so I'm hesitant -- my hesitancy is about not being able to verify the information at that point in time.
Will the Procurement Commissioner approach the witness able. (Witness approached witness table.)
Good morning, Mr. Ortman. COMMISSIONER ORTMAN: Good morning.
Identify yourself for the record. COMMISSIONER ORTMAN: Hugh 48 1/20/10 - COMMERCE - RESOLUTION 090860 Ortman, the Procurement Commissioner for the City of Philadelphia.
Mr. Ortman, two questions. One, is realtime tracking possible? COMMISSIONER ORTMAN: For this --
For DBE participation. COMMISSIONER ORTMAN: Not in my opinion, but I don't actually track it. From what I'm aware of, I would say no. 14
Why is it not? COMMISSIONER ORTMAN: Because there's so much involved with the actual process, so many if's, and's or but's. I mean, you can award a contract --
When a contract is awarded -- let me step back. Other than for this information, in terms of City contracts in general, is realtime tracking possible in terms of your process? Do you have 49 1/20/10 - COMMERCE - RESOLUTION 090860 realtime tracking? COMMISSIONER ORTMAN: As to where it is in the process?
Yes. COMMISSIONER ORTMAN: Just for the bids and awards themselves, not participation, yes.
So if under the strategic plan OEO is going to be involved before the contract is let, in the bid process, they're going to be involved in the contracting process and they're going to be involved in the monitoring, if you have realtime tracking capability and they're involved in the process, then why is it not possible? COMMISSIONER ORTMAN: From what I know about the participation reporting --
We're not talking about the past. We're talking about the future. COMMISSIONER ORTMAN: I understand. If you award a contract, a 50 1/20/10 - COMMERCE - RESOLUTION 090860 hundred-thousand-dollar contract, and there's percent participation, that's 4 $10,000. That hundred-thousand-dollar 5 contract may not be touched for a year 6 before somebody finally uses part of that 7 contract. So that 10,000 is still 8 sitting out there. 9 I'm sorry. So I guess my point 10 is, it depends which answers you want as to whether there's realtime tracking.
So in terms of realtime tracking, if you go into your system right now, is there any DBE information? COMMISSIONER ORTMAN: No. 17
What is your anticipated date for the formal release of the OEO plan? 51 1/20/10 - COMMERCE - RESOLUTION 090860
I would think very shortly. I don't have an exact date for you right now, but this was the last kind of feedback opportunity we were looking for which was going to influence the final strategic plan, the final draft of it. Conversations with the Administration would be held at this point in time, to roll it out within a very short timeframe.
At what juncture did you meet with department heads to help them understand their role in helping your department reach the OEO --
You stated in your testimony and in answering Chairman Goode's questions that you, 52 1/20/10 - COMMERCE - RESOLUTION 090860 quote, plan to influence the departments or help guide departments in helping you meet the OEO plans. Elaborate on what that means.
Well, first of all, we take the philosophy we want to make sure everyone understands. The Office of Economic Opportunity does not write the contracts itself. So all of the contracting processes are taking place in the departments, and so what we want to be able to do is hold them accountable to contracting. It's these individuals who are writing the contracts and the individual departments that have to be accountable to holding it. And so when I say influence and guide them and so forth, what we need to do is be able to be a valued partner by giving them information, statistics, availability, what they can do, what they cannot do in an ongoing process that will allow them to make more informed decisions about minority participation in 53 1/20/10 - COMMERCE - RESOLUTION 090860 the contracting process. That's what I meant by influence.
The process that actually took place was that we sat down initially with the big spends, the Water, the Aviation, and we had one-on-one conversations with them in terms of what their historical participation has been, and then recognizing that the economic climate has changed significantly from 2008, we talked about what's getting ready to happen with the upcoming budget and where are there opportunities to improve your participation and then sought commitment from them on that participation. In addition to that, we're working with the -- I believe it's the Finance Department, starting in February where we're going to meet with the individual purchasing managers throughout the City to talk about how you can have a positive influence on that goal. By the way, this is the goal that your Deputy 54 1/20/10 - COMMERCE - RESOLUTION 090860 Mayor has committed to, what can you do to exceed that goal. No matter what we commit to or what the Mayor commits to -- and I said this to the Mayor as well -- my goal for OEO is going to be a little bit higher than that.
So you expect to guide and influence them, and then you used the word you expect to hold them accountable. What does that mean for departments who do not meet their goals? What's the hammer?
Well, we got the Mayor being part of that as a hammer. We're also looking at -- well, first of all, it's a leadership perspective. So we're asking leadership all the way from the Mayor to Deputy Mayor to Commissioners to hold these folks accountable. So in a performance management perspective, it's holding them accountable and to actually get the results that we want. It's looking at -- 55 1/20/10 - COMMERCE - RESOLUTION 090860 if we are unable to -- if they're unable to achieve goals, we have to understand why they didn't achieve the goals. Is it because they chose not to do the minority participation that they elected or that they said they would do for some reason or another or they didn't do contracts. We have to understand that and then hold them accountable to what they've said in the beginning. So if they said they're going to issue so many contracts within a certain period of time and within those contracts they're going to have minority participation and for whatever reason they didn't issue those contracts, we have to hold them accountable to issuing those contracts in order to meet those goals. That's what we mean by accountability.
To get more specific, the Economic Opportunity Cabinet, which is pretty much the same composition as the Mayor's Cabinet, is our opportunity to go back to the Deputy 56 1/20/10 - COMMERCE - RESOLUTION 090860 Mayors and go, Look, here are the ones that are doing very well and let's share some of the best practices with the ones that are doing really well. Here are the ones that are struggling. In my initial conversation with those department heads, I said for the ones that are doing very well, you may hear from me on a quarterly basis. For the ones that are struggling, you're going to hear from me more often and we're going to talk about ways we can improve your utilization.
So what are your red flags or signals for those departments that are struggling? Because it goes straight to Councilman Goode's question regarding realtime reporting.
Yeah, and this is when contracts go through the process and one red flag is when it goes through the ASIS process and it doesn't have participation, that's a red flag, we're going to stop it. Finance is a wonderful 57 1/20/10 - COMMERCE - RESOLUTION 090860 partner in that report, the Finance Department, in making sure that we're able to capture or catch, quote/unquote, those contracts that are not coming through. So that's an example, where we will say, Okay -- and then if we see bad behavior, continuing bad behavior of departments, let's just say it's one department that never gets participation ranges and we always see their contracts, we're going to go and have some deeper and more direct conversations with them. We're going to make sure that the Mayor is aware of what's going on. We're going to highlight the bad behaviors so that we can then change the subsequent outcomes.
If I could, the process right now unfortunately is a very manual process. We're looking to try to make that more of an automated process. Now, those conversations are happening with the Department of Technology even as we speak, and the men and women of the Office of Economic Opportunity have done 58 1/20/10 - COMMERCE - RESOLUTION 090860 a fantastic job, quite frankly, in catching some of those human errors that may take place as it pertains to our process. But if I could be king for the day and write the script, it would be a matter of a point and click and I could have realtime data, but I'm working with the systems that we have right now in place with the Department of Technology.
As a part of the strategic plan that you're rolling out, are there discussions with the Department of Technology? Because you mention a lot in your testimony how the systems are not in place to -- systems are simply not in place to help address quarterly, I might argue monthly and Councilman Goode's expectation is realtime.
We are having those conversations with DOT, the Department of Technology, to see what we can do in terms of capturing actual data, the Procurement process, which we get 59 1/20/10 - COMMERCE - RESOLUTION 090860 involved in. It's a much bigger process than OEO, but it's the Procurement process, they're looking at that. So we're at the table having those conversations trying to make sure that any changes that come about are going to have things in there that benefits the Office of Economic Opportunity and our ability to track awards, current, real data, so forth.
So can we expect to see some discussion of that in the final draft --
Yeah. It's taking place. We've even talked to some outside partners, like University of Pennsylvania has a very nice procurement system. There are some shelf products out there. My plan is to come up with a proposal, quite frankly, for Kevin and 60 1/20/10 - COMMERCE - RESOLUTION 090860 say, Look, this was what the actual cost might be to either put a Band-Aid on it or help fix part of it. This might be the cost to do the bells and whistles, Cadillac in terms of meeting all of OEO's needs. So it's too complex to get into this conversation today and it is a lot of detail involved and, quite frankly, I need the people that are actually day by day doing it having that interaction with the Department of Technology, but we are working through that.
Who makes up the OEO Cabinet? What is the composition of the Cabinet?
The Economic Opportunity Cabinet is all the Deputy Mayors, it's the Managing Director, it's the City Solicitor, it's --
Hugh Ortman and a procurement officer, IG, Mayor, Chief of Staff.
How often 61 1/20/10 - COMMERCE - RESOLUTION 090860 do you meet?
We've been meeting monthly, it seems like, the last three months, four months, but quarterly is the standing meetings, and over the last three months, we've met three times.
And where is the overlap with the OEO and the Mayor's Cabinet?
Well, the Mayor's Cabinet -- essentially the folks that are on, other than -- I mean, the key people on the Economic Opportunity Cabinet are Mayor Cabinet members. The Deputy Mayors are all there. We didn't mention Rina Cutler. She's there. All the Deputy Mayors are there. So that's part of the Cabinet. We've added additional folks like Hugh Ortman, like -- Hugh Ortman, as an example, who is not on the Mayor's Cabinet because of his critical role in the procurement process. So the Mayor's Cabinet also includes the City Solicitor. She's on the Economic Opportunity Cabinet 62 1/20/10 - COMMERCE - RESOLUTION 090860 as well. So it's a mirrored group. We don't have everybody on both, but there's a mirrored group.
My last question is, can we therefore expect that the breakdown in your final document will be by ethnic group so that it is consistent with the law?
Thank you very much for your testimony. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you, Councilwoman. Let me note for the record that Councilwoman Sanchez and Councilman Jones are here. Councilman Green.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I just have a few quick questions. You've sort of briefly hit on my areas of interest with respect to 63 1/20/10 - COMMERCE - RESOLUTION 090860 improving the efficiency of this process. So how many people right now are in the Office of OEO?
And seven people are in charge of what we're calling GAP now?
Well, I guess there were two that were mainly focused on certification, and those two are shifting towards the -- I mean, we're not rolling it out yet, but they're getting ready to shift towards more of a reporting/monitoring responsibility. It might be three.
Right. Three on the certification side. So you have support staff there as well. So you got two, 64 1/20/10 - COMMERCE - RESOLUTION 090860 three people of support staff. You have a manager, two managers, Alice Candace. So you subtract those out, you have basically five, six people. And then if you add in the other seven, that's where we get the 12.
Okay. So describe to me the typical day for somebody with that responsibility.
Well, there's two aspects. There's one group that is receiving RFPs and setting ranges and goals and monitoring those RFPs to see if those participation goals are being met.
Okay. That's a job description. I want to know a typical day. You come into the office. You've had your cup of coffee. What do you do? 65 1/20/10 - COMMERCE - RESOLUTION 090860
I don't know if I can describe my typical day. I don't know if I have a typical day. Every day is unique, with different challenges and different opportunities.
Is there a specific process -- I mean, that should not be true of staff people who have a specific responsibility like measuring, right? There should be a specific process in place that is, Okay, these are the contract -- are contracts assigned to specific people in the office? In other words, are the people who are doing measurement assigned to specific departments?
Okay, the Water Department, and you measure that department, what do you do on a -- 66 1/20/10 - COMMERCE - RESOLUTION 090860
Like what I started to say before, you're receiving those proposals from the Water Department. You're setting the ranges for those particular contracts, and at the same time, you're monitoring to ensure there's compliance with those contracts.
I think there's several systems reports that they look at. I think ASIS is one of them. Don't ask me what that acronym is. I'm still learning some of those.
That's just the actual -- ASIS is the contract being awarded presumably with language that's already been approved for a goal or some other kind of understanding in it. But then how are you actually doing monitoring? What is the daily function of monitoring or weekly function with respect to every contract? In other 67 1/20/10 - COMMERCE - RESOLUTION 090860 words, are there written processes in place for this -- written processes in place for the performance of the job so that the people who are supposed to be monitoring can be held accountable to a process? Every week I will review every contract in every department that is under my purview to see what progress has been measured. Is there any kind of --
There is? Could you please provide those written processes to the Chair?
Thank you. My other question is, what cities in the country do this very well?
I've heard good things about Baltimore and I've also heard some good things about Toledo. Toledo has a very similar demographic composition to what the City of Philadelphia has. 68 1/20/10 - COMMERCE - RESOLUTION 090860
Right now it's really execution. I mean, I looked at New York, I looked at DC. I attended a conference down in DC. A lot of the strategic things, a lot of the tactical things are very, very synonymous, very, very similar to what the City of Philadelphia is proposing to do in their strategic plan. The difference might be just execution.
Execution. And that would mean sort of what people do in their daily everyday job?
And how we measure that, their performance in their job?
So have we looked at what their written processes are and what the technology is that they 69 1/20/10 - COMMERCE - RESOLUTION 090860 use that make them able to better execute than we can?
We have? So you said you've heard good things about it, but you've actually gone and looked at it or you've got a written report on it, or what?
I think through our general research as we began writing the plan, as Econsult looks at the statistics and so forth, through a combination of all of that.
That specifically described the technology the cities use, the workflow processes those cities use?
I haven't gotten into that level of detail. Most of the people -- some of them, matter of fact, are even in this room right now -- are some of our, what I'll call, technical 70 1/20/10 - COMMERCE - RESOLUTION 090860 assistant partners in gathering information from them. Baltimore came into my radar from talking -- from conversations with those technical assistant partners.
Okay. So what I'd like to ask you to do before Councilman Goode calls another hearing on this is to actually figure out the cities that are doing this well and better than we are, what their workflow processes are, what their job descriptions are and what technology is it that they are using that we may be able to implement here to get closer to a realtime system, like, for example, requiring in contracts that people report weekly to us on subcontracts, what they've spent where and stuff like that, that makes the information available so that you can catch things before the end of a contract. We could certainly put whatever we want into our contract in terms of a reporting mechanism and have a 71 1/20/10 - COMMERCE - RESOLUTION 090860 website where people can go in and have to fill in, and if they haven't filled that in, they don't get their next check. There's lots of different ways we can improve the process to make it easy for you to do monitoring without a lot of manpower involved, pushing buttons, as you were saying.
Leaving more time for us to sign up people that are firms that we want to help.
Thank you. Gentlemen, obviously this Committee, particularly our Chair, who has worked with this for a long time, has 72 1/20/10 - COMMERCE - RESOLUTION 090860 some concerns when you see a trend going downward, especially when we've been talking about this issue for so long, and so there is a concern, a serious concern, around this. In terms of certification and increasing our numbers -- and you talked about a percent increase -- have we 10 cross-referenced the minority 11 certification list at the state as a 12 potential pool of folks that are not in 13 our pipeline in light of the fact that 14 we're now doing reciprocity? Have we 15 looked at what that pool looks like? 16
So 19 what's their list compared to ours in 20 terms of Philly-based minority firms? 21
I really could not 22 answer that specifically. We do know 23 that there's some opportunities for 24 growth there. We do know that -- 25
So we 73 1/20/10 - COMMERCE - RESOLUTION 090860 have the list and we're cross-referencing it?
Yeah. It's a public list. So we'll cross-reference it, make sure that -- one, we look at our own list first, make sure that if -- and we focus on those that don't have any other certifications out there. So that's our first tier group that we're going to concentrate on. Second of all, second direction is to look at other entities that we want to consider, so like the SEPTAs, the states and things of that nature, to see if there are any there that are not on ours, and then we do an outreach to those that are not on ours to say, Hey, get on ours so we can count you. The third list is maybe even looking at private organizations, Minority Supplier Development Council, Women's Business Enterprise Center, a number of different ones there that also have firms here that might not be on the 74 1/20/10 - COMMERCE - RESOLUTION 090860 list, have an outreach to them as well.
In terms of the goal-setting process, we are now meeting with department heads in preparation for the budget, and I must say, I am extremely concerned at department heads' inability to give me goals, and a lot of them say, Well, we're meeting with OEO. So I'm really concerned about who is going to set the goal in light of the fact that there is literally historical resistance from these folks to change some of the stuff they're doing, especially from our large departments who consume many goods, whether it's the Water Department's 200 million or whatever. So when you were talking about the goal-setting process, I'm a little concerned that we're leaving a lot of this up to the departments and then not raising the bar on them. And to that, when you talked about the contracts, I have yet to hear any discussions around 75 1/20/10 - COMMERCE - RESOLUTION 090860 the potential de-bundling of contracts so that we can make sure smaller guys -- create that pipeline to increase this. So I'm very concerned, because when I have these conversations with department heads, if they're not telling me they're looking to de-bundle the work -- we talk about the stimulus packet, we're doing a lot dredging, we're doing a lot of small projects, small projects where we do have utilization and opportunity for increased utilization, and I haven't heard any of you gentlemen mention that. So that's an extreme concern, because double-digit increase is very hard and painful to get to. The decrease seems to be happening much quicker, and unless we're seeing those things, unless we're telling departments, You must de-bundle, you must do certain things, if you're leaving it up to these folks to make up numbers, we're going to be back at the same place. I really want to get to a place -- I think Councilwoman 76 1/20/10 - COMMERCE - RESOLUTION 090860 Blondell Reynolds says this at the budget -- where this language around de-bundling, participation flows out of these Commissioners, not out of just OEO's office, and I haven't seen that so far with the departments that I'm meeting with.
You're right, and that's exactly where our focus has been. Even though we talk a lot about metrics or the participation goals or the availability, utilization, the bottom line of what we're trying to create right here is changing the DNA of the City where part of their day-by-day, week-by-week, minute-by-minute environment is to think about inclusion and participation. So in the front end, we started those conversations with department heads so that -- I heard the message loud and clear, I don't want to see departments standing in front of City Council not know what their participation goals are and not have any interaction 77 1/20/10 - COMMERCE - RESOLUTION 090860 with OEO. So we eliminated that right out of the gate. But on the flip side, we're going back to the actual purchasing managers, recognizing that the Deputy Mayors are here -- the department managers might be there, but the ones that are actually getting capital on the streets and getting contracts in those businesses' hands are the purchasing managers, and that takes some time. There are a lot of interaction back and forth where some would come back with a goal of two percent, where historically it had been 15 percent. We'd go, Wait a minute, let's talk about this a little bit. And there were some that might have came back with a goal of 80 percent and historically they're running five percent. Well, we need to have a conversation with them as well. And that's where a lot of our energies, a lot of our efforts have been taking place over the last few months.
Okay. 78 1/20/10 - COMMERCE - RESOLUTION 090860 Again, we have three or four months before this budget process, and I don't see a good trend in my meetings so far with some of the department heads. I don't see them owning this. That has always been our concern, whether it was MBEC or OEO, how these departments view your role and how much they think they have to give you to satisfy you and get off your radar. It has to flow naturally, and it only flows when you follow the contracts and you follow the money. So unless departments heads are going to be prepared to come in here and say, Over the last year, these were the contracting opportunities that we opened up through this process, we're going to be playing this song and dance for the next ten years. Wilson has been doing this for ten years. I don't like to do this dance for ten years. I think that we have to be extremely serious about this, and until the department heads -- 79 1/20/10 - COMMERCE - RESOLUTION 090860 we're political candidates. If we can't say in two minutes why we're here, then we have a problem. If a department head comes to me and in two minutes he can't tell me how he's reaching the goal, I know I have a problem and we have a problem.
So we have to do a better job before folks start testifying in March about their goals.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and let me go on the record and say thank you for your years of consistent development of an MBE, WBE, DBE program for the City and being consistent on your public policy stance 80 1/20/10 - COMMERCE - RESOLUTION 090860 on this. Are we in the afternoon yet?
No, I'm not. No, I'm not. I think a lot of the questions that I would have have already been vetted. I think the answers are or aren't what they are. And I think that the expectation has been made real clear by this Committee. So I will try to narrowly tailor my focus to things that I don't think were covered. Could the Procurement Commissioner please join us back at the stand for this. (Witness approached witness table.)
I don't know who is doing your math over there, but if 81 1/20/10 - COMMERCE - RESOLUTION 090860 I were to look at -- if I were to ask you what is the flagship example of minority participation in the City of Philadelphia's procurement process and I want to eliminate Scotlandyard and I want to eliminate Team Clean, who would be that flagship? What would be that example of what us getting it right and what would be the prototypical way that we could expand that to other departments? Give me one WBE, one MBE example of that, your signature -- COMMISSIONER ORTMAN: You took my two best answers away now. I don't recall the actual name of the company. It's a minority company that's over in Camden that handles some of the pest control. It does an excellent job. Never get complaints, and he's --
Is that a female-owned firm? COMMISSIONER ORTMAN: He's a minority-owned company and he has subs 82 1/20/10 - COMMERCE - RESOLUTION 090860 that are minorities.
And what would be the total contract value that they have? COMMISSIONER ORTMAN: Off the top of my head, it's over a hundred thousand a year. It's a pretty good size. There's different areas around the City that are covered by different contracts.
So your flagship example of minority participation is a hundred-thousand-dollar contract? And what is our total budget? COMMISSIONER ORTMAN: Other than --
What is our total Procurement expenditure for FY09? COMMISSIONER ORTMAN: Upwards of several hundred million. I don't know the exact figure in front of me.
We only purchased -- 83 1/20/10 - COMMERCE - RESOLUTION 090860 COMMISSIONER ORTMAN: And we're talking SS&E, we're talking Public Works? Public Works, of course, they're huge, much larger than that. I don't have the total dollar figure with me.
My question to you -- and I'll repeat it -- is, if you were to use one company, other than Team Clean and other than Scotlandyard, what would be your example of a successful minority and/or female contract and how much would that contract be for? COMMISSIONER ORTMAN: The dollar figures I'd have to go check.
You said a hundred thousand dollars. COMMISSIONER ORTMAN: I don't have them in front of me. We have 800 active contracts. I don't have all the numbers in front of me.
But what jumps to your mind as a -- COMMISSIONER ORTMAN: There's a 84 1/20/10 - COMMERCE - RESOLUTION 090860 trucking company that's used both by SS&E and --
Do you know the name? COMMISSIONER ORTMAN: Yes; Beasley.
And what was their contract award? COMMISSIONER ORTMAN: Well, he's a sub for all these different companies.
And what was his subcontract award? COMMISSIONER ORTMAN: I wouldn't -- I'd have to check on that figure, sir. I could get that for you, but I don't have it off the top of my head. I don't want to give you the wrong answer, that's for sure.
Do Scotlandyard and Team Clean still have the triplex contract? COMMISSIONER ORTMAN: The triplex contract is not handled through 85 1/20/10 - COMMERCE - RESOLUTION 090860 Procurement. I know Scotlandyard is the actual security force there. I know Team Clean is the actual janitorial service there, but it's not something that directly goes through Procurement.
I will -- COMMISSIONER ORTMAN: It would go through Public Property.
I will pose that question to the two of you. If you had one example of a minority company, a female company, what would that company be and what would the contract award be?
And straight up, I wouldn't know the actual dollar amount of the contract really. I just don't have that detail right on the top of my head right here right now. I would say Alpha Supplies is one company that we partner with. Particularly it's a nice partnership because that's on one of our citywide contracts, which is the office supply, their sub there. Beasley was another one. You 86 1/20/10 - COMMERCE - RESOLUTION 090860 took away Team Clean. You took away that one. They're under U.S. Facilities, Inc., which is a minority-owned company, one of the largest in the United States. So I would include them there as a significant contract that that goes through. We've had some success with --
Do you know -- let's go back to Alpha. Do you have any idea what Alpha's award is?
It's a requirements contract, which means an annual contract and you use them as needed. Do you know what their participation levels were last year?
Not right now. Not right off the top of my head right now, no. I can certainly get that to you. It's easy information to get, but I don't have it right now.
Do you want to take a stab at it? 87 1/20/10 - COMMERCE - RESOLUTION 090860
No. I was going to say most of my focus has primarily been on meeting new business, new minority-owned businesses, new women-owned businesses and getting our availability and utilization increased. I haven't really focused a lot of time or focus on the past or what past contracts have been, but we certainly can get that information for you.
All right. Let's go to the question that was posed for realtime payments and the difficulty, technological challenge of doing that. If I were to allow you to use the phone and you needed to find out how much the contract was for the moving of election voting machines, would you be able to tell me exactly who, what, where and how much that contract was for? COMMISSIONER ORTMAN: Yes, sir, within 15, 20 minutes. That's a -- find the contract number, the vendor.
Pretty much 88 1/20/10 - COMMERCE - RESOLUTION 090860 realtime. COMMISSIONER ORTMAN: I can get that for you.
And you probably could do that also for a requirements contract, let's say salt expenditures for the year after a big snowstorm. You could pretty much tell me where we were by utilization of salt. COMMISSIONER ORTMAN: Utilization or contract award?
Contract award and then what the amount of use we actually drew down on that contract, within 15 minutes. COMMISSIONER ORTMAN: I can tell you how much money was encumbered on that particular contract. I can't tell you what was spent on that particular contract without contacting Finance.
Then my question becomes, why is it so difficult to track minorities and females and disadvantaged companies -- 89 1/20/10 - COMMERCE - RESOLUTION 090860 COMMISSIONER ORTMAN: What you just asked me would be manually done. Those two contracts would have to be pulled. I would have to look at them, research them and give you the answer. We have a technology called Speed, which unfortunately was built on Access 95, Windows 95, and that is falling apart. We're in the process of trying to fix it. That was our only way of tracking minority participation on an electronic basis and it just isn't working right now, and as we've discussed already, DOT is working feverishly to try and fix that problem or possibly get an off-the-shelf product that would work.
Let me pose the question a different way. If you could not on a daily, monthly, quarterly basis track how much we expended in a Procurement commodity, would that be of concern to you? COMMISSIONER ORTMAN: Are you talking one commodity and one contract? 90 1/20/10 - COMMERCE - RESOLUTION 090860 I'm not sure what you're asking.
Let me try it again. We can do this. If we were just dealing in commodities and in payments and in fiscal integrity of how we pay our vendors and for some reason you could not track your vendor payments to know whether you had an outstanding payable, would that be of concern to you? COMMISSIONER ORTMAN: Procurement does not handle invoices or payments. That's why I can't really answer your question.
Okay. But you work with -- COMMISSIONER ORTMAN: I can call Finance or get into FAMIS and try and look it up. It's usually a lot quicker to call, to tell you the truth.
All right. We'll try it one more time. If we can keep track of our fiscal record-keeping, because there are 91 1/20/10 - COMMERCE - RESOLUTION 090860 penalties and consequences of not doing that, why is it so difficult for you and other departments to not keep track of minority participation? Is there some reason technologically that we just can't accomplish that? And this is not -- this doesn't begin with you and it goes back to other administrations, previous administrations, but I don't understand for any logical reason why we can't have another input, another category that we can just keep track of what we are doing on a realtime basis, and I just need to know what that challenge is so we can meet it. COMMISSIONER ORTMAN: I believe -- maybe Kevin could answer this or Curtis -- DOT has worked every day practically with these two guys trying to come up with an off-the-shelf program or something that we already have in order to be able to do exactly what you want us to do. And we agree it should be done. Nobody is arguing that, but it still 92 1/20/10 - COMMERCE - RESOLUTION 090860 takes a little time for DOT to come up with this particular program. But it should be -- if I were in charge, it would be a system where OEO gets the participation, enters it into their system, does what they want with it and ten minutes later they go back and look at the whole thing all over again electronically. We just don't have that yet. We did have it, but it broke.
I just sense if it was a fiscal issue and we had a monetary defalcation, that we would have a sense of urgency in fixing the problem, and that sense of urgency, when it comes to participation, needs to be there. It needs to be there. There are people that count on us for their livelihoods, taxpayers, business owners, that are counting on us to meet and get it right. So that sense of urgency needs to be there. If I were to do case in points, the Neighborhood Stabilization Program, 93 1/20/10 - COMMERCE - RESOLUTION 090860 for example, that we have had for a number of months now, how are we doing on participation with that?
We don't have that information right here with us. That's through the Regional Development -- Redevelopment Authority. Are you talking about the NSP program?
I don't have that right now, to be candid with you. We were focused solely on our internal departments and the quasi agencies. While we are focused on them, making sure we get them playing in this val park as well, they do a good job and we just don't have that information right now. We can get that for you.
Yeah. That's what I mean. And they do very well, let me tell you. RDA, they've done -- historically 94 1/20/10 - COMMERCE - RESOLUTION 090860 they've done fairly well. So we are confident that that is going to continue on down the path. We have had goal-setting conversations with them as well.
And I want to commend publicly the Mayor and the Administration for receiving extra money. The City is, I think, scheduled to receive --
-- forty-four million dollars. Are there going to be conversations about how that can benefit minority, female companies?
And in that process, in order to know what we need to do, we should know what we have done and what works and what has not worked. So that kind of dialogue, seems to me, needs to be engaged, and I would like to get the Chairman information on that. 95 1/20/10 - COMMERCE - RESOLUTION 090860 Finally, some of the big-ticket departments are the Water Department, the Airport, DHS, Police, Fire and Prisons. Police, Fire and Prisons represent 6 percent of our entire budget. How are we 7 doing there? 8
Well, this is where 13 we have a department that has good 14 behaviors. They're helping us track, 15 they're helping us count for it. We 16 probably -- if there was one area where 17 we get solid information, it's from the 18 Prisons area. I mean, we've had some 19 very good conversations, and not only 20 that, it has been in their behavior, in 21 their mindset for years. So they have 22 been able to institute programs there, 23 processes there that allow us to achieve 24 the goals and objectives that we want to achieve, and what we would want to do is 96 1/20/10 - COMMERCE - RESOLUTION 090860 take some of those best practices out of there and apply them to some of the other areas. Plus they have large dollars, so there's been always a focus on -- the larger departments there's always been a focus on.
We are having dialogues with them. They are, I guess -- I call them -- I lump them in with quasi organizations. But we certainly are beginning to -- it's the First Judicial District. We capture their numbers. We're looking to have some ongoing conversations with them where we talk to them, engage them, try to influence them in their decisions as well. So we are -- yes.
So has there been dialogue about the new Family Court that's being built?
Not yet. I don't know that answer right now. I can't say yea or nay about that. That has not gotten to the point where we've begun to have some conversations about minority participation in there. So I would reserve final say in that regard, because I just have not been involved in that type of conversation.
What is important is the timeliness of information, whether you're talking about the African American Chamber of Commerce, whether you're talking about the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Women's Chambers of Commerce or just Philadelphia-based businesses in general. By the time the bids hit the street, it's too late.
So the dialogue needs to begin earlier so that 98 1/20/10 - COMMERCE - RESOLUTION 090860 the information flow to those entities can happen and so that roundtable matchmaker sessions can happen. A positive example -- and maybe not under your direct influence, but I would say you delivered a check, so therefore you get a -- in for a penny, in for a pound -- is the Salvation Army. That dialogue began well before they ever broke ground. And if that is -- and I would have used that as a flagship example, not under the departments but in the private sector, in their voluntary compliance, as an example and best practice, if you would, on how to engage early, how to disseminate information often, and then at the end of the process, it doesn't take rocket science to understand why the participation levels are higher there. So it means bringing people to the table so that they can have that information. One of the things that you and I struggle with on a weekly basis with 99 1/20/10 - COMMERCE - RESOLUTION 090860 the whole stimulus package is how do we engage different groups so that they are at the table early so that they can prepare in advance to get their bonding and insurance correct, so that they can craft strategic partnerships that work and that are meaningful, meaningful joint ventures. But it takes time, and what we find ourselves doing is responding at the last minute. The more information out front and early, the better the participation at the other end. So if that is true, we have to have those dialogues a lot earlier. They're getting ready to build probably the largest courthouse in our lifetime, and we need to be at the table early, before the bids go on the street, so that that inclusion is, first of all, acknowledged that it is a requirement and then, B, actually -- which are people that actually do the work every day and your consultants that actually bring people to the table, so that they have 100 1/20/10 - COMMERCE - RESOLUTION 090860 enough lead time to actually, at the end of the process, be able to report good numbers back. The Chairman and other members of this Committee, this is how it gets done. It's not a question of 17-500 whatever. It's a question of will and consistency. And we have the will, and we're going to be consistent. So we need to kind of use these best practices and examples as rules and guides for the future. I will conclude with one other thing. That Philly-based information for me is just as important as the levels of minority, female and disadvantaged businesses, because it better gives me a sense of the economic impact of how we're doing by way of increasing tax revenues. And Lord knows and you know, we need them, but also in the job creation end. If we have local firms, they tend to hire local people, and to me if we were scoring -- and I know there is no matrix 101 1/20/10 - COMMERCE - RESOLUTION 090860 to do that, but if we were scoring, I'll take one local business over two minorities that are from Chicago any day. So to some degree, whether or not it's in the regs to do that, that Philly-based information is critical for me as a participant on this Committee. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Chairman, if I may address one last thing that Councilman Jones had brought up. Alpha Supplies participates in the Staples contract, and their number -- and Alpha Supplies is an African American male, and their number is 190,023. It's 18.7 percent of that participation. We referred to Natural Pest Control, I believe was the company that Mr. Ortman was referring to. They are a participant on a contract that's African American male. That is $197,000. And one more for you is Manna Building Supply, which is an Asian female company, and that's roughly -- they have a couple 102 1/20/10 - COMMERCE - RESOLUTION 090860 contracts, maybe three that I have right here in front of me, 150-odd-thousand dollars.
One of the things -- and I know you have a lot of responsibilities, all of you gentlemen do, but those are the kinds of examples I'd have tattooed on my forehead. I mean, whenever you come here, you need to be able to lead with some good news. And I understand how difficult the challenge is before you, but every now and then, we like to hear about a success story so that all of our back and forth, all of your good efforts aren't in vain, that somebody somewhere has a contract doing something. And if you get a dozen of them and then analyze them, how did they become successful, how are they sustaining themselves in a recession and kind of make that your mold and model, I think we can all benefit and learn from it.
Thank you, Councilman. I'm glad you provided information to the Councilman before you left. I can tell you that I had a professional flashback to the point when I worked for him, and there is a difference --
There's a difference between these responsibilities being in the Finance Department and being under the Commerce Department. The difference is not just what share or procurement there is, but actually when it becomes an economic development mission, you have to have success stories. It's a much different scenario. I mean, I cannot imagine looking at five, six, seven hundred million dollars worth of contracts and running the Office of 104 1/20/10 - COMMERCE - RESOLUTION 090860 Economic Opportunity and not being able to rattle off the top of my head my success stories in terms of, I got this contract, I got this contract, I got this contract, in terms of what I did. And that's very serious, not just when you come before this Council but in terms of how people will view how credible your strategic plan is in the future. If they can't see it in those simple terms, then it's not going to be real for them. But, Mr. Gregory, I had a more specific question in that regard. When the Councilman asked you about what DBEs jump out and what size contracts they have, you said you've been focused more on new businesses rather than old businesses.
I've been focused primarily on meeting some of those new businesses, increasing the availability of firms on our registry, on our list, yes.
What does 105 1/20/10 - COMMERCE - RESOLUTION 090860 that mean?
That means although I'm happy about the victories we've had, I'm excited --
What does it mean in terms of you've been meeting with new businesses?
Well, just that. I meet with new businesses. I talk to them. I reach out. I sit as part of panel discussions and talk about how to do business with --
Well, in some cases we matched purchasing managers with the actual vendors or contractors and they get awarded contracts.