Give
the little person a slice of the pie!
by Joseph Hawkins
On
Tuesday, February 10, 2015, the Montgomery County Board of Education
hired Hazard, Young, Attea & Associates (HYA) to search for a new
superintendent for the Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS). HYA
will be paid $35,000 for its work. HYA is the same firm that
conducted previous MCPS superintendent searches.
The
Board awarded the HYA search contract without a competitive bid
process. In my opinion, the Board once again showed its utter disdain
for the little guys and gals of the world.
Since
1998, I’ve worked as a research contractor. I’ve lost track of
how many contracts I’ve bid on, but to make things simple, let’s
just round up and say I’ve been involved in over 100 competitive
bids. The bids have been both small and large. The bids have included
governments (local, state, and federal), foundations, and private
companies.
Over
the years, I’ve noticed that some government agencies take
competitive bidding very seriously, including making sure that small,
women-owned, and minority-owned businesses receive a fair share of
the contract dollars awarded.
I
once had a contract with the state of Pennsylvania and the state
required me to share 25% of the contract dollars with a pre-approved
minority-owned business. I ended up using a certified small-business
located in Washington, D.C., owned by a black woman (this business
also was certified in the state of Pennsylvania). A multi-million
dollar contract with the federal government required me not only to
have annual goals with a pre-approved minority-owned business, but I
had to submit to the feds each year proof that I spent what I had
agreed to spend with the minority-owned business. For this contract,
I ended up using a certified small-business located in Silver Spring,
Maryland, owned by a black man. In the end, both of these black owned
businesses ended up with a fairly substantial slice of the contract
pie.
In
all honesty, I have learned that while it takes a little extra energy
finding small-businesses, in the end, it has always been worth the
extra time.
I’m
totally disappointed that our Board of Education seems so calvalier
about bidding contracts. At the end of the day, I believe HYA should
have competed for that $35,000. And if our Board was serious about
sharing the pie with the little guys and gals, it might actually
award extra bid points to bidders that involve minority-owned
businesses.
And
why is competitive contract bidding some critical for small
businesses, especially the women-owned, and minority-owned
businesses? Because believe it or not fair and open competition is
more likely to level the playing field for such businesses.
Below,
is a 2010 interview I conducted with a black woman who owns her own
small research firm. I think this person helps us understand why
competitive bidding is so critical to the survival of such companies.
---------------------------------------------
(Note: This interview first
appeared in the Rockville Patch newspaper.)
In
1998, when I resigned my Montgomery County Public Schools job, I
went to work for the American
Institutes of Research. When
at AIR, we hired Crecilla Cohen Scott to work on a testing
contract AIR held with the School
District
of Philadelphia. Crecilla
was one of the smartest young researchers I had ever come
across. She always had an uncanny instinct for asking
great questions, and she could crunch numbers with the best of
them. Since 1998, we have remained friends and colleagues.
Departing
AIR in 2000, Crecilla took her skills to the U.S. Census Bureau.
After working there for several years, she went into business
for herself, establishing Infinity Research
in 2007. Infinity is a women-owned research
social-science company. The company also is certified as a
small disadvantaged business. Infinity is based in
Bowie. Crecilla is African American.
Like
all research firms, Infinity survives by bidding on what we in
the industry call requests for proposals (RFPs).
Coming from both government and non-government entities, RFPs
are a lifeline to business contracts, and they are the
difference between staying profitable—surviving—and going out
of business. For the most part, governments are extremely
open and transparent when it comes to contracts, RFPs, and the
bidding process. This openness—when it is consistently
present—aids the “little guy,” including small businesses
like Infinity.
Probably
once a week, Crecilla and I talk shop. When we can partner,
we partner—I personally believe in sharing the pie with the
little guy. For example, several years ago, I used Infinity
to help put workers on the ground so Prince George’s County
Public Schools could restructure its database for the homeless
students the district serves. And so I thought it was
worthwhile to ask Crecilla a few questions about why being open
and transparent is critical to small businesses and their ability
to remain profitable. My questions and her answers (gathered
via email and over a face-to-face lunch) appear below.
Question: In your
opinion, as a small business, why is an open RFP process so critical
to staying afloat?
Answer: An
open RFP process is essential to small businesses because it
provides an opportunity for us to showcase our capabilities,
competitively bid on work, and increase awareness of our
products and services. An open and transparent RFP process opens up
the market and helps to level the playing field. Without an open
and transparent process, many small businesses find it difficult
to compete and generate sufficient revenue to remain profitable.
Question: Recession
or not, it is my experience this region continues to spend money
on research contracts. For a small research firm, what are some
of your biggest challenges when trying to obtain contracts?
Answer: Our
biggest challenge is establishing a professional relationship
with decision-makers and building trust. Larger companies have
the advantage of name recognition and long-established working
relationships with government agencies. When decisionmakers are
unfamiliar with a smaller company’s work, it is particularly
challenging to establish trust. We have several clients that have
provided repeat business, but in the beginning, there was a lot of
work that went into establishing the relationship. We definitely
benefit from and rely on partnerships with larger companies to build
our portfolio—it adds to our credibility and helps build trust.
Question:
Do you have any horror stories about bidding on contracts in this
region? Perhaps a situation where it looked like an agency wanted a
small business, especially one owned by a minority, but then at
the last moment, the contract was awarded to someone else?
Answer: Once,
we were asked to bid on a project that had the potential to
generate significant revenue. We were awarded a very small
contract to develop a high-level “blue print” (or Phase I) of
the larger project. After delivering the “blue print,” we thought
we would be a natural fit to be awarded the larger contract (or
Phase II). As it turns out, the agency decided to go with a
large company to execute the work that we designed.
Question: Just thinking
out loud here, if you could sit with government officials and
give them advice on how to making the bidding process work
better to the advantage of small businesses, what are some
suggestions you’d offer?
Answer: I
would suggest that officials take the time to reflect on the
value that small businesses bring not only to each project, but
also to the U.S. economy. According to the U.S. Census
Bureau, small businesses employ half of all (private
sector) employees, generate 65 percent of new jobs, and pay 44
percent of U.S. private payroll. We are an important part of
the U.S. economy. It is critically important to understand
that small businesses have the ability to provide quality products
and services. Given the opportunity, I would suggest that officials
reduce the paperwork required to submit responses to RFPs. A
simplified, on-line submission process would be more efficient
and it would reduce the number of hours needed to competitively
bid on projects. Also, I would suggest that officials increase
the incentives to larger companies to partner with small businesses.
Sometimes, the “piece of the pie” is so small, we wonder if we
will make it another year.
