The City of Arlington exceeded its 30% aspirational goal of awarding contracts to local minority-owned and women-owned businesses for goods and general services and professional and construction services valued at over $50,000 during the last fiscal year.
In all, 134 contracts with a total value of $161 million were awarded through the City’s MWBE Program during Fiscal Year 2024, which ended Sept. 30. Of those, 51, or 38%, were awarded to MWBE businesses as the prime contractor. Arlington established its MWBE Program and the Office of Business Diversity in 2021 as part of the City’s efforts to increase participation with minority and woman-owned companies as suppliers, prime vendors and subcontractors.
Contractors, like Rey Morales, say those efforts are paying off for local businesses like his. Morales Construction Services recently wrapped up $1.1 million in renovations to the Arlington Tennis Center, the latest of several successfully completed construction contracts with the City since 2016, he said. Morales said the Office of Business Diversity has helped open doors for businesses of all sizes to bid on opportunities and demonstrate their great work.
“I feel that as a minority-owned business, you have to work hard to prove yourself over and over again. You don’t want someone to think you got the contract for that reason solely. So, one of the challenges is to perform, and I think we have done a great job of performing,” Morales said. “Any time you are able to provide repeat work for a customer, that is fantastic, that says a lot about how we performed as a company working with the city, that we meet the City’s expectations.”
The City of Arlington has established contract-specific goals designed to equitably and conscientiously include MWBEs in the City’s procurement process for goods, general services, professional and consulting services, construction, and architectural and engineering services where there are subcontracting opportunities. The program requires contractors to make good faith efforts to use MWBEs in certain contracting and procurement opportunities. Every locally funded contract will be evaluated by the Office of Business Diversity to determine the appropriate goals for MWBE participation, which will vary based on MWBE availability, the nature of the contract, the City’s past experiences with MWBE participation in similar contracts, price competitiveness, subcontracting opportunities, and other relevant factors.
The Office of Business Diversity presented its annual report to the Arlington City Council in January. During FY24, the average MWBE goal for the contracts that were awarded was 21% and the MWBE utilization, or spend, for the awarded contracts was 50%.
Also in FY24, the City was issuing payments on 272 contracts with a total contract value of $576 million. Of those, 102, or 37.5%, were with MWBE firms, exceeding the City’s aspirational goal.
The City also saw 916 new vendors, 228 of which were MWBE businesses and 61 of which were based in Arlington, sign up to bid on goods and services opportunities. That was a significant increase over FY23, which saw 180 MWBE businesses sign up with the City as new vendors.
The Office of Business Diversity’s outreach and engagement efforts included:
- attending 35 monthly meetings with various organizations
- hosting five business diversity workshops that spotlighted City departments
- holding eight monthly supplier meetings for vendor engagement
representing the City at 12 local construction and professional services expositions
- attending 32 community events hosted by local Chambers or advocacy groups
- participation in five training and certification programs
- coordination of 28 one-on-one meetings with interested vendors
The Office of Business Diversity also partnered with Prosperity Bank to host a professional, financial, and educational Masterclass Series created especially for entrepreneurs, MWBEs and small business owners. The program’s goal was to provide resources for businesses to improve their operations, analyze their financial status for future planning, and review marketing strategies to target potential customers. During the 12 weeks of curriculum, instructed by business executives, participants from 14 businesses learned best practices and strategies for developing an effective plan for successful business growth. Through the program, the Office of Business Diversity helped four participants obtain MWBE certification. Three of the participants have also been connected with a direct contract/opportunity with the City.
Rey Morales, president of Morales Construction Services, at the Arlington Tennis Center.
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