Um so Madam Secretary will reconvene um contract compliance meeting.

Can you please call that meeting to order?

Thank you, ma'am.

That meeting at your recess have the following members absent, and we will add them at this time.

Commissioner Naya has been added to the row.

Commissioner Laurie is added to the row.

Commissioner Moore is absent.

You do have a quorum.

Okay, a quorum is present.

Do we need remote participation?

Uh you do need remote participation for Commissioner McCasco.

Okay.

Commissioner McCaskill is on contract complexity.

Yeah, we're on contract complaint.

Is there anyone else connected remotely?

Commissioner Stamps has been.

Thank you.

Okay.

Commissioner Naya will allow members to participate remotely.

Second by Commissioner Lowry.

Madam Secretary, you please take the roll.

Thank you.

Commissioner Aguilar, your vote.

Aye.

Commissioner Naya.

Is aye?

Commissioner Naya is aye.

Thank you.

Commissioner Dagnan.

Commissioner Degnan is aye.

Thank you.

I know we're late, but I need to hear your mic because I can't hear you.

Thank you.

Commissioner Laurie.

Thank you.

Commissioner McCasco.

Aye.

Commissioner Moore is absent.

Commissioner Kevin Morrison.

Aye for this vote.

Thank you.

Commissioner Scott.

Commissioner Scott is excused.

Thank you for that.

Commissioner Stamps.

Aye.

Thank you.

Commissioner Vasquez.

Aye.

Thank you.

Madam Chair.

Aye.

Thank you.

The motion is approved.

Are there any changes to the agenda?

No changes to your agenda.

All right.

Any public speakers.

You have three in the room that I see.

Thank you.

George Flakemore, followed by Jessica Jackson, then Zoe Lee.

Please come to the mic.

And compliance.

I've just got through seeing this.

And I just got through seeing this lady here.

And this other gentleman right in front of me, he's playing on his phone too.

Anyway, contract and compliance.

The question.

The big question.

How many contracts?

What percentage of a contracts go to black people?

I don't want to hear about no minorities.

What amount of these contracts are going to black people?

Over at the city.

Only two percent.

What?

Only uh only two percent.

And Carla Robinson, what where do you know her from the county?

They just recycle them from one whole pin to the other.

Where do you know Carla from?

That light skin, they had long hair Carla Robinson.

Right here, many years she worked here.

They just uh a recycle the hog just from one pen to another.

Are you sure that's called?

She worked over here.

Ma'am, uh Ryan Jarse, what do you know him for?

Oh, we're here, and these contracts and compliance and the blacks in the city of Chicago only receive our contractors.

Black MBs, WBs, what what amount do the black receiving?

Two percent you got a dollar, and two pennies of it uh uh a black people get but you got one minute black faces, stop it.

Me and stop it.

I told you to have a clock up here, a digital clock.

Just when you get ready, two minutes, one minute, time is out.

I'm asking this question to you, sir.

You've been dealing with this finance for a long time.

What amount of this money?

These contracts go to black people.

MB WB, I'm talking about black.

Now look at Lee and now turn around talking to 30 seconds.

30 seconds, 30 seconds.

Now, where did you know Carla from Robinson?

Well, or Robinson uh hotels and more and rich right here.

What percent of these contracts of black people get it?

Look at look at what percent?

Untime has expired.

Yeah, time is ow.

Our next speaker.

Jessica Jackson.

One dollar two page.

Not even a penny come over here.

My time starts when I get the attention.

Anyway.

Since this is about contracts, let's look at the contracts.

Because most contracts that come through here and through the city are talking about contracts for builders, construction workers, developers.

But we know that there are other contracts that Cook County gets into with people.

For example, the contracts that Cook County uh public administrators and judges get into with private law firms.

Like DeMonte and Robbins.

Like what's the one that Thomas Leon Weber is saying?

Leon Webber, Baroni, and Defada.

Those are the contracts, Miss Auditor, Bridget, auditor, that you need to be auditing.

That's who that you need to be looking at that money and see how much money is wasted on cases that rather than Cook County settling the cases, they go and get private law firms and get them involved.

That's war more waste, more fraud, more abuse.

That go to contracts, and I just gave you some.

I said Robinson, Robinson Damante.

I bet you're not writing it down.

And seeing I'm saying it again, as an auditor, a form of an accountant, you do not have the luxury of saying you don't know.

What you're doing is refusing to do your job.

Because you can track money when you can't track nothing else.

So you're just refusing to do your job.

Now, this lady in the burgundy jacket, I'm not sure what her name is.

When they talked about when that other contractor got up here to talk about his contract, as soon as she looked, she said, Oh, this Epstein.

Epstein is on here.

I don't understand why that upset you when JP Christus' relative is was on the Epstein file.

I bet you didn't quit your Cook County job because you couldn't handle it and run because you couldn't handle hearing Epstein because he's on the Epstein file.

He lost his job, had to step down because he was on it.

So worry about this Cook County file that we getting ready to get.

What the cook county list?

That's gonna have all y'all name on it.

You worry about that list, not no Epstein file list.

We're about this Cook County list because y'all the ones that's doing it.

Not Trump.

Get that information, auditor.

Next speaker, Zoe Lee?

Yeah, with that silly smile with that.

I want to ask, I I would ask Stanley Moore, but he don't do nothing.

You know, that's our that's my Cook County commissioner for where the building was unlawfully demolished.

But maybe you chairman, you know, Donna, if you probably could do this, you know, uh in the auditor, Bridget.

Where is the audit comparing demolitions on Chicago's South Side versus the North Side?

How many property owners were compensated following demolitions of privately owned properties?

How many of those properties or vacant lots were later transferred, sold, or connected to investors and developers receiving city funding, tax breaks, TIFF funds, or redevelopment incentives.

If is there a public report tracking the financial beneficiaries of these demolitions and redevelopment deals?

Now mine is from 2017, 7954, 7958 South Halsted.

That was the Sam Piper's Lounge.

I just would like to know because that's when they did they demolished it.

We never got compensated.

That was violation of our due process.

Violation of my Godfather's due process.

He had that business since 1965, December 13th.

He paid that was a paid off, it was paid off.

He did not owe anybody, and they never gave him his equity.

So I'm just asking, if I can just get that, I I promise you, I'll be gone out of here.

Because that right there is that just that.

We never got compensated.

We never got compensated at all.

And I know plenty of people that are good friends of mine who are white who were they knocked their buildings down and get told them to give them a price.

They told them to give them a price.

So I'm just asking, if we could just make my godfather still alive and my mother's still alive.

And we that's all I would like.

I'm and I the one Republican here, he ain't gonna do it.

You understand what I'm saying?

So please.

Lowry, my mother all my mother love you.

You're the only one that helped.

In 2017, when they were trying to mess it up, she she speaks very highly of you.

You were the only one.

My mother, that's why I don't really say nothing to you, because you really did do your do your job.

So just letting you know that's all I'm asking.

If someone can just and and you can I'll give you my godfather's information and my mother's information, and y'all could talk to them.

They are still alive and well.

They they they move around great, and they just want to enjoy their last days.

And I want to make sure that they do.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Madam Chair, that concludes your speakers.

All right, the chair will entertain a motion from Commissioner Anaya to move approval of item 26-1356.

The minutes from the meeting of April 9th, seconded by Commissioner Dagman.

Uh voice vote.

Yes.

Okay, all in favor say aye.

That is approved.

Uh all opposed say nay.

The ayes have it.

The motion carries.

Now, Commissioner Naya, please move the next item on the agenda and seconded by Commissioner Dagman.

I'd like to move um the receive and file of item 26-0815.

This is the Office of the Chief Procurement Officer, the FY2025 Annual Diversity Report.

Thank you.

So we have uh contract compliance here to give us an update.

And ma'am, who was the second?

Commissioner Dagman.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you, Commissioner.

Uh huh.

There we go.

Thank you, Commissioner, and uh thank you for giving us the opportunity today to present uh for Nicole and I to present the FY25 annual diversity report.

So uh looking at our current state, and in summary, our commitment is unchanged.

This our program, our MBEWBE program is authorized by county ordinance.

It's administered by the OCPO, and it's structured to deliver measurable, legally defensible outcomes in any environment.

Last year we we awarded approximately one uh one a little bit over one billion in contract awards, 231 million or 214.4% of that was awarded to certified MW DSBE firms, and that's as primes and subs.

Uh we do intentional outreach and the engagement we do in outreach drives results.

Uh last year uh we engaged with over 2900 vendors through outreach, and uh we believe that about 800 plus firms are trained, contract ready, uh, which and this effort contributed to a 9% growth in our certified vendor pool.

So for the first time we surpassed 700 firms, and this is uh represents across 23 industry sectors.

Uh our legal our program authority and legal framework, and we believe it's it's built to last.

Uh we have statutory authority, as I said, we're authorized under Cook County Code of Ordnance, Chapter 34, Article 4, Division 8, and our program is administered by the Office of the Chief Procurement Officer.

We have databased participation goal framework, our participation goals and our methodology, it's ordinance prescribed planning and benchmarks.

We don't do quotas, we don't do guarantees, we do not do set-asides, we do contract-specific goal setting.

Our program is locally funded and independently administered.

Uh, our program authority again derives from our uh code, and there is not from any federal regulation, and we are not dependent on federal program funding to run our MBEWBE program.

Our program is grounded in market evidence.

The goal setting is informed by the NAICS based available uh based availability analysis and our 2022 disparity study findings, and this is consistent with applicable law and industry best practices.

And lastly, in an evolving environment, we believe we have a stable foundation.

Uh and the FY25 uh administrative practices were refined to strengthen our documentation, transparency, and defensibility in an evolving legal and regulatory landscape.

Nicole.

Hi, I'm gonna walk you through the remainder of slides.

I know it's the end of the day, so I'll um make my remarks brief.

Um before I move forward, I wanted to uh before we start talking about the numbers.

We wanted to give you an overview of our goal setting methodology because it's one of our most misunderstood components of our program.

Uh the goal setting methodology goals are aspirational targets, they're not quotas, they're not guarantees, and they're not automatic set asides.

A goal reflects who is available, what the market shows, and what the market requires.

We also take into account historical utilization patterns, we inform the which informs our determinations when such data is available.

The Cook County uh follows a data-driven participation methodology, which was developed by Colette Holton Associates, who is a nationally recognized leader, excuse me, and contract compliance and disparity study research.

This methodology is used by jurisdictions across the country because it is analytically rigorous and legally defensible.

When we evaluate contracts for goals, we look for three things.

What certified firms are available and qualified in a specific trader service area, what the contract's work scope can actually support in terms of subcontracting opportunities, and where their historical data exists, meaning what utilization patterns have we seen on similar contracts over time.

When we have determined there is no prior history to draw from, we rely on market availability and so and subcontracting feasibility alone.

The result is a goal that reflects market reality, not a number we picked, not a percentage applied automatically, not a quota, a contract specific evidence-based determination.

Our progress on this slide, we want to reflect to you the work that the team has done in the prior fiscal year.

To date, we have connected with more than 800 small businesses to engage with them in contract readiness training.

We have more than 706 certified firms, with the majority of our certified pool being comprised of construction.

That's the largest uh composition of our certified firms, construction, followed by professional services and goods and services.

And as mentioned earlier, of the 706 unique firms, those categories firms are across 23 unique categories.

And overall, our utilization rate is 21.4 percent year over year.

Um, if anybody is looking at last year's number, we kind of want to address what address this on its face.

Last year was 31.7 percent, this year is 21.4 percent.

So I know that sounds like the number has gone down, but it actually has not mathematically.

Um so if you think about the last prior three fiscal years, three years ago, this uh award was 78 million dollars to firms, two years ago it was 101 million, and the year before or this year is 231 million.

So essentially what you have, even though the percentage decreased, um, we doubled our utilization to our firms year over year.

We wanted to provide a very brief breakdown of our certified vendor pool.

58 percent of those are are women-owned, 42 percent are male-owned.

But by certification type, and what I mean by certification type, these are unduplicated unique certification types.

333 of them are MBEs, 24 percent are WBEs, and the remaining 27 percent or 191 firms have a combination of either MW or VBE type certifications.

And then again, overall, these are compiled across construction, goods and services, and professional services, which directly aligns with our procurement structure.

Our small business impact, again, we awarded more than 231 million dollars in contracts to uh the MWD SBE community.

This is inclusive of prime and subcontractor awards.

138 million dollars was paid, which is a reflection of our spin to the minority-owned firms.

We are happy to announce that we are able to track for the first time the amount of prime awards that we have awarded to Ms or WBEs, that is 19 for fiscal year 25.

16 of those were awarded to the MBE to MBE firms, and three were awarded to WBE firms.

And then overall, we set 120 full goals on contracts, only issuing 12 full or partial waivers.

Shifting to Cook County Health, they are structurally different than the procurements at Cook County government because they operate in a medical clinical environment, so the procurements are different and they are structurally constrained differently.

Overall, for Cook County Health, we were able to award nine prime contract awards.

The total spend for Cook County Health was 1.6 billion dollars of that 100 million was awarded to MWBEs, and then overall our utilization for the hospital was 28 percent, but in dollars that represents 209 million dollars awarded to primes and subs.

When we look at our achievements from the operational standpoint, um a few things stand out.

Uh we the team has monitored or continues to monitor more than 2400 contracts, they've closed 1500 contracts, and for the certification team, where we are required to certify or approve files in 90 days, the team is coming in well under that at uh completing files in 49 days.

A testament to professional development within the team.

There were two team members who achieved contract compliance administrator or certification in the year, and that again is the professional credential for contract compliance that was achieved by the team.

This is really demonstrating our commitment to professional development and expertise on the team.

B2G is the system that we use that is now fully deployed that gives us ability to uh monitor and audit uh the compliance of contracts.

We also have been able to establish field audits where we're now going out to do site visits and validating commercially useful function.

Um we are happy to report that we have expanded our reciprocity agreement with the City of Chicago.

We now are able to accept VBE and SDVBE certifications with the City of Chicago, and then overall, as uh the environment shifts, we are in um open conversations with our regional partners around a universal SBE certification.

Okay.

Well, uh since the last slide is not showing it.

Uh well, since the last slide is not showing, the last slide was about our initiatives for fiscal year 26.

We have four pillars that we wanted to focus on.

Um, those pillars are uh analytical integrity.

We want to can we will continue to um strengthen and look at how we measure how uh what businesses are available and who's qualified to compete for county contracts.

This will also help us improve our data reconciliation between certification, award, and payment records.

This makes our goal setting more precise and our reporting more defensible.

Pillar number two is procurement design, um procurement design alignment.

Um we are working upstream.

What does that mean?

That means the best compliance outcome is one where we help shape the contract before it was advertised.

So in this current year, we're working with the teams earlier in procurement in the procurement planning process, working with user departments to help develop scope to develop their scopes of work to identify subcontracting opportunities before a contract is solicited.

And then the last two, our vendor capacity, vendor readiness and capacity.

We're focusing on expanding our contract readiness programming and continuing to go grow our certified pool.

We are also advancing again in exploratory stages of the universal SBE certification with our regional partners.

This is because we believe this will reduce barriers for our small businesses across jurisdictions.

This is not only a good policy, but we think this is a good regional leadership opportunity.

And then lastly, governance and compliance integrity.

We are sustaining our administrative infrastructure that we built in FY25.

We will continue to leverage our B2G system.

We will continue to monitor and do uh commercially useful function field reviews.

We will work uh more proactively to expand our VBE and S D V BE reciprocity implementation with the city, and then we will also continue to focus on making the clear distinction between compliance oversight and a contract administration, which makes our program credible.

The Cook County Business Enterprise Development Program is legally grounded, administratively sound, and built to deliver measurable results.

The data you saw today reflects a program that is working and a team that is committed to making it stronger.

We administer it because it is right, it is defensible, and it serves the people of Cook County.

We hope today's presentation gave you uh a clear picture of where we are, where we're going, and we're happy to answer any questions that you may have.

Thank you so much.

Okay, any questions?

Commissioner Naya, Commissioner Moore, Commissioner Lowry.

Well, thank you so much for um the presentation.

I'll be very uh brief with my question.

So I'm very interested in the SBE uh model.

I think to your point and what you highlighted, I think that that's uh a great way to go about it.

So um can you just walk us through what the status of that is is that something because it seemed like you're looking into it.

I'm not sure if it's already been implemented, and how can us as commissioners be supportive of that effort?

Uh it is not thank you, Commissioner, for the question.

Um, it is not implemented yet.

Um, because uh when you have a lot of people at the table to get one thing on one accord, it takes a little bit of time.

And so maybe about a year to two years ago, um, our regional partners, I'll just be specific with like the city of Chicago, CTA MWRD.

Um, given the current environment, we were trying to figure out ways that we can smok support the small business community without adding more burden in the event that something happened to our programs.

And so for us, it just made sense to explore having a universal SBE certification.

Each municipality has its own um ordinance law state statute to consider.

So what I can say is we're in a good space collectively because I think um all the organizations have gotten to a point where we have pretty much agreed upon what certification standards look like, what we're willing to accept.

There's some smaller nuances, but uh we're not there yet.

I think we do have a sense of urgency uh around having uh establishing a universal certification.

I think for us right now, the biggest challenge would be, and it's not necessarily a challenge, but we would need to open the ordinance and we would need to establish a small business uh division of the ordinance, so that requires some work, and then I think we would be bringing that before the body as a certification type.

Um, but we are still we need to work with legal um and all of the uh attorneys across the uh the various organizations would have to agree.

I will say that I believe that we could get there quicker, maybe not with all of the parties, but I think there's um synergy being able to do this with the city of Chicago and CTA much quicker.

And so we have already talked to um CTA and um Juan Pablo, who is an advocate and is willing um to come and testify before you to talk about how they have leveraged SBE certification at CTA.

They have given me data and numbers to tell us um to show and demonstrate um the strength of an SBE program.

And um I think you know we we're there, but we just have a little bit more work to do, and we're hoping this is something we can get accomplished before the end of the fiscal year.

Well great well thank you for that update I'm truly very appreciative um you know I think um to your to your point about urgency I think that that's important.

I know we have discussed some of this I guess around two years um specifically had brought forward a resolution about about the program and our commitment to ensure diversity within our programs um but the small business component is extremely um beneficial I think um you know as vice chair of business and economic development would obviously support that and anything that you may need from uh you know my office I'm sure other colleagues um are interested in moving that forward as well so we're we're here to support that effort and we appreciate uh your due diligence in moving that if I can add one thing commissioner anything we do with SBE would add to our program we would not replace our and that's right I just want to reinforce that point.

Thank you Rafi and I think that that's the important piece here um that we're adding to it and that we're supporting um that so that that's great um I just had a really quick um uh question regarding um the the the contracts without any goals so that on your report there was a few instances I think 105 overall that did not have goals um primarily because either there were sole source limited uh ability um uh grant funded et cetera et cetera so um I trust that you all do your due diligence to check that but is that something that is initiated by the vendor or you all know the market and you kind of already know off the bat that maybe this con a certain contract is going to be a sole source et cetera.

So when we receive um or when procurement I gotta get used to it when uh when procurement when we receive um a request from the user departments uh the compliance team receives a request for goal setting so when they receive a request for goal setting they are evaluating whether there are subcontractable scopes of work and um so they are at that time determining yes a goal is a is is yes we can have a goal or no we can't have a goal um if in any instance where there is a goal the team will challenge it um so if it's a sole source typically because of the contracting um avenue uh we we you know most folks don't think you challenge a sole source but we do um the team is making sure that it is a true source source that you're not trying to get around not having a goal um they are validating that um uh solicitations or contracts that are going out if they're grant funded they're actually grant funded so yes the team is validating all of that okay uh I'd like to follow up on like what that would look and and not at this time but um I know Commissioner Dugnan brought up a really good question about a previous contract with the lapse of two years and whether you know it could I I I put that into context now because if there is some you know a contract that there the the there was no goal that was set but then you know two years forward like does you know how exact what are the mechanisms we put in place to check that again once we're moving the contract forward so I think that that's important to kind of take into account.

The the very last question um uh so in one of your pages under the subsection B awards and payments by certification the under construction the awards versus the payments seems uh very drastic in that chart um earlier today we had I don't know if this is you know due to lagging an in payment but earlier today we had a contract that came before us in a previous committee uh transportation and um this one was a payment approval for the contract period starting in 2023 through um 2025 so we're we're paying into that so I I'm just I I want to connect the dots so is is there these are the type of contracts that we're seeing that there may be payments are are really late and then what is the cause of us being delayed you know two three years to pay out some of our vendors so uh commissioner with with with those two situations it's the it's the vendor submitting the the invoices after the after the contract closed and so the only the only mechanism then for us to to pay to pay those invoices is to come before the board and and uh with the request for a for the board's approval to pay those invoices okay do we have any like uh outstanding because uh again that that chart is it was it it looked very drastic you know even even just visually um so do we have um what do we do on our end to ensure that we're we're reaching out to them and then we're in those cases it's department of transportation okay so they're the ones that would yes the by code departments are responsible for managing their contracts and so they they are the primary liaison with the vendors on any contract in this case it would have been DOTH and they would have been the primary department responsible to reach out to the vendor and make the inquiries.

And so they they are the primary liaison with the vendors on any contract, in this case it would have been DOTH.

And they would have been the primary department responsible to reach out to the vendor and make the inquiries.

Yeah, and and I think I'll follow up with them because I I don't want the county to be known.

I I I know a lot of vendors may not want to do business with government oftentimes because they say, oh, it takes forever.

Yes, it's a lot of documents that need to be submitted, but um sometimes it's just lack of communication or maybe just you know things get translated um lost in translation.

So um I think that maybe this is something we need to figure out how to address and uh to your point, maybe the we if we if your department could talk to like the different agencies and figure out what type of mechanisms can be put in place as well so that communication is a little bit better and we're getting the correct documents so that you know we're paying off our vendors in a timely manner.

And and to that point, Commissioner, um uh reaching out to the comptroller's office, um we we compl that they comply with state statute, which is net 60.

So from the day the day uh an invoice is submitted to the county, there's roughly 30 days for the department to review it.

Uh make sure that we're being charged for services performed at the contractual rates.

Once that once that review is done, the invoice goes to the controller to to make the to make the uh payment, and they're paying relatively quickly.

Uh they're not waiting for 30 days.

They're they're they're paying pretty quickly within 10 days, usually, once they receive an invoice uh from a department.

So the the process moves pretty quickly.

It's but once we get the once the department refuse it and approves the invoice.

Yeah, and all the and reviews the backup sometimes, and especially on construction contracts, uh there's a lot of backup that has to be reviewed as well.

Okay, well, thank you, Rafi.

Thanks, Chad.

And I just wanted to add one more thing, um, Commissioner Anaya.

Um, one of the things that doesn't align, so awards and payment do not track together.

So, you know, as invoices come in, uh contracts are multi-year, so that's why you see the big lag um in in payment like that as well.

Thank you.

Commissioner Moore.

Thank you.

Uh ma'am secretary, can you add Commissioner Moore to the role and previous votes?

Thank you, ma'am.

Thank you.

Commissioner Moore.

Secondly, um what supportive services do we have in place to help MBEs or want to be MBEs become MBEs?

So we work with the Bureau of Economic Development, any small business that has an interest in becoming an MBE.

Um so we do two things.

If they need serious handholding, technical assistance, we refer them to the BSO network and the Bureau of Economic Development.

What's BSO?

Uh the business service business service organizations.

That's that's here internal to the Bureau of Economic Development, their small business program, where they provide technical assistance, um, business coaching and counseling to small businesses who are either um established entrepreneurs or nascent entrepreneurs.

Um these are county employees?

These are county employees.

But then there's also, of course, through the small business network, they also partner with you know your local economic development uh corporations, your chambers of commerce, the apex accelerators who also have expertise in uh what certification looks like, how to bid on uh contracts, they work with them as well.

And then our team, while we can provide some technical assistance and helping folks understand our paperwork, we do more uh I I would say monthly or so, we do do um provide um webinars and training on how to get certified with Cook County, how to understand our paperwork and how to navigate procurement.

But most of the folks that we're dealing with are procurement ready.

Um when they need a lot of assistance, we definitely refer them to community organizations that can um best support them.

So can you share some of those organizations with us?

Because after this meeting, someone comes to me and says, Hey, I need help getting the MBE.

I still don't know who to call.

Sure.

So in our Pathways to Cook resource guide at the back of that document, it does have a list of community service organizations, and we'll be sure to get you a copy over to your staff, and it has a listing of some of the or a lot of um the community organizations that we work with.

Are we still um in um the unified certification program with City of Chicago?

So if you get your MBE at Chicago, you automatically certify at the county.

We still have reciprocity with the City of Chicago.

The unified certification program is a reference usually to DBE.

So we're not Illinois UCP, but we do have reciprocity with the City of Chicago, so we still uh retain that.

So our our certification is accepted at the city.

Yes, and vice versa.

Okay.

Any other agencies they're accepted?

What about sister agencies?

Like, no, so the only well uh let me clarify.

Uh this I don't it's reverse uh reciprocity.

Uh so the state of Illinois does accept our certification, but we don't accept theirs.

MBE.

Yes, yes.

So you can be certified with Cook County and the City of Chicago, and the state of Illinois will accept that certification and they will push you through in seven days or less.

But that's their way, it's not both ways.

But the only way we don't accept theirs.

Um so reciprocity, we have come to an agreement to understand that uh the program requirements at the city of Chicago are very closely aligned with um Cook County.

Um we would have to come to some type of agreement with the state of Illinois to get to that same um point.

We're not there, their program, each program is different while there's similarities.

Um we do have a size standard, we have a personal net worth requirement where the state of Illinois does not.

So that would be a huge uh sticking point for us right now because we need uh per our ordinance per our code, there is a personal net worth requirement, and small business is defined by the SBA's definition, and that's not how the state applies it right now.

So that would require a little bit of work.

We've explored it or exploring it, um, but we're just not there yet.

Okay.

All right, thank you so much.

Uh thank you, Commissioner Valley.

Thank you, Chair.

Uh thanks for the report and uh Rafi and Nicole, thanks for always being available when when we reach out.

Couple questions.

Um Nicole, you said something very important.

You said that the award um likely does not correlate directly with the spin because of the way the contract reads.

Okay.

For the 12-month period we're talking about, are we able to determine two different things?

The percentage of participation, and then for that same period, the percentage of spend because where I come from, you can have 50 percent of the participation.

But if your 50 percent is represented by one dollar contract, you ain't gonna be at 50 percent of the spend.

Right.

So does the report detail those two different areas?

And if not, that's the information I'm really interested in.

Yes, I don't think we broke it out by percent, but um overall um for the on the government side, 138 million was our spin to MWBEs against a total spend of a little north of a billion.

So about 1.3 billion dollars was um our total payment, and 1.8 billion was our total award.

So 138 to the 103.

That maybe it's probably about 10 percent.

And then of course, the 231 million to MWBEs to 1.08 billion dollars, which was our award, that's roughly about uh 21 percent.

And then on the hospital side, because I know you're interested in it, um, the hospital had 209 million dollars awarded to um the MWBE community against a total award of 721 million, which gets you roughly about 28 percent.

Right.

And then um 100 million was paid out to MWBEs on the hospital side against a 1.6 billion dollar payment.

That's roughly nine percent.

Right there, specifically, that's a really big number.

Um, and there were some really large contracts um at the hospital system and really on the government side as well that attributes to such large payments.

Uh but specifically for the hospital, um, that 1.6 million, a billion, I'm sorry, is tied to Avalant Health for County Care and CBS, which is our pharmacy benefits contract.

That is very important information, and thank you for just spelling it out so at least I can get it.

Now on the county side, how does that 10 percent uh compare with previous years?

I will have to get back to you on that one.

I usually um tracking in my mind utilization, but I just if you can give me um time to respond to you offline, I'll just do that.

So that would be just helpful to see.

I I like to see trends which way the trends are going.

That helps me.

Um I I continue to hear from subs that in certain situations they're frustrated getting their payments from the primes.

Do we have a mechanism to bring up or try to deal with those situations?

Maybe it's a utilization piece.

Do we have something already in place for that?

Actually we do.

And so it is our B2G system, it's the system that we use.

Um when uh Cook County pays primes, the system notifies us that a prime has been paid.

The prime will validate that they've been paid by Cook County, and then they will also at the same time the prime will indicate whether they prayed a sub or not.

Okay.

It is the responsibility of the sub to report in B to G.

So this is what we call a compliance audit.

They are required to validate that payment was received or not.

If they weren't paid, they validated that it was a zero payment.

If they were paid, they need to validate that they were in fact paid.

If we have in um information that shows that they were paid, the team will manually validate, but we're not trying to do that.

We need subcontractors to validate that they were paid.

They do receive monthly notices notices that says, hey, you were paid, please uh validate.

Okay, great.

Now from that 21.4 percent which you talked about, uh the slide said primes and subs.

Primes and subs.

What's the percentage of primes out of that figure?

That I do not have.

Let's find that out.

That okay, let's find that out.

The other question I have, and I should know this, I just don't remember.

Um, for black women businesses, where are those businesses manifested?

Is that MBE?

Is that WBE?

They are um captured across two categories.

So that's the trend.

Okay.

I thought maybe.

Yeah, so um We need to know that.

They could be M.

Uh they could be W.

Uh-huh.

Um, but what we find is people are making a business decision.

What is the most um what is the word I'm gonna do?

What's what's the greater per percent of participation?

Okay, and in that case, you're looking probably at MBE.

So in practice, it'd be one area or the other.

One area or the other.

Got it.

Okay, that's good.

How there's no double counting.

How many MBEs have graduated out?

In the past year, I don't think we have grabbed in the past year we have not graduated anybody.

Well, we gotta try to do that.

We um we should be graduating uh businesses through the program.

Um for whatever reason, um we have not graduated many.

I believe in the prior year we graduated one firm, but um size standard is based on the SBA definition of small, so that could be tied to your gross receipts and or your um uh gross receipts or your number of employees.

So the one uh firm that did graduate last year, they graduated in one code, but they still remained in the program and the other um commodity codes in which they were certified.

So we have seen some things like that, but in the in my tenure, we've only graduated two firms.

And relative to MBEs, what's the breakdown?

Um African American, Asian, uh Hispanic, etc.

Because I didn't see that on the slide.

It might be in the actual report.

I don't have that with me.

It's in the actual report.

Can I uh provide that to you after uh after we leave here today?

I can send that to you in email.

Okay.

I want to know that.

Um last couple of questions and then I'll stop, Chair.

Um Nicole, you know I'm gonna ask you about waivers.

Uh waiver requests during this period that you've referenced today versus a year previous.

What are we looking at for a waiver request?

Um so waiver request, uh, we had 12, six full, I mean six full and six partial.

Um the team does validate that um a a prime cannot just determine uh whatever is happening.

I don't want to acknowledge or honor uh the goal that was set on the contract.

They have to prove and they have to demonstrate through good faith efforts that they reached out to the small business community and that those firms that they connected with did not have the ability the ability or capacity to perform on a contract.

The sync the team does demon um does document that there is a committee um that we have.

The team collectively gets together and then um a monthly before any contract comes to the board, um, we are aware of if any of the if there's has been any contract that has um a goal or a waiver attached to it.

But they are required um to demonstrate a good faith effort, and we are tracking that.

And commissioner, the the good faith effort process that Nicole just uh uh outlined is all pursuant to the code.

And and as Nicole was saying, it's very rigorous.

So you just can't submit a request to us and expect us to grant the waiver.

It's a rigorous process.

Well, Nicole and I work very closely to create the good faith effort transparency report ordinance in 2019.

And I'm just looking to see if overall, since then are we seeing waiver requests uh go down, stay the same, or increase.

Um let me go back to the team.

Let me pull some data so I can give you uh a better answer.

When I'm giving speeches, I say it's gone down, so I expect the data to prove me right.

Sure, absolutely.

Got it.

Okay, and also for those other numbers that weren't in the report, could you just send those to everybody?

Sure.

Yeah, that'd be great.

Commissioner Dagnan and then Commissioner Stamps.

Thank you, uh Chair.

Um thank you for being here and for talking about contract compliance and sharing the background and the work that you're doing, it's really important.

I have some questions that kind of pivot off of what Commissioner Anaya was uh talking about.

And um they relate kind of to the way that we administer the contract.

So I know that you work with the division, whoever it is is looking for the contract, and then after the contract is executed, and then the vendor is moving forward to do whatever service they're doing.

If it is a more complicated contract where there are a number of um subcontraments, who is in charge of making sure that those vendors are following those requirements and that we're administering that contract to make sure that it's we're getting whatever we contracted for and that we're paying for what we are supposed to pay for.

Well uh for payments uh it's the department that that is responsible for uh reviewing invoices to make sure that that we are being billed for services performed and being charged at contractual rates.

So there so it's the lead department, whichever department is on the contract.

It's their responsibility to go through and and do that analysis.

Okay, what about the first part though?

In terms of contract utilization and MBEWB utilization, it's the OCPO.

And and Nicole and her team go through and monitor with each payment and monitor uh the the utilization on the contract by payment.

Uh as Nicole was saying, uh the system we use to do that work is B2G now, and in that system, that's where the prime will go in.

That's where the prime will acknowledge receipt of payment from the county.

That's where the sub can have visibility to see that their prime has been paid.

That's where the sub is is to acknowledge receipt of payment from their prime.

And so we're tracking by uh uh payment by payment by payment uh uh on our utilization.

And as as Nicole said, we we also now last year started doing site visits.

So we have personnel from the OCPO team that are going out to sites to to verify uh information contained in a prime's utilization plan, go out on site.

Do we see these firms on site?

Are they there?

Are they doing the work that they committed to doing in the utilization plan?

Okay, so apart from the neBweavy businesses, just all like just let's say all contracts.

Say that there's a list of 40 things that they're supposed to do.

So who is in charge of making sure that we're administering the contract the way that we should?

Who is I mean I know that the the team who's getting the contract should be doing that, but is there anybody who's an OCPO who is validating that information?

No, it's it uh by by code, uh by procurement code, departments are responsible for managing their contracts, and that and that management responsibility includes verifying that the contractor is doing the work or providing the services or delivering the goods that they're supposed to be doing contractually, and they are the principal liaison between uh between themselves and their vendor to verify performance.

Okay, thank you.

Nothing else?

Okay, Commissioner Stamps ma'am.

Can you hear us?

Commissioner Stamps.

Commissioner Stamps.

I'm sorry, uh Madam Chair, I don't see your hand anymore.

Okay.

All right.

Well, thank you for that update.

Hearing no further discussion, all in favor of receive and file item number 26-0185 signifying by saying I ma'am, it's a roll call to roll call.

Sorry.

All right.

Commissioner Stamps, are you there?

I am.

Do you still have a question for the committee?

No.

Um actually um Commissioner Lau reacted.

So I'll take my hand down.

Thank you, ma'am.

But I did want to make sure that that information is shared with all of us relative to the uh the question that information being aggregated by ethnicities.

Yeah, some of that's already in the report that will be sent out, and then the other parts Nicole uh office will send out.

All right, so hearing anything else, Commissioner Stamps?

No, ma'am, thank you.

Okay, hearing no further discussion, all in favor of receiving and filing items.

We gotta do a roll call vote on roll call.

So on the floor is a roll call vote request for item number 260815, receive and file by Commissioner Naya, second by Commissioner Degna.

Commissioner Aguilar?

Aye.

Commissioner Naya, aye, Commissioner Degnan.

Aye, Commissioner Laurie, aye, Commissioner McCaskill.

Aye.

Commissioner Moore.

All right, previous votes were all aye.

Commissioner Kevin Morrison?

Aye.

Commissioner Scott is excused.

Commissioner Stamps.

Aye.

Commissioner Vasquez.

Aye.

Madam Chair.

Aye.

Madam Chair, you have 10 ayes.

One excused absence for uh Commissioner Scott.

Okay, an opinion of the ayes have it.

The motion carries.

Commissioner Naya moves to adjourn.

Seconded by Commissioner Moore.

All in favor of adjournment.

Signified by saying aye.

All opposed, say nay.

The meeting is adjourned.

Thank you.

We sure do.