December 4, 2024

The DEI conundrum: How AEC firms can do a better job of responding to these questions on proposals

Flattery

When clients tell me they are struggling to get shortlisted, one of their weaknesses is responding to questions regarding diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI).

“We don't know what they're looking for!” they tell me.

When I read through the responses, I confess I find them lacking. What I typically see is a regurgitation of in-house DEI policies, some kind of non-discrimination statement, perhaps the company's in-house diversity percentages, and a paragraph or two on the diversity of the proposed project team. The project team diversity can be a real head-scratcher for firms because recruiting diverse team members and meeting the stringent requirements of some public entities for utilization presents a whole new set of issues.

Both Oregon and Washington have MWESB (Minority, Women-owned, Emerging Small Business, and Service-disabled Veteran Business Enterprises) certification criteria. The state of Oregon also established COBID (Certified Office of Business Inclusion) certification to certify that a firm is owned by a person of color, a woman, a veteran, or is an emerging small business.

Many primes responding to RFPs feel that finding these certified businesses can be difficult. Because many COBID- and MWESB-certified businesses are small, it only takes one or two jobs to max out their availability to work on projects. Also, firms that could be COBID- or MWESB-certified but aren't, often don't have the resources to do so or aren't interested in certification.

I interviewed two public entities for this two-part article: Amy James Neel, the workforce and contracting equity manager for Portland Community College (PCC) and Hanna Emerson-Steed, the director and chief procurement officer for Oregon State University (OSU).

This article is based on my interview with Neel, who has years of experience as a journey-level carpenter and was formerly training director with Oregon Tradeswomen.

PCC'S COBID AND MWESB HISTORY

PCC requires 20% MWESB and COBID utilization on proposals. The college's overarching goals are to participate in two things: contracting equity and workforce equity. The goal of contracting equity is to create and sustain a competitive and fair business environment for contracting, procurement, and consulting opportunities that include small businesses owned by minority, women, and socially and economically disadvantaged people. Contract workers are often more diverse than directly employed workers, but they can be more vulnerable to discrimination and abuse. Workforce equity focuses on eliminating racial and other gaps in employment and income and ensuring that the workforce is representative of the general population. This includes ensuring that all jobs are good jobs, and that there are opportunities for advancement.

Oregon recently conducted a study that showed wide disparities between the availability of minority-owned businesses and the utilization of those same businesses. “We're looking to correct that. We want to set a target. We want to offer equitable opportunities for access to PCC construction projects. Then we want to measure each demographic against that goal,” Neel said.

As a carpenter, Neel experienced some marginalized behaviors. Thus, her commitment to not only changing those mores, but being transparent about the way PCC utilizes women, people of color and COBID-certified firms on their projects. “We developed a dashboard, and we migrate all our data, including contract value, subs, subs of subs, and how much has been paid to each contractor to date,” Neel explained.

This tool can be found on the PCC website and includes four dashboards: Contractor Equity, Contractor Workforce, Architect Equity, and Architect Workforce.

Statistically most emerging small businesses (ESBs) are owned by white males. Because of that, PCC's 20% inclusion requirement cannot be solely ESB firms. “We absolutely want to support small businesses in our region,” Neel said. “But if the entire 20% of the MWESB goal is met by ESBs, then it excludes those other demographics in the community that tend to be historically marginalized, and we want to elevate those businesses as well.”

RESPECTFUL WORKFORCE PROGRAMS

If you've ever gone after a PCC project, you'll note that the selected design team may be required to participate in an approved Respectful Workplace Program such as Green Dot or RISE Up. Initially, only construction workers were required to comply. Realizing a need to extend it to other trades, PCC is slowly introducing this into architecture proposals.

An RFP for the design of the Sylvania Campus Communication Technology Building Renovation in 2023 describes a respectful workplace as one that is “appropriate, productive, safe, and free from behaviors that may undermine workers' job performance, physical safety, psychological safety, productivity, inclusion, retention, the equitable access to meaningful work, and/or efficiency.”

Neel notes that firms that come into the selection process with one of these programs (or similar) already in place demonstrates that they are fully invested in PCC's policies.

CRITICAL RACE THEORY

Another criterion often found on PCC RFPs is Critical Race Theory. Its purpose is to acknowledge the users the buildings are designed for. “When you put up a building, it has a culture and tradition attached to it. So, the more voices we have at the table, the more lived experience we have to reflect our incredibly diverse users,” Neel said.

The lesson for proposal submitters here is to have a deep understanding of who these people are — and that can vary from project to project. PCC serves people for whom English isn't their first language, people of color and disabled people. They have campus locations that are not accessible by everyone, and serve different gender identities. “All those things are important if you're going to build a building for us. Every single person that wants to take a class at PCC needs to feel like they belong there,” Neel said.

There is a downloadable Facilities Plan Technical Report on the PCC website titled Critical Race Theory, developed in partnership with critical race educator, researcher and strategist Amara H. Pérez, Ph.D. “Part of what I'd be doing in preparation for a proposal response is to understand why PCC subscribed to her approach to design not being neutral, and then I think you're on track.”

WHAT DOES A SUCCESSFUL RESPONSE LOOK LIKE?

Neel said some of the most successful proposals were with firms that leaned into workforce and contracting equity. Specifically, firms that set goals, put them in the RFP, and didn't just talk about how they were going to meet them, but showed excitement and an understanding of why they are philosophically aligned with PCC.

Rather than simply showing how they've done it before and will do it again, they go the extra mile. They've developed relationships with pre-apprenticeship programs. They have an idea for developing an internship for a small minority contracting firm they're excited about. They've created a unique teaming arrangement that they would like to pilot on a PCC project. “The essence is that they came at it with energy, not obstinance,” Neel said. “What we cannot do is inspire buy-in. So, if they come with buy-in, we get excited, and we understand that we have a community partner that we're going to literally build the future with.”

Neel noted that architecture can be a less diverse community. She said if those firms can acknowledge that, and demonstrate an effort to change, that can go a long way. For example, they may say, ‘This is a white-dominated and male-dominated trade. Here's what we're doing to try and foster the next generation of design professionals, and here's a long list of places we've reached out to, and we have a couple of paid interns coming on board.'

She also suggested that putting interns into leadership spaces so they can watch and learn and aren't being relegated to menial tasks is important. “We want to cultivate their leadership. We get excited about that.”

MWESB AVAILABILITY

For primes that have difficulty recruiting COBID or MWESB firms on their team because of availability, Neel said she would like to see them be more innovative about it. “There's a whole bunch of them out there. Maybe they're not certified yet, or maybe they have not been asked to the table yet. So that is where, again, PCC gets really excited about innovation.”

If a prime is willing to reach out to a firm that is eligible for certification or is certified, but doesn't yet have the exposure, and if they have passion and the perseverance to do the work, she said she would love to support them. However, she added that she is not the arbiter of whether a company meets COBID or MWESB criteria. If a certification is in the works, and the prime is facilitating that certification, that would be a selling point.

DEBRIEFINGS AND OTHER PCC MEETINGS

PCC is willing to meet with firms before the RFP. “My goal is to set people up for success, not trick them,” Neel said. It's common for PCC to have pre-proposal meetings to go over the details of what they're looking for. They often have separate information sessions as well. She highly recommends looking out for these meetings, which can be found on Bid Locker.

Neel said PCC also does scads of debriefs, takes copious notes on all proposals, and is fully invested in the candid sharing of information. She said she is happy to sit down with any firm after the fact and talk about ways in which their proposal would have been stronger, adding that she's seen tremendous progress with firms who have leaned into their critique.

Julie Flattery has worked in the AEC profession for over 30 years and uses this knowledge to help firms improve their verbal and visual communications. She also teaches workshops on the Art of Proposal Creation through a co-owned business, Deconstructed Workshops. You can reach her at jflatteryco@gmail.com.