Companies run by women, minorities see drop in city business, report says

Companies owned by women and minorities saw a drop in the business they conducted with city agencies during the past fiscal year, according to a report released Monday by the city comptroller.

It marked the first decline in city business by such companies in three years.

Businesses owned by women and minorities reaped only 4.8 percent of the city’s $15.3 billion procurement budget, the report states.

Because of the city’s meager spending with these firms, the comptroller’s office assigned a grade of “D+” to the city for its efforts to engage companies owned by women and minorities.

Apparently aware of the situation, Mayor Bill de Blasio and several elected officials announced last month the creation of a minority- and women-owned business enterprise office and set a goal of awarding at least 30 percent of to such firms by 2021.

Nevertheless, Comptroller Scott Stringer said “game-changing shifts” aren’t happening.

“As much as we talk about moving forward, this report demonstrates that at least for the last fiscal year, we moved backwards and have a long way to go,” he said.

Although there are roughly 540,000 minority-owned and 414,000 women-owned firms in the city, only 4,527 – less than 1 percent – are certified with the city. Only 994 of the certified firms received city spending in fiscal 2016.

In compiling its report, the comptroller’s office looked at 31 city agencies and graded them on the amount they spent on construction, professional services and goods in business dealings with companies owned by women and minorities.

Fifteen agencies were given “D” or “F” grades. Eleven agencies earned higher grades than they did last year.