Stringer: Many N.Y.C. Agencies Short-Shrift Minority, Women Businesses

More than two-thirds of New York City agencies earned grades of D or F on city Comptroller Scott Stringer's inaugural report card on city government procurements through minority and women-owned business enterprises.

The letter grades, outlined in the "Making the Grade" report released Oct. 1, are intended as a diagnostic tool for agencies to improve performance and transparency in MWBE spending, increase competition in city procurement and save taxpayer dollars.

"New York City spends more than $17 billion on goods and services each year, but less than 4% goes toward minority and women-owned business enterprises," Stringer said in a statement. "When the city gets a D for how well it is meeting its own goals, it's clearly unacceptable."

Local Law 1 of 2013, which updated citywide goals for MWBE procurement, broken down along ethnic and industry lines, provided the framework for the grading system, according to Stringer.

Thirty-one mayoral agencies and the comptroller's office received grades, which are based on actual spending by city agencies. The city has more than 400,000 minority-owned firms and 300,000 women-owned firms, yet according to Stringer the MWBE share of city procurement has dropped from a recent high of 5% in fiscal 2012 to 3.9% percent in fiscal 2014.