By Amber Tai
Boston University News Service
Boston Mayor Michelle Wu and Cambridge City Manager Yi-An Huang signed a memorandum of understanding on Monday that allows cross-city certification for minority-owned businesses seeking government contracts.
The agreement enables businesses certified in one city to automatically qualify as vendors in the other, eliminating duplicate paperwork for minority-owned, women-owned, veteran-owned and LGBTQ-owned businesses.
“The pandemic made very clear that diversification in the pipeline can make or break the economic health of any organization,” Wu said at the signing ceremony. “It’s hard to provide city services that truly serve all residents if the businesses we’re contracting with don’t represent all of our residents.”
Boston reported $100 million in diverse supplier spending this fiscal year, with contracts to these businesses increasing by 40% from the previous year. The city awarded $77.5 million in contracts to 61 businesses, with 75% going to minority-owned firms that created 600 new jobs.
Cambridge officials acknowledged lagging behind Boston in supplier diversity.
“Under 1% of our spending was going to minority-owned businesses,” Huang said. “It was a huge wake-up call to look at how our systems created this outcome.”
Both cities will track progress through public contract equity dashboards. The agreement takes effect immediately, allowing certified vendors to bid on contracts in either municipality.
The move comes amid statewide efforts to boost diversity in government contracts. The state has created a Supplier Diversity Office Diverse and Small Business Advisory Board and named Black Economic Council of Massachusetts President Nicole Obi to lead it.
This story originally appeared in The Boston Business Journal.
