The City of Indianapolis Office of Minority and Women Business Development (OMWBD) in partnership with BBC Research & Consulting is going to conduct a year-long Disparity Study. The last study was conducted five years back.

The 2019 Disparity Study had shown that minority and women-owned businesses (M/WBE) were highly underutilized in access to city contracts. It was found that M/WBE had many issues such as no access to mentorship, less encouragement, and a lack of access to finance capital.

The City of Indianapolis conducts the XBE Program, which aims to increase procurement opportunities for diverse firms in city contracting.

Every five years, the Consolidated City of Indianapolis, Marion County government, and local partners conduct a disparity study to see whether firms suffer any hurdles throughout the City's contracting processes. The report also contains an analysis of municipal corporation prime contracts and subcontracts.

Local partners who will be partnering in the 2024 Disparity Study are:

• Health & Hospital Corporation of Marion County (HHC)
• Indianapolis - Marion County Building Authority
• Indianapolis - Marion County Public Library (IndyPL)
• Indianapolis Public Schools (IPS)
• Indianapolis Public Transportation Corporation (IndyGo)
• Capital Improvement Board (CIB) Marion County
• Indianapolis Bond Bank
• Indianapolis Airport Authority (IAA)
• Indy Chamber, Business Ownership Initiative (BOI)

This year OMWBD and BBC Research & Consulting will be using a hybrid outreach method to enable local businesses and communities to address their concerns regarding contracting opportunities as well as suggestions to resolve them.

The results will be then informed to local officials so that they can implement changes to rectify these problems that M/WBEs face in the city’s contracting processes.

With the current study, the OMWBD will continue its disparity analysis. As part of the process, OMWBD and its partners invite the public to submit suggestions for improvement.

BBC Research and Consulting will organize two public outreach meetings. Each will notify the public about the study and invite local business owners to share their experiences. The public is welcome to attend, and there will be presentations and a Q&A session.   

Both sessions will be held on June 18th at the Indianapolis Public Library-Central Library at 40 East Saint Clair St. The first session will be conducted from 10-11:30 a.m., and the second from 3-4:30 p.m. If you are unable to attend in person, you can attend the meeting virtually.