Council members in Montgomery County have taken action to curb disparities in procurement procedures. On Tuesday, the council voted on continuing a targeted business program for an additional year, introduced a resolution creating task forces to study the disparity issue, and introduced bills to create more opportunities for women and minorities.  As reported in The Gazette:

In a unanimous vote Tuesday, the council voted to continue the county’s existing Minority, Female and Disabled-Owned Businesses Program that provides outreach and opportunities to historically marginalized groups. However, it will only continue the program for one year, not the five years requested by the executive branch.

In addition, council members introduced a resolution creating two task forces to study the issue and to look at procurement in general.

Councilwoman Nancy Navarro, who chairs the council’s Government Operations and Fiscal Policy Committee, said her committee chose to extend county’s existing program for only one year to give the council room to make changes to its procurement process and ensure that next time the county conducts a disparity study it does not find a similar problem.

The article notes two bills were introduced in addition to the one-year continuation and task forces. The first increases the number of points awarded to minority and women-owned businesses competing for certain contracts. The second gives greater preference to county-based businesses in county contracts under certain situations.

For more information read the full article in The Gazette.