BATON ROUGE, LA — July 16, 2018 — Today, Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome announced that the City-Parish intends to award a contract to Keen Independent Research to conduct its disparity study subject to successful contract negotiations and Metro Council approval.
Request for proposals (RFP) were released in March to provide technical and administrative support for the development of a citywide disparity study aimed at expanding the pool of bidders on City-Parish contracts. The consultant will design and conduct a study to examine the extent to which disparities exist in the City-Parish’s utilization of qualified small (SBE), minority (MBE), women-owned (WBE), and veteran-owned (VOB) enterprises as contractors and subcontractors, through departmental procurement practices.
Seven companies submitted responses to the RFP. They were:
- Abaci Research & Consulting, Bastrop, TX
- Euquant, Inc., Atlanta, GA
- Griffin & Strong, Atlanta, GA
- Keen Independent Research, Denver, CO
- Mason Tillman Associates, Oakland, CA
- MGT Consulting Group, Tallahassee, FL
- Miller3 Consulting, Inc., Atlanta, GA
“This is a step toward building inclusivity and equity into the fabric of our community,” said Mayor Broome. “My administration remains focused on identifying disparities among those who do business with the City-Parish. This data will also help us increase competition and obtain the best price on contracts while simultaneously strengthening DBE and small business participation in the bid process. Last year, 24% of the 274 sealed bids in the city-parish had only one bid or zero bids. We look forward to seeing these numbers improve in the near future."
Keen’s proposal was determined to be most responsive to the needs of City-Parish, taking into consideration price and other evaluation factors set forth in the RFP.
“We are thrilled to be selected for this important project,” said Annette Humm Keen, Principal of Keen Independent Research. “Our team has strong expertise in small business and MBE/WBE programs, as well as programs for veteran-owned businesses. We have completed more than 100 similar studies across the country including the recent disparity study for the City of New Orleans. And, our team includes Baton Rouge sub-consultants who will help us reach out to the community so everyone has a chance to be heard. We are all eager to get started.”
Upon approval, the contract would begin in September and continue for a 12-month period.