DATE: October 13, 2016
SUBJECT:
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PRESENTATION OF THE SAN DIEGO UNIFIED PORT DISTRICT EQUAL OPPORTUNITY PROGRAM ANNUAL REPORT FOR FISCAL YEAR 15/16 AND DIRECTION TO STAFF
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
The Board of Port Commissioners will be presented with the San Diego Unified Port District’s Equal Opportunity Program Annual Report for Fiscal Year 15/16. The report highlights statistical data under the District’s contracting, diversity and inclusion, and the Americans with Disabilities Act programs.
RECOMMENDATION:
Recommendation
Receive presentation of the San Diego Unified Port District Equal Opportunity Program Annual Report for Fiscal Year 15/16 and provide direction to staff.
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FISCAL IMPACT:
This presentation has no fiscal impact.
Compass Strategic Goals:
This agenda item is part of the reporting system to promote communications with the community and supports the following Strategic Goals:
• A Port that the public understands, trusts, and values.
• A Port with an innovative and motivated workforce.
DISCUSSION:
The Equal Opportunity Program Annual Report provides an overview of activities and statistical data during the last fiscal year under contracting, diversity and inclusion, and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The data is collected to identify opportunities to attract a diversity of businesses and applicants, foster and retain an engaged and committed workforce, and to provide access for all.
Overview
Equal opportunity, inclusion and access are business imperatives. Benefits include decisions based on a wider range of perspectives, partnerships to support business priorities, a talent pool to draw from, increased competition and innovation, and access to new technologies, products, and services. Guided by the following Board policies, the District has been on a journey to foster a culture of diversity, inclusion, and access to all services, programs, and facilities through training, outreach, networking, and implementing business programs and processes:
• BPC Policy No. 359: Equal Opportunity Contracting1
• BPC Policy No. 361: Equal Employment Opportunity and Nondiscrimination2
• BPC Policy No. 362: Americans with Disabilities Act3
Equal opportunity and diversity and inclusion continue to be incorporated into the way we do business through our strategy, culture, business processes, and compliance requirements.
Community Outreach
Outreach is conducted to ensure that businesses and applicants know how to access contract and employment opportunities, develop networking and partnering opportunities, provide opportunities to enhance technical knowledge, and to gather feedback for enhancements. The quarterly Equal Opportunity Program update to the Board continues to proactively share information and seek enhancements to the programs throughout the year. Outreach conducted by equal opportunity program staff included 102 events focused on the following functions:
Activities in the contracting function continued to be supplemented by events coordinated by the Public Agency Consortium (PAC). PAC membership includes the District and sixteen other public entities in the San Diego region. PAC efforts take advantage of collaborative efforts and resources to reach the small business community to provide greater program visibility, notice of contract opportunities, workshops, and greater networking value.
Equal Employment Opportunity
With the objective of creating a diverse applicant pool from which to hire from, employment opportunity outreach included job fairs, participation in community meetings, distribution to all District employees, community organizations, District Twitter followers, postings on LinkedIn and our website. NEOGOV, our human resources applicant system, also sent email notices to those who completed a Job Interest Card in the last year for available employment opportunities. Additional outreach and advertising is conducted on a case-by-case basis.
During the report period there were 48 hires. Of the 48 hires, 30 or 62.5% voluntarily self-identified as either minority or woman.
There were nine (9) recruitments that did not result in the hiring of a minority or woman and upon further analysis, applicant pools from which to hire from included the following percentage of minorities:
The minimum qualifications screening did not identify any adverse impacts in the applicant flow. Testing or other assessments are conducted on a case-by-case basis after determining those applicants who met minimum qualifications.
Based on the above, outreach efforts generated a diverse applicant pool in the majority of the nine recruitments, with the best qualified individual hired and included in the following work force analyses.
Since last fiscal year, the workforce increased by 14 employees or 2.8%. Women have increased by 10, or 5.2%. Minorities have increased by 6, or 2.8%.
From 14/15 to 15/16, women (5.2%) and minorities (2.8%) reflect a greater or equal to rate of increase than the total workforce (2.8%).
While no hiring goals can be set for employment opportunities, the purpose of tracking this data is to identify opportunities to enhance the District’s outreach and identify areas of concern to ensure non-discrimination in employment practices. One indicator of diversity is to reflect the community we serve. This can be measured by comparing availability data with workforce representation. Availability data is an estimated percentage of individuals in a given group in comparison to the total population.
In the availability “snapshot” of the District’s workforce above, the representation in comparison to the availability data in the San Diego region reflects under representation of women, minorities, Hispanics, American Indian, Pacific Islanders, and those with two or more races.
In addition to the above, a workforce analysis of the various job groups was conducted to further identify areas where outreach could be enhanced (Attachment A). For this analysis, absent more recent civilian labor force availability by job category, the 2006-2010 American Community Survey for San Diego County State and Local Government Job Groups availability data was used. The attached analysis based on June 2016 workforce data shows the areas of under representation and areas of success in reaching or exceeding parity with availability data. In comparison to 2015, the size of the District increased and overall there continues to be under representation of women in the Technicians, Protective Services, Skilled Craft and Service Maintenance job groups. Minorities are underrepresented in the Managers, Technicians, Protective Services, and Skilled Craft job groups. Other than the increase, the data does not identify any significant changes in the workforce from last years’ snapshot.
Activities during the year to grow our applicant pool included the Intern and Summer Student Worker Programs.
Employment outreach in FY 16/17 will include the partnership with the city schools for a job shadow program, the District’s Summer Student Worker program, preparation workshops for potential Harbor Police applicants, hosting a career fair on Tidelands, recruitment via social media, and the development and implementation of a Diversity and Inclusion Strategic Plan to reinforce our commitment and responsibility to generate a diverse applicant pool and to hire the best qualified individuals.
Accessibility
Under the ADA program, two projects went before the Accessibility Advisory Committee (AAC) under the administrative procedures implemented to foster a culture of inclusion for all by encouraging Universal Design on District and tenant improvement and development projects:
• Shelter Island Boat Launch Facility Improvements Project - District CIP Project
• City of San Diego’s ADA Improvements Along North Harbor Drive at Ash, Grape, Hawthorne and Laurel Streets Project
The AAC also received presentations on the draft ordinance on Accessible Parking Time Limitations on Tidelands Presentation, Parking Business Plan for Parking @The Port, and the Park Permit Application for feedback and enhancements to accessibility.
Contract Awards
It is the policy of the District that all businesses are provided equal opportunity to participate in the performance of District contracting opportunities. Furthermore, the District is committed to take all necessary and reasonable steps to increase its utilization of small businesses for a positive economic impact to the region.
Overall contract awards: These included 56 awards by the Board in public works and consulting, services, and other awards for a total of $48,767,531 of which $14,161,865 or 29%, went to Small Business Enterprises (SBEs). Minority, Women, Disabled Veterans and Veterans Business Enterprises (M/W/DV/VBEs) were awarded $12,521,670 or 25.7% of the total dollar awards.
Although the District was established by the State, it is not a State department or agency subject to the State goals of 25% for small business participation and 3% for disabled veteran business participation. The District takes all necessary actions to comply with the State’s intent to ensure small and disabled veteran business participation in District contracting. In addition to the State’s goals, the California Public Utilities Commission has implemented a minority business participation goal of 15% and a women business participation goal of 5%. In comparison to these measurements, in overall contracting awards, the District has exceeded the small and minority business participation goals, but not the woman or disabled veterans noted benchmarks.
Public works awards: These included 13 awards by the Board for a total of $12,964,284 of which $5,393,683 or 41.6% went to SBEs. M/W/DV/VBEs were awarded $7,065,080 or 54.5% of the total dollars awarded.
A review of the public works awards identified the following points:
• Public Works are awarded based on the low-bid system required by state law.
• Three of the thirteen contract awards went to M/W/DV/VBE’s.
• Nine of the thirteen contract awards went to SBE’s.
Consulting, services, and other awards: These included 43 awards by the Board for a total of $35,803,247 of which $8,768,182 or 24.5% went to SBEs. In addition, M/W/DV/VBEs were awarded $5,456,590 or 15.2% of the total dollars awarded.
A review of consulting, services, and other awards identified the following points:
• Thirty-three of the forty-three awards were new opportunities for a total of $34,301,146 or 95.8% of the total dollars. Of the thirty-three awards:
o $8,649,535 or 25.2% went to SBEs; and
o $5,337,943 or 15.6% went to M/W/DV/VBEs.
• One of the awards represented 29.7% of the total dollars.
The framework to include small businesses in contracting and leasing opportunities has been centered on outreach, networking, mentor-protégé/training, goal-setting, and tracking and reporting. Based on the contracting data above, an area of opportunity to focus on increasing participation is with disabled veterans (DVBE) and veteran (VBE) owned businesses. DVBE and VBE participation could also positively impact small, minority, or women participation as well, since many are registered as both.
Additionally, under consulting, services, and other awards, continued efforts to look for opportunities where larger contracts can be broken up into more economically feasible sizes for small businesses to compete should be considered.
In the first half of FY 15/16, District staff met with industry-related organizations to get external perspectives and ideas on how to enhance the Districts small business program. The group identified small contacts ($90,000 or less) and tenant developments as areas of opportunity to enhance small business participation. FY 15/16 achievement on these projects was: 40.6% SBE and 14.5% M/W/DV/VBE. A review of the awards identified the following points:
• There were 285 awards to 218 businesses.
• Of the 218 businesses, only 19 received more than one award.
Additionally, a regional survey of small business programs was conducted to see what other program elements exist, with the following results:
• Set-asides based on dollar thresholds
• Preferences based on local, DVBE, VBE, and/or small business status
• Ready service lists to be utilized for designated sub opportunities
Since 2003, the small business participation at the District has been significant, ranging between 26.4% (FY 12/13) to 79.1% (FY 06/07) in overall contracting. However, in an effort of continuous improvement, the following enhancements to further emphasize our commitment to small businesses have been identified:
• Where no SBE goal is established on opportunities, except for public works bids, award bonus points for SBE status similarly to the ADA, DVBE, and Veteran staffing bonus points in the evaluation matrix.
• Where feasible, breaking up larger contracts to more economical sizes for small businesses.
• Enhanced outreach to veterans and partnerships with advocacy groups.
• Work with Real Estate’s Development Services Team to pilot SBE efforts on tenant projects.
While overall contracting and employment reflects increases, analysis reflects normal industry fluctuations given the variables, including type of opportunities. Achievements were all race and gender neutral, utilizing standard District processes which incorporate inclusive outreach and alignment with strategic goals.
Staff is inviting Board discussion and direction to staff on equal opportunity program enhancements.
General Counsel’s Comments:
The Office of the General Counsel has reviewed the issues set forth in this agenda and found no legal concerns as presented.
Environmental Review:
This item would provide a presentation of the District Equal Opportunity Program Annual Report for FY 15/16. This presentation to the Board does not constitute an “approval” or a “project” under the definitions set forth in California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Guidelines Sections 15352 and 15378 because no direct or indirect changes to the physical environment would occur. Therefore, no further CEQA review is required.
In addition, this presentation allows for the District to implement its obligations under the Port Act and/or other laws. The Port Act was enacted by the California Legislature and is consistent with the Public Trust Doctrine. Consequently, this presentation is consistent with the Public Trust Doctrine.
Finally, this does not allow for “development,” as defined in Section 30106 of the California Coastal Act, or “new development,” pursuant to Section 1.a. of the District’s Coastal Development Permit (CDP) Regulations because it will not result in, without limitation, a physical change, change in use or increase the intensity of uses. Therefore, issuance of a Coastal Development Permit or exclusion is not required. However, the District’s projects require processing under the District’s CDP Regulations. If a project is formulated as a result of the work plan, the Board will consider approval of the project and any improvements associated after the appropriate documentation under District’s CDP Regulations has been completed and authorized by the Board, if necessary. The Board’s direction in no way limits the exercise of the District’s discretion under the District’s CDP Regulations.
Equal Opportunity Program:
Not applicable.
PREPARED BY:
Shirley Hirai
Manager, Equal Opportunity
Attachment(s):
Attachment A: Workforce Analysis data as of June 2016
Attachment B: BPC Policy No. 359, Equal Opportunity Contracting
Attachment C: BPC Policy No. 361, Equal Employment Opportunity and Nondiscrimination
Attachment D: BPC Policy No. 362, Americans with Disabilities Act
1 BPC Policy No. 359, Clerk’s Document Number 53894
2 BPC Policy No. 361, Clerk’s Document Number 53895
3 BPC Policy No. 362, Clerk’s Document Number 56767
4 SANDAG, August 2010 Estimates for San Diego Region