The State of Minority- and Women- Owned ... - Cleveland.com

The City of Cleveland’s Cleveland Small Business, Minority Business Enterprise, and
Female Business Enterprise Program: Overview and Feedback Interviews
You wait a year for the last two percent [retainage to be released].… We use a lot of
MBEs and FBEs and they can’t handle that. I mean some of them can but there’s a lot of
them. Because you’re bringing a lot of smaller companies into the trades and whatever.
They need to be paid weekly. You’re not able to hold any retainage on them or you’re
supposed to but you can’t.… I think the one thing they could do is they should have it so
that we don’t get held retainage on minority and female companies.
I’ve had projects that have been completed for a year and a half now and I’m still waiting
for my three percent. They don’t care if you get your money.
Put that money into some account where we get interest on their delays.
Another thing that goes on that is very disheartening is the slow pay. And by the time that
we get our money, our bills are so far behind that we divvy everything. We’re back to
zero. There’s no growth for us any type of way.… I’ve been told that on some projects
that [the prime firm is] not being paid and therefore they can’t pay out. Then, I’ve been
told by other trades that they’ve been paid and so it was no reason why we weren’t
getting our money.
Even as a legitimate subcontractor on a project I cannot call engineering, I cannot call the
finance department and find out where progress payments are. I have to requisition the
law department.
There’s nothing that holds the City accountable to issue that check to the prime
contractor.…[It needs] better internal controls.
I have worked with the City of Cleveland [as a service provider] and I’ve gotten paid
thirty days, thirty-five days.… As long as you have your paperwork in order, if it’s not in
order sometimes they’ll send it back to you and it has to be in order. But when I worked
with the City I haven’t had any problems.
Tell the City to pay on time.
Cash flow is everything.
5. Certification Standards and Processes
Overall, most M/WBEs found the system to be rigorous but tolerable.
[The certification process has] changed quite a bit because they made me go through
quite a bit to make sure I knew what I was talking about on the second meeting.
I think [the certification process] been cleaned up.
NERA Economic Consulting 304