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B. Preparing the Master Contract/Subcontract Database
1. Contracts and Purchase Orders
Defining the Relevant Markets
With assistance from the City, NERA collected prime contract and purchase order records for all
contracts and purchases spanning City Fiscal Years 2006 through 2010. 199 These data were
retrieved primarily from the City’s PeopleSoft and Advantage financial information software
systems.
For each prime contract and purchase order from the study period, we identified the prime
contractor or vendor business name and address, contract or purchase order description, contract
or purchase order number, start date, initial award amount, and total current paid amount.
Additionally, we cross-referenced contractor business names and addresses with City of
Cleveland vendor lists and lists of certified M/WBE and DBE firms to obtain contractor race and
gender information.
Prime contract and purchase order data was classified into one of four major procurement
categories which were (1) Construction, (2) Construction-Related Professional Services (“AE-
CRS”) such as architectural, engineering, surveying, and testing services, (3) Other Professional
and General Services (“Services”), and (4) Commodities, Supplies and Equipment
(“Commodities).
In this manner, a total of 24,181 prime contracts and purchase orders (hereafter “prime contracts”
or “contracts”) during the study period were identified from City of Cleveland records.
Collectively, these contracts had an award value of $1.3 billion and a paid to date value of $1.07
billion.
Not all of these contracts were likely to have subcontract opportunities, however. In particular,
contracts for commodities, supplies, and equipment rarely have subcontract opportunities; nor do
contracts valued at less than $50,000.
We identified 1,059 contracts in the City of Cleveland files valued at $50,000 or more in the
categories of Construction, AE-CRS, and Services. 200 These 1,059 contracts, although less than 5
percent of all contracts in the study universe, collectively accounted for more than $826 million
in contract awards and $683 million in contract payments, or over 63 percent of all dollars in the
universe. We conducted a careful review of the available subcontract data for these 1,059
records. As a result of this review, we determined that the available subcontract records were
incomplete. In consultation with the City, NERA developed a plan to directly contact the prime
contractors and vendors associated with these contracts in order to verify the existing data and
supplement it with additional subcontract records where appropriate. As noted above, prime
contracts and purchases valued at $50,000 or greater in Construction, AE-CRS, and Services
were included in this data collection effort. Prime contracts and purchases of Commodities,
199 That is, January 1, 2006 through December 31, 2010.
200 A portion of these contracts, originally categorized as Services based on City records, were re-classified as
Commodities upon further review.
NERA Economic Consulting 58