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REGULAR BOARD MEETING
FEBRUARY 23, 2023
Preamble
Motion by:
DIRECTORS HORVATH, MITCHELL, BASS, SOLIS, HAHN, AND DUPONT-WALKER
Female Participation in Project Labor Agreement/Construction Careers Policy Construction Projects
Consistent with Metro’s Labor Compliance policy and Federal Executive Order 11246 (EO 11246), prime contractors are required to provide worker utilization data by ethnicity and gender. In accordance with EO 11246, Metro’s program-wide goal for female participation in Project Labor Agreement / Construction Careers Policy (PLA/CCP) construction projects is 6.9%. As of September 2022, there are thirteen active construction contracts with PLA/CCP requirements, and while all thirteen contractors exceeded the Local Worker/Targeted Goal (40%), a substantial majority are nearing or exceeding the Apprentice Worker (20%) and Disadvantages Worker (10%) goals, only three of the 13 active projects have met the Agency’s Female Utilization Goal (6.9%).
Metro has done tremendous work on the creation of the Female Participation Score Card, releasing notices to prime contractors that are not meeting female participation goals, and with unions and jobs coordinators to refer women that recently completed their work assignments to other active Metro construction projects, amongst other efforts. Staff also continues to focus efforts on strategies to support the outreach, recruitment, and retention of women into the trades focusing on Metro’s PLA/CCP construction projects, including working with Laborers Local 300 and the Laborers Training Program to bring the Laborers Tunnel Training Program to Los Angeles County. However, as the COVID-19 pandemic winds down and the need for workers, particularly female workers in the construction trades increases, more can and should be done.
Metro conducts disparity studies to determine if evidence of discrimination exists in the local transportation business marketplace, and to support the use of Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) and race- and gender-conscious contract goals in its program. The Agency Commissioned BBC Research & Consulting (BBC) to conduct its 2023 Disparity Study, which will focus on construction, professional services, and goods and non-professional services contracts and procurements Metro awarded between January 1, 2016 and December 31, 2021. Metro additionally completed a disparity study assessing the local construction workforce, with a focus on tradeswomen, with data through 2018. A refresh of this report is essential to better understand the current state of the regional construction trades workforce.
Subject
SUBJECT: FEMALE PARTICIPATION IN PROJECT LABOR AGREEMENT/CONSTRUCTION CAREERS POLICY CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS MOTION
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RECOMMENDATION
Title
APPROVE Motion by Directors Horvath, Mitchell, Bass, Solis, Hahn, and Dupont-Walker that the Board direct the Chief Executive Officer to:
A. Commission a refresh on the construction workforce disparity study and report back with status updates in each PLA/CCP Quarterly Update to the Board, and report on findings and recommendations of the study in September 2023 (with the understanding that the disparity study may still be in progress).
B. Report back on the potential application of cultural competency requirements in contractor and staff training related to working with historically underutilized populations in the trades, with a focus on tradeswomen, as well as similar qualitative metrics that can be used in Metro’s proposal evaluation and contracting processes; and
C. Report back on the feasibility of creating bid preference incentives that can be applied to increase the number of women working on Metro funded construction projects, while not compromising the Agency’s race conscious contracting goals, including but not limited to: the history of a contractor’s compliance with Metro’s Female Utilization Goal; supporting working parents with the availability of dependent care spending account benefits in addition to access to child care; and working with organizations such as Women in Non-Traditional Employment Roles (W.I.N.T.E.R) to apply best practices in future contracts etc.