Small Business Enterprise & Workforce Goals
Equal Opportunity Programs
OCII is committed to social and economic equity that extends beyond providing affordable housing and into the realm of employment and business opportunities. OCII promotes equal opportunity in contracting and employment among professional services consultants and construction contractors through its Small Business Enterprise (“SBE”) Program and its Local Construction Workforce Hiring Program. Each program has a robust goal of 50% for SBE engagement and local construction employment, and both programs are enforced by OCII’s Contract Compliance Division. All contracts for construction are also subject to OCII’s Prevailing Wages Policy, which requires the payment of prevailing, livable wages.
Annual OCII Small Business Enterprise, Workforce and Trainee Reports
Small Business Enterprise
Under OCII’s SBE Policy, prime contractors on OCII- assisted projects must make a good faith effort to award 50% of contract dollars to bona fide consideration, followed by San-Francisco based SBEs, and then non-SF based SBEs. In July of 2015, OCII’s Commission amended the agency’s SBE Policy to conform its small business size standards to the City’s Small LBE revenue thresholds, making it easier for LBEs to participate in OCII’s SBE Program.
In addition to giving first consideration to local firms, OCII’s SBE policy encourages Prime Contractors to award contracting opportunities to businesses that reflect the gender, ethnic and economic diversity of San Francisco.
In FY 22-23, OCII’s developer partners awarded professional services and construction contracts on 4 affordable housing projects totaling nearly $161 million. Over $81 million (or 50.3%) of these contract dollars were awarded to small businesses, and of the total, 39.7% are LBEs certified by the City’s Contract Monitoring Division.
Notably, small businesses were awarded $6.9 million (90.7%) of professional services contracts and over $74 million (48.2%) of construction contracts (See Chart 1). Reflecting the gender and ethnic diversity of San Francisco, minority and women owned firms received nearly $40 million (36%) of professional services and construction contracts. Of the total contracts awarded, Black firms received credit for 30.1%, Latinx firms 4.9%, and Asian firms .6%.
To ensure inclusion of small businesses in OCII- administered projects, OCII encourages larger and established firms to pair with SBEs by forming associations and joint ventures (JV). These partnerships help Prime Contractors comply with SBE goals by incentivizing them to break up scopes of work when feasible to give smaller firms access to large-scale projects and an opportunity to acquire greater footing and visibility within their trade. OCII recognizes JVs and Associations between SBE firms and non-SBE firms, where the SBE partner performs 35% or more of the work and receives a proportionate share of the profits. Both professional service and construction firms have benefited from OCII’s JV policy.
Chart 1 provides SBE data on affordable housing contracts.
CHART 1: SBE Participation on Affordable Housing Contracts
FY 22-23
Workforce Development
Construction
Prior to the City and County of San Francisco’s adoption of its local hiring policy for construction, the former San Francisco Redevelopment Agency had a long history of implementing a local workforce requirement on agency-assisted construction projects. OCII’s local workforce policy is aggressive and unique in that it establishes a local hiring goal of 50%, with first consideration given to Project Area residents and requires contractors to adhere to State prevailing wage requirements, even on projects entirely funded with private dollars. OCII’s wage policies are demonstrative of the agency’s commitment to livable wages for San Franciscans.
The San Francisco Office of Economic and Workforce Development, through its CityBuild Division, assists OCII with its workforce development program. Contractors and subcontractors are required to submit certified payroll reports through a web-based monitoring and reporting system, which tracks hours by trade, residency, and other relevant demographic information of employees. CityBuild and OCII Contract Compliance staff closely monitor payroll submissions to ensure adherence
to OCII’s policies, and to allow for “real time” monitoring and follow-up.
On OCII-sponsored affordable and inclusionary housing projects in FY 22-23, OCII’s Local Construction Workforce Hiring Program created 2,498 construction jobs, of which 374 were filled by San Francisco residents, yielding an overall local workforce participation rate of 22.9%, as measured by work hours. In addition, the figures represent 62,987 hours of work performed by San Francisco residents and $2.9 million in wages paid to local residents (See Chart 2).
CHART 2: Construction Work Opportunities Created by OCII Affordable & Inclusionary Housing Projects
FY 22-23
