OCII reports strong SBE participation and workforce placements for FY2021–22

OCII staff presented the annual small business enterprise (SBE) and workforce report for July 2021 through June 2022.

Acting contract compliance supervisor George Bridges said OCII recorded about $137 million in contract awards during the fiscal year, with roughly $81 million awarded to SBEs (about 60% SBE participation overall). Professional services reached about 83.5% SBE participation while construction SBE participation was about 55.5% for the year. Bridges reviewed outreach practices, the agency’s 50% SBE goal for professional services and construction when feasible, and steps the agency takes to encourage teaming and unbundling of scopes to increase small-firm participation.

Maria Picó reviewed the workforce program, noting OCII’s local-hire goal of 50% of contract labor hours for San Francisco residents, with first consideration for project-area residents. During FY2021–22 OCII projects logged about 232,000 workforce hours, of which ~60,000 were performed by San Francisco residents; the proportion of local-worker participation increased 9.5 percentage points year-over-year. CityBuild and OEWD partners administer referrals, compliance monitoring and pre-apprenticeship placements; CityBuild reported high placement rates for program graduates and retention supports for apprentices.

Commissioners congratulated staff and asked about retention and how to further increase participation; CityBuild and OEWD representatives explained retention supports, barrier removal and placement services, and reported 60–70% retention rates in relevant training programs and follow-up services for graduates.

The presentation also reviewed OCII’s architecture and engineering student training program, which matched local students with summer internships at design firms and generated placements the agency hopes to expand in future recruitment cycles.