Contractors hopeful for standardized certification; single set of standards created for government bidders.

Minority and women-owned businesses may soon find it easier to vie for contracts from local government agencies -- thanks to a new system to streamline the certification process.

All such businesses must be certified as disadvantaged, minority or women-owned before they can be eligible for the advantages given to these types of businesses in the contracting process. In many cases, businesses must now get certified with each separate governmental agency they want to contract with, a process that can be very cumbersome.

AB 486, which was introduced by Assemblyman Richard Polanco, D-East L.A., and was effective July 1, created a single set of certification standards for the state based on federal standards, said Diana Rude, a senior consultant in Polanco's office.

The law also allows various governmental agencies in the state using this set of standards to hook up with each other, making certifications done at one of the agencies usable for another. Thus, minority and women-owned businesses wouldn't have to get repeat certifications when vying for contracts from more than one agency participating in the program.

The state Department of Transportation, which already has a database of 5,000 minority and women-owned businesses it has certified, is spearheading the effort to hook up other agencies with the program. Officials from agencies planning to participate must fill out a one-page form, said Algerine McCray, chief of the division of civil rights for Caltrans.

McCray met Sept. 21 with representatives from L.A. City and County agencies that are all part of the DBE Coordinating Council. This group represents Southland agencies and departments doing business with minority and women-owned businesses. DBE stands for disadvantaged business enterprise.

The Los Angeles Unified School District was represented at the meeting. Brenonda Poulson, director of affirmative action for the equal opportunity section of the school district, said the district plans to participate in the program.

The school district's board members have been expressing an interest for the past five years in streamlining the certification process, she said.

Many small businesses don't have either the time or the resources to fill out the required paperwork for certification at each individual agency, Poulson explained.

However, the school district awards several different types of contracts, such as those for services and construction, and each contract has different criteria and is awarded by a different department. Thus, officials want to make sure this particular program will be usable for the district before they sign up, Poulson said.

Officials at the L.A. County Affirmative Action Compliance Office, which was also represented at the meeting, haven't yet decided whether to participate in the program. However, Marjorie Smith, the office's MWBE coordinator, said the new program would certainly speed up the certification process. MWBE stands for minority and women-owned business enterprise.

"It will make it easier for the business community, which won't have a mound of paperwork," Smith said.

"If we can acknowledge certification by other agencies, the whole review process is extremely shortened. It's going to be an advantage for everybody," she said.

The L.A. City Board of Public Works hasn't yet decided whether to participate in the program, said Bob Hayes, spokesman for the agency.

But Dave Peterson, program manager for the office of contract compliance at the agency, said there could be problems with the new system.

The standards may not be applied or enforced uniformly throughout the state and businesses may thus flock to the agency that is known for the least rigorous certification process, he said.

A few other agencies represented at the meeting were not ready to comment on the new process.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority "will review the document and go on from there," said Frank Medina, manager of DBE outreach.

Likewise, "we're willing to look at the process. We don't know whether we're going to tie into it," said Julie Duncan, program specialist with the L.A. County Community Development Commission.