Establishment of the Minority and Women-Owned Business Assessment Program.

There is established the Minority and Women-Owned Business Assessment Program (“Program”) within the Department of Small and Local Business Development (“Department”). The Program shall: Analyze the current state of businesses owned or controlled by minorities or women qualifying as Certified Business Enterprises (“CBE”) as that term is defined in subchapter IX-A of this chapter [§ 2-218.01 et seq.], including counting the number of businesses that have applied for CBE certification and the number that have been certified as CBEs since the inception of the CBE program; Record and track the number of businesses owned or controlled by minorities or women that have been awarded government contracts under the procurement process utilized by the District; and Assess the findings and investigate and recommend ways to encourage businesses owned or controlled by minorities or women to compete in the procurement process utilized by the District. The Department shall submit the findings and recommendations of the Program to the Chairman of the Council’s Committee on Economic Development in the form of a report or reports. Specific steps for implementing the recommendations shall accompany the report or reports. For the purposes of this subchapter, the term “minority” shall include Asian, Pacific Islander, African American or Black, Native American or Native Hawaiian, and Hispanic or Latino.