Review of Equity in Contracting at COO
September 2021 – February 2022
“You may have an organization that does really great work and maybe their strength isn't necessarily in writing proposals. Maybe they don't have a team of people that do nothing but write grants for a living. Maybe they're more about accessing people in the community and providing services and I bet they could do a really great job of telling us about it through an interview.” ―King County staff A few interview participants mentioned the RFP process for commercial affordability as one that was particularly inclusive; they specifically highlighted the workgroup and development processes. “Bringing in folks who have not been a traditional part of the design, review and selection process, it created an opportunity for folks to see the contract role out, in a way they maybe hadn’t before. Other funders were a part of that and they had good feedback. I don’t know that it created a nexus that “we should all be doing it”, but they could see into the COO way, for the most part, it’s a unique and different approach to the work that we had been doing.” ―COO staff Another highpoint in COO’s contracting was language access improvements during the COVID stories cohort contract. Several of the interview participants spoke about the steps that COO has taken to offer language interpretation and translation—specifically in Spanish— and closed captions and sometimes live captions throughout the contracting process. “We had a request for accessibility in Spanish. We decided that if we were providing Spanish language access during the application, that we needed to provide it for the life of the contract. We found a technical assistance provider who worked with folks to write an application in English. We have translated every piece of material related to contracts, including scope of work, reporting documents, invoice templates, etc. We have been able to do interpretation on Zoom. It hasn’t been the greatest, but we have received some feedback that it has been a more positive experience for this particular group around Spanish language need than in the past.” ―COO staff Staff points out that it does take more staff time to coordinate those efforts and participate in meetings, but it is worthwhile. They also identified that there is still an opportunity to do in-language meetings and broaden access to at least the top three tier languages for King County.
Capacity There was strong agreement among interview participants that placing an intentional investment in building capacity has been one of the significant factors that distinguishes COO from other initiatives and funding partners.
Community partners and county procurement staff spoke highly of how COO accompanies organizations closely throughout the life of the contract. These supports go from providing technical assistance on the front end of proposals; to supporting organizations and consultants applying and navigating the county systems; to answering questions about how they can be successful in fulfilling the deliverables of the contract. This assistance is unlike other government contracts in which they have participated. “Acknowledging that our partners have room to grow and King County has room to grow – and we’re on this journey together, and there is an investment in supporting our partners and disrupting white supremacy culture and ‘perfectionism’.” ―King County staff “I do think about the initial parts of the RFP because when we're talking about small organizations, does an organization even know how to apply for a grant? Do they have the capacity to write an application?” ―Community-based organization staff Contacto Consulting for King County Communities of Opportunity
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