By Jared Strong | The Center Square
The Center Square

(The Center Square) The number of businesses owned by racial minorities and women that are certified by Illinois plummeted in the past year, partly due to a new computer system the state bought for as much as $750,000 and was designed to help boost the number, an investigation by The Center Square found.

In an annual report this year to lawmakers, the Commission on Equity and Inclusion cited its new supplier diversity management portal as one of its main accomplishments, noting that it would enhance the commission’s work by “streamlining processes.”

But the opposite has happened.

Before the new web-based system was operational, the commission had built a list of about 5,400 of the businesses, which get some preferential treatment in the state’s contracting processes compared with those that are owned by white men.

According to recent figures, that number has dropped by nearly half to about 2,900. That is less than when the commission formed in 2022.

The Commission on Equity and Inclusion was created by lawmakers in response to repeated complaints that the state had not done enough to increase the amount of contract awards to businesses that are owned by minorities, women and people with disabilities.

It is led by seven commissioners who are each paid more than $150,000. They meet monthly and are allowed to work other paying jobs.

The commission has a staff of more than 30 people with average salaries of nearly $100,000.

Expanding the list of certified businesses is one of their primary tasks. Those businesses get assistance to navigate the state contracting processes, and diversity is among the metrics state agencies consider when they award contracts.

But the new computer system the commission started using last year cannot automatically download certification data from other government entities – such as the city of Chicago – to build the certified businesses list. Commission staff blamed that inability, in part, for the falling numbers.

“We are diligently seeking alternatives for bringing those that were previously certified with our partners over into our new system,” LaTasha Binder, a deputy director for the commission, said during a commission meeting this month.

Binder added: “If they came in through the city or county, and that is what they want to use to also be certified with us, they have to inform us of that renewal.”

Larry Ivory, the chief executive of the Illinois State Black Chamber of Commerce, was incredulous that the problem has existed for more than a year without any discernible solution.

“I cannot believe that we did not understand that coming out of the gate,” he said at the Oct. 15 meeting.

The system switch

The new system — operated by Rolling Meadows-based VIVA USA, a woman- and minority-owned business — has a variety of features to engage businesses and monitor the state’s progress toward its goals, according to the company.

State leaders seek to award at least 30% of eligible contract money to the certified businesses. For the 2024 fiscal year, which ended about the time VIVA’s system was functional, about 4% went to those businesses. That was a significant decline from previous years.

Among the commission’s requirements for the new system was the ability to interact with other agencies’ data, according to its request for proposals that The Center Square obtained. VIVA’s proposal said it could, under certain technological conditions.

The company was among three that pitched their systems to the commission. The others were PRiSM Compliance Management of Maryland and B2Gnow of Arizona, which operated the previous system employed by the commission, state records show.

“As the existing system provider, the B2Gnow system already meets or exceeds most of the listed goals,” that company said in its proposal.

It’s unclear why the commission’s staff sought to change providers. The agency did not respond to requests to comment for this article.

B2Gnow and PriSM are not certified as women- or minority-owned, according to the state’s database.

The commission paid B2Gnow a total of about $560,000 in 2023 and 2024, state payment records show.

Since then, the commission has paid VIVA at least $188,000. State records indicate the commission’s contract with VIVA has a maximum amount of $747,000, but its ongoing costs each year are about a third of what the commission would have paid B2Gnow, bid documents indicate.

The Viva payments average about $6,300 per month. That cost is expected to be steady for years, whereas B2Gnow would have increased its price each year, the documents show.

No clear path

The VIVA system was operational in July 2024. It’s unclear when the commission discovered the data communication problem, and a solution has been elusive.

“We have looked at every possible way to bring the automation back in play,” Binder said at the commission meeting. “We’re still looking at possible ways to bring the automation back.”

VIVA did not immediately respond to requests to comment for this article.

Meantime, the commission’s staff has been contacting businesses whose certifications have lapsed in the state database. Binder said delays in certifications by other agencies have also contributed to the attrition in the state’s list.

Commissioner Bruce Montgomery said similar diversity efforts are “in a period of flux,” although he did not elaborate. President Donald Trump has decried diversity, equity and inclusion programs — known colloquially by the acronym DEI — as discriminatory, and his administration has threatened to withhold federal funding from public entities that employ them.

“All of those programs are in a severe state of transition,” Montgomery said at the commission meeting.