Boston, Cambridge Launch Partnership to Promote Diversity in City Vendors

Boston and Cambridge launched a partnership to increase opportunities for business owners from traditionally disadvantaged groups to win contracts for city projects.

The partnership — called the Boston Cambridge Certification Compact — was announced Monday by Boston Mayor Michelle Wu ’07 and Cambridge officials including Mayor E. Denise Simmons and City Manager Yi-An Huang ’05.

While Boston and Cambridge have individual programs helping traditionally disadvantaged business owners navigate the process for securing public contracts, the compact ensures that a business that qualifies for resources in one municipality also receives access to the other’s resources.

“Building local economic growth across the region is critical as we continue our work to connect residents and businesses in the area to opportunity,” Wu said in a press release. “Through this compact, the City of Boston looks forward to working closely with the City of Cambridge to certify more businesses in the area, expand economic opportunities available for our residents and advance supplier diversity goals.”

Diverse hiring practices in public contracting has been a concern for Cambridge since at least 2020, when the City Council began discussing city purchasing and procurement opportunities for businesses and nonprofits operated by members of marginalized groups, including women, veterans, and racial minorities.

A September 2023 study commissioned by the Council found lingering race- and gender-based disparities in city contracts, concluding that Cambridge had a “factual predicate for race and gender conscious efforts.”

Since then, the city’s initiatives to address this gap in purchasing have largely focused on data transparency, educating and training, business owners from marginalized communities, and promoting vendor participation.

“We are deeply committed to creating a more equitable and welcoming procurement process, while more broadly supporting and uplifting many diverse businesses’ in our area,” Huang said in the release.

“I am especially grateful for the collaboration between our many City departments, Mayor Wu’s Office and the City of Boston,” he added.

The release also detailed Cambridge’s ongoing initiatives to support diverse businesses, including an online directory, an e-procurement portal for the city, and a new website featuring resources for business owners.

The city also partnered with MIT to host its second annual Supplier Diversity Fair on Oct. 22, where more than 100 vendors met with local buyers including the Cities of Cambridge and Boston, Harvard, and MIT.

According to Huang, the compact is a natural continuation of these efforts.

“We are deeply committed to creating a more equitable and welcoming procurement process, while more broadly supporting and uplifting many diverse businesses' in our area,” Huang said. “This is the latest step of many that Cambridge has undertaken to improve its supplier diversity.”

—Staff writer Avani B. Rai can be reached at avani.rai@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @avaniiiirai.