A Look into Hire Houston First

A concept and proposal that I find interesting and one touted by Annise Parker is called, “Hire Houston First.” I surmise that it caught my attention for its goal.  The policy intends to “encourage the hiring of Houston residents for taxpayer-funded projects and give a preference to Houston firms seeking city contracts.”

The word one needs to pay attention to is “encourage” since this policy will not end up requiring that the City of Houston conduct business with companies that only hire Houston residents for taxpayer-funded projects.

In other words, the policy will only recommend and not expect a company to hire Houston residents for projects. The other aspect of Parker’s goal is to give preference to Houston firms seeking city contract.”

That is to say … it will only prefer Houston firms when delegating City of Houston contracts. This is a pragmatic approach because although local firms may be eligible to fulfill a contract, it does not mean that they will offer the most competitive bid. It is wise that Parker’s wording allows the City of Houston to give preference but necessarily commit to local Houston firms for city projects.

Parker claims that, “Houston will spend billions of dollars providing essential services and building and maintaining everything from streets and bridges to water lines and sidewalks. When these services are provided by local businesses that hire local residents, our economy benefits.”

What caught my attention though was her approach to minority contracting goals.

“The city’s Minority/Women/Disadvantaged Business Enterprise Program sets forth voluntary goals to encourage contracting with MWDBE firms. Under the Hire Houston First program, the voluntary goals would be weighted to give preference to MWDBE companies that are locally owned.”

Hire Houston First is an innovative approach to an issue that has not been entertained by other candidates in the pursuit of the Mayor’s office. Although it does not require the City of Houston to employ local Houston businesses it will give them a preference for taxpayer-funded projects.

I am curious though why Parker has decided to promote this issue. Is there an issue with the amount of city projects that are handled by non-Houston firms? What is the percentage of city projects that are awarded to Houston versus non-Houston firms? How will this policy initiative impact the local Houston economy 1 year … 5 years or 10 years later?

Either way …kudos to Parker for putting Houston first!