Lehka Fernandes is a woman with ideas. Moreover, she has plans and the power to implement them. Fernandes is the new director of the Office of Minority and Women’s Business Enterprises (OMWBE).
She has been on the job all of two months and through dint of hard work learned and assessed the situation. “There are a lot of changes I want to make. I want to be more responsive to the community. I want to work with agencies to increase their spend [with MWBEs] and understand barriers to increasing their spend. I want to be able to set goals for agencies and build really good practices to work with those [MWBE] businesses.”
The State spent more than fifty-five billion dollars last year, and, of that, OMWBE certified businesses received almost three percent or about two hundred million dollars. Though Black firms make up nineteen percent of all the state certified firms, Black companies won contracts for only 0.0018 percent or a little less than ten million dollars. That means for every dollar the State spent, Black firms were contracted for a little less than one-fifth of a penny.
“History is working against us,” said Fernandes. “The way things have been done is not going to work. We have to change the way we do procurements. We have to look at what we ask of folks. Is it really about years of experience working with the state or is it about capability?”
Fernandes was a small business owner herself in her hometown of Flint, Michigan. “I don’t know all that happens in Washington but I know what it’s like not to get a contract.” So how do you turn it around? “Part of it is looking at the aspirational goals of the agencies, looking at opportunities missed in the spend, and taking a look at the certified list and saying, ‘you
had all these opportunities to contract with certified businesses, what went wrong?” Fernandes also suggests interviewers acknowledge and account for their own inclinations when deciding who wins a contract. “Your opinion matters only if it is based upon looking at the qualification of the business, not upon the color of their [the owner’s] skin or your own personal biases.”
Top priorities for OMWBE are to reengage and listen to the certified business community. It’s critical to have that voice at the table. Fernandes is set to reinvigorate the Governor’s Sub-Cabinet on Business Diversity. “We can create partnerships and work together to ensure we are holding agencies accountable. And, I am looking at barriers in my own agency policies. I want to evaluate, minimize, and mitigate those and make sure our structure supports the community. That’s what we’re here to do.” Fernandes also wants to engage with Tabor 100. “I want folks to reach out to me, and I want to be able to address and answer any questions.”
Fernandes moved to Washington from Portland where she was the Southwest Regional Director for the Employment Security Department. Not that she has much time for it these days, but for fun, she likes live music and cooking Southern Indian dishes. Good Luck Lehka Fernandes.
