Seattle's King County Signs Pledge to Support Historically Underutilized Businesses

King County Executive Dow Constantine joined Sound Transit, the City of Seattle, and other regional transit leaders to sign the Equity in Infrastructure Pledge to improve contracting opportunities for Historically Underutilized Businesses (HUBs).

“King County is committed to advancing equity in contracting, and the Equity in Infrastructure Pledge aligns perfectly with our ongoing work to support minority and women-owned businesses,” said King County Executive Constantine. “By amplifying opportunities for historically underutilized businesses, we seek to ensure that everyone has a fair chance to participate in and contribute to our region’s prosperity. This pledge is another expression of King County’s daily commitment to becoming a welcoming community where every person can thrive.”

The Equity in Infrastructure Pledge

The mission of the Equity in Infrastructure Pledge is to build generational wealth and reduce the racial wealth gap by improving public infrastructure contracting practices to create more prime, joint venture and equity contracting opportunities for HUBs.

Providing these opportunities also creates more competition, reducing costs to public agencies and allowing them to drive more value from their infrastructure dollars.

Pledge signers are heads of transit authorities, airports, ports, water districts, and engineering, financial and construction firms from across the country — representing hundreds of billions of dollars of power to improve people’s lives.

The White House has directly called on Bipartisan Infrastructure Law grantees to sign the Pledge.

Pledge Aligns with King County’s Efforts

The pledge’s focus on increasing contract awards to HUBs aligns closely with efforts that King County has already undertaken and will continue to expand.

The county’s initial work began in 2003 with the launch of the Contracting Opportunities Program to support small contractors and suppliers by improving their access to King County contracts.

In 2021, Executive Constantine expanded this initiative by signing an Executive Order on Pro-Equity Contracting, ensuring that minority- and women-owned businesses are included in the program. These programs have sparked new ways to boost participation by minority and women-owned businesses (MWBE) in county contracts.

King County’s Equity Progress

King County has made significant progress by:

• Launching a Fast Track Certification program for minority and women-owned businesses that are already certified. As a result, these businesses are now 84% of our total number of more than 3,600 small contractor and supplier-certified firms. In 2023, $77 million in county contracts was awarded to these firms, with $35 million going to MWBE firms.
• Requiring equity plans from prime contractors for county-funded projects.
• Expediting payments through a Cash Flow Initiative.
• Partnering with organizations like Tabor 100 to support small businesses.

The Equity in Infrastructure Pledge also supports a nine-element action plan King County will implement over the next 12 months to help even more firms.

The Action Plan

The action plan aims to reduce certification barriers, improve goals and metrics, and increase partnerships with other agencies to expand successful programs, such as a mentorship initiative for minority and women-owned businesses.

The pledge aligns with King County’s ongoing commitment to advancing equity in contracting by supporting small businesses that help our communities thrive.

Metro is also taking extra steps to expand HUB opportunities by increasing outreach efforts and exploring ways to facilitate HUB participation in work that will utilize new technologies and sustainable practices.