THE SENATE

S.C.R. NO.

59

TWENTY-NINTH LEGISLATURE, 2017

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 

 

 

 

 

SENATE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

 

 

urging all state departments and agencies to duly consider women-owned businesses when awarding state contracts.

 

 


     WHEREAS, according to data mined from the State Procurement Office website, it appears that only three percent of state contracts are awarded to women-owned architectural and engineering firms located in Hawaii; and

 

     WHEREAS, despite the Department of Transportation Disadvantaged Business Enterprise Program, women-owned firms in Hawaii continue to face disparate treatment in the awarding of state contracts; and

 

     WHEREAS, according to the Society of Women Engineers, close to twenty percent of engineering school graduates are women, but less than fourteen percent of engineers in the workforce are women, and according to data from the Society of Women Engineers and the National Science Foundation, women are more likely than men to leave engineering as their careers progress; and

 

     WHEREAS, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine concluded in their Beyond Bias and Barriers report released in 2007 that women are very likely to face discrimination in the engineering field; and

 

     WHEREAS, according to the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture, over forty percent of architecture degrees are awarded to women, but only twenty-five percent of architect and architectural designers in the workforce are women; and

 

     WHEREAS, women-owned businesses in Hawaii must be given proper consideration and equal opportunity for procuring state contracts if women-owned business are to succeed and achieve fair representation in the workforce; now, therefore,

 

     BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Twenty-ninth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2017, the House of Representatives concurring, that Hawaii's state departments and agencies are urged to duly consider women-owned businesses when awarding state contracts; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Governor, Comptroller, and Administrator of the State Procurement Office; provided that the Administrator of the State Procurement Office is requested to transmit certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution to the chief procurement officer of each state department and agency.

 

 

 

 

OFFERED BY:

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Report Title: 

State Procurement Contracts; Women-Owned Businesses