District 5 News

COUNTY, CITY, AND WATER AUTHORITY ALIGN ON GENDER-PAY EQUITY MEASURE FOR VENDORS

01/21/2021

Bernalillo County, the City of Albuquerque and the Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Authority have all joined together by amending all procurement codes giving a 5% preference to businesses that have no pay gap between male and female employees.

Simply stated, the 5% initiative means businesses that wish to be granted a contract with any of the three governmental agencies can receive the 5% preference if they can show that men and women, performing the same work or that have similar positions within their businesses or organizations, are paid the same amount for their work.

“This is a great unified effort to reward companies that recognize the value of all employees regardless of gender,” says Bernalillo County Commission Chair Charlene Pyskoty. “Equal pay for equal work is essential within the jurisdiction of these three governmental partners.”

"The playing field won't be level until women, and especially women of color, earn fair wages compared to their counterparts. Part of that means rewarding companies that walk the walk. The battle is not over but this an important step and gives those bidding for work with our local governments another reason to do the right thing and close the pay equity gap," says Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller.

The equal pay preference means that a company’s bid will be considered 5% lower if equal pay is proven, or if submitting a proposal, an additional 5% will be added to the total possible points or the total weight of all the factors used in evaluating the proposals. An example: The company bid is $100,000, but with the proven preference, the bid is considered to be $95,000 and is compared with other bids at this level, or when submitting a proposal that has been assigned a total possible points of 100, an additional 5 points will be added to the overall evaluation score the company receives.

“The Water Authority is happy to join the county and the city in providing an incentive for our contractors to address pay equity issues among their employees. It’s another example of local governments partnering to make Albuquerque and Bernalillo County an even better place to live and work,” says Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority Chair Klarissa Pena.

Currently, three companies meet the gender pay equity preference and are either registered vendors or are currently doing business with the city, county or water utility authority.

They are:

Jack B. Henderson Construction Company, Inc.
Duke City Builders
Eagle Rock Contracting, Inc.

The gender-pay equity amendment will be implemented and recognized by all the agencies on Jan. 25.

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