Denver bill would rewrite minority, women and small-business contracting rules
Council Bill CB26-1216 would revise Denver’s MWBE and SBE programs after a disparity study found continued contracting gaps. The measure has not received final approval.
Denver City Council is considering a rewrite of the city’s contracting programs for minority-owned, women-owned and small businesses, including contract-specific participation goals, restricted selection pools for certified small businesses and new compliance requirements for prime contractors.
Council Bill CB26-1216 was approved for filing by the Finance and Business Committee on Aug. 25, 2026, according to Denver’s Legistar matter page. It was listed for Mayor-Council consideration Sept. 1, but the Mayor-Council agenda says that meeting was canceled. Available records show no City Council vote, mayoral signature or enactment.
If adopted, the revised portions of Chapter 28 of the Denver Revised Municipal Code would apply to covered requirements and solicitations publicly advertised on or after Nov. 1, 2026, and would sunset Oct. 31, 2032, subject to periodic review.
What would change
The bill would authorize the Division of Small Business Opportunity, or DSBO, within Denver Economic Development and Opportunity and the Department of General Services, to administer certification, outreach, technical assistance, participation goals, monitoring and enforcement.
For minority- and women-owned businesses, DSBO could set a participation goal for each covered contract based on the availability of certified firms. Goals could vary by project, be waived or set at zero. The bill says they would not be quotas, set-asides, sheltered markets or bid preferences. Contractors unable to meet a goal could remain eligible by documenting good-faith efforts.
The Small Business Enterprise, or SBE, program would include contract-specific goals and a defined-pool process allowing DSBO to restrict a solicitation and award to certified small businesses. City departments could not restructure or split procurements to avoid those pools, according to the draft ordinance.
The proposed SBE rules also cover concessions, including retail, food and beverage services at city facilities. The ordinance specifically contemplates a small-business concession program for Department of Aviation contracts and projects, including at Denver International Airport.
Businesses seeking certification generally would have to be for-profit, registered and in good standing in Colorado, at least 51% owned and controlled by eligible owners, independent and economically disadvantaged. Women and members of listed minority groups would receive a rebuttable presumption of social disadvantage; other applicants could seek individualized certification.
DSBO could establish a certification or maintenance fee of up to $300 per business enterprise. The bill does not specify the final fee.
Compliance requirements
Participation commitments would become contract-performance covenants after an award. Contractors would have to meet assigned goals, submit utilization records and ensure that reported participation represented commercially useful work. Pass-through or “conduit” arrangements would not count.
For contracts above a DSBO-established threshold, contractors would have to pay eligible MWBE and SBE subcontractors within 35 days after receiving an invoice for completed and accepted work, even if the prime contractor had not been paid.
Prime contractors generally could not terminate, substitute or reduce the scope of a designated MWBE or SBE subcontractor without DSBO’s prior written consent. Except for city-directed changes, contractors would have to notify the subcontractor and allow it to respond before seeking approval.
DSBO could investigate complaints and compliance after a contract closed. Potential sanctions include withheld payments or retainage, monetary penalties, suspension or termination of a contract, corrective action, referral for debarment and decertification or suspension of a firm’s participation credit. Retaliation against a business that reports an issue or exercises rights under the ordinance would be prohibited.
The disparity study
The bill’s findings cite a 2025 study by Keen Independent Research as evidence that disparities continue in Denver-area contracting. The final Denver 2025 Disparity Study summary report, prepared for DSBO and finalized in December 2025, examined city and Denver International Airport contracts and subcontracts awarded during fiscal years 2017 through 2023.
Keen reported that minority- and women-owned businesses represented about 43% of firms that indicated they were qualified and interested in city work. Its contract-by-contract availability analysis estimated that about 37% of city contract dollars might be expected to go to those firms in a level playing field, while actual utilization was about 21%.
The study reported substantial disparities for Black American-, Hispanic American-, American Indian- and Middle Eastern and North African American-owned firms in city contracting. It did not report substantial disparities for Asian-Pacific American-, South Asian American- or white woman-owned firms in the overall analysis, although it found disparities for one or more groups within each industry when examining contracts without city program elements.
Keen concluded that existing contract-equity efforts appeared to reduce or eliminate disparities for some groups when applied. Its recommendations included continued and refined city efforts, separate objectives for small-business measures and remedial action, expanded contracting tools, improved certifications and registrations, stronger performance metrics and adequate program resources.
Those findings broadly align with CB26-1216’s combination of race- and gender-conscious MWBE goals with race-neutral SBE goals and selection pools. The records do not establish that the study specifically recommended every provision, including the $300 maximum fee, 35-day payment rule or subcontractor-approval process.
The proposal leaves implementation questions to DSBO, including the prompt-payment threshold, detailed goal-setting formulas and some certification standards. It also does not provide a fiscal estimate, projected fee revenue or stakeholder positions from contractors, subcontractors, certified businesses or other groups.