Metro – Cincinnati's Transit System, a regional public transit system serving Hamilton County and surrounding communities with fixed-route, paratransit, and on-demand services. Metro places strong emphasis on equitable economic impact and robust engagement with small, disadvantaged, and diverse business enterprises (DBEs/SBEs) across its procurement and transit infrastructure investments.
Context & Challenge
The Cincinnati Metro is committed to advancing small business participation through its federally compliant Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) and Small Business Enterprise (SBE) initiatives. As outlined in Metro’s Doing Business and DBE program information, the agency aims to make contracting opportunities accessible to DBEs, minority-owned, women-owned, disability-owned, and small business enterprises across its projects and procurements.
Before partnering with PRISM Compliance Management, the Metro faced several strategic challenges common to public transit authorities:
Fragmented Tracking of Small Business Participation
Monitoring DBE/SBE participation across multiple funding streams (federal, state, local) and contract types was manual, siloed, and challenging to report in real time.
Opaque Contract Spend Visibility
Procurement teams lacked a centralized, reliable view of year-over-year small-business spend, contract counts, and the effectiveness of inclusive procurement strategies.
Compliance Complexity with Federal Regulations
Cincinnati Metro’s DBE program is governed by 49 CFR Part 26, requiring meticulous documentation, goal attainment reporting, and race-neutral and race-conscious participation tracking.
To meet these challenges, PRISM was brought on to provide compliance tracking, reporting, and analytical capabilities, enabling measurable progress toward inclusion objectives.
PRISM’s Solution
PRISM Compliance Management implemented a tailored compliance and reporting platform that has become central to Metro’s small-business inclusion strategy. Key components of PRISM’s solution include:
Centralized Contract & Spend Tracking
PRISM ingests contract award data, procurement spend, subcontractor utilization, and certification types (DBE, SBE, MBE, WBE, etc.) into a unified system with real-time dashboards.
Automated Participation and Attainment Metrics
Built-in analytics monitor attainment against Metro’s small business and DBE participation goals, alerting users when contracts are underperforming or opportunities to engage small firms are missed.
Robust Reporting & Federal Compliance Outputs
PRISM generates reports that simplify compliance with federal reporting requirements and support transparent, defensible documentation of Metro's inclusion achievements.
Enhanced Transparency and Accountability
Dashboards provide Metro leadership and procurement stakeholders with immediate visibility into performance trends, including small business contract awards, overall spend, and participation outcomes.
Outcomes & Impact
The Cincinnati Metro’s intentional efforts to leverage PRISM’s compliance platform have generated measurable and sustained results in expanding small business engagement:
1. Dramatic Increase in Contracts with Small Business Participation
From 2019 to the current reporting period, Cincinnati Metro has consistently increased both the number of contracts involving small business participation and the total spend awarded to certified small firms. Through PRISM’s tracking and analytics, Cincinnati Metro identified trends in participation growth and optimized procurement strategies accordingly.
2. Over $37 Million Spent with Small Businesses in Six Years
With PRISM’s compliance infrastructure, Metro has documented more than $37 million in cumulative spend with small businesses over the past six years, reflecting a focused, systematic approach to inclusion in everyday procurement. Specifically in FY24-FY25 the small business spend increased from $8.7M to $14M which is a 60% overall increase in small business spend in 1 year. This is a testament to Metro’s commitment and PRISM’s ability to deliver transparent, defensible spend analytics.
3. Sustained Growth Forecast with Major Capital Projects
Cincinnati Metro anticipates continued expansion of small business participation as it begins its Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) initiative and redevelopment of major transit centers, significant capital projects that will unlock new contracting opportunities for small and diverse firms.
PRISM’s platform positions Cincinnati Metro to project, monitor, and report on small business inclusion throughout the lifecycle of these initiatives, fostering deeper local economic impact.
Why PRISM Was a Key Success Factor
Integrated Compliance Intelligence
PRISM became Metro’s source for small business spend, ready-willing-able contractor participation data, and reporting outputs suitable for internal review and external compliance obligations.
Actionable Insights That Drive Strategy
Real-time visibility into trends enabled sortable views of contract data( by department, prime contractor, subcontractor role, certification status, and more), empowering the Cincinnati Metro to identify where focused outreach yields the most inclusive outcomes.
Enhanced Accountability Across Teams
Procurement, diversity, and leadership stakeholders all gained tools that made compliance less about administrative burden and more about strategic decision-making.
Conclusion
Cincinnati Metro’s partnership with PRISM Compliance Management exemplifies how intelligent compliance technology can transform inclusion policy into measurable economic outcomes. By streamlining tracking, reporting, and actionable insights, Cincinnati has not only met but exceeded expectations in expanding small business participation in transit contracting.
As Metro embarks on its next phase of transit innovation with major infrastructure projects, PRISM will continue to support their mission, ensuring that equitable opportunity remains at the heart of every contract and capital initiative.