Baker-Polito Administration Announces Comprehensive
Measures to Further Promote Diversity in State Contracting
Proposal would establish the Supplier Diversity Office
as its own state agency
BOSTON – The Baker-Polito Administration today announced a
series of measures to continue ongoing efforts to ensure equal opportunity and
increase access for diverse companies in state contracting. As part of today’s
announcement, the Administration is filing legislation entitled, “An Act to
Elevate the Supplier Diversity Office to Ensure Equal Opportunity in State
Contracting.” The bill would establish the Supplier Diversity Office (SDO)
as a separate state agency with tools and resources to ensure accountability
and compliance with diversity goals, oversee agency diversity spending, and
audit and review spending data.
The Administration also
announced it will implement several other improvements in the supplier
diversity space. These include a more active role for the SDO in engaging
diverse and small businesses in public procurements, expanded reporting for
spending between state contractors and their diverse business partners, the
publication of minority-business-enterprise spending by race and ethnicity, the
expansion of the Small Business Purchasing Program, increased bid evaluation
percentages for certain procurements in order to promote more diversity (a
component of the “Massport Model”), and the translation of SDO materials into
multiple languages.
“Our administration is
committed to continuing to promote growth and opportunity and ensure the
Commonwealth takes every opportunity to support and benefit from its diverse business
community,” said Governor Charlie Baker. “In launching these new
initiatives, we have worked closely with leaders in the minority business
community, Black and Latino Caucus, and Black Advisory Commission and Latino
Advisory Commission. We look forward to continuing our work with these partners
to strengthen the state contracting process with greater diversity,
transparency and accountability.”
“We are committed to
collaborating with diverse companies throughout Massachusetts and ensure equity
within the public marketplace,” said Lt. Governor Karyn Polito. “Increasing
economic development – for all businesses and communities – is a critical
priority given the COVID-19 pandemic and its related impacts, and we are
pleased to continue pursuing improvements that optimize our supplier diversity
program.”
Since taking office in 2015,
the Baker-Polito Administration has focused on expanding opportunities for
diverse business enterprises to work with state government and has increased
direct spending on minority-business-enterprises by the Executive Branch by
nearly $8 million. The Administration has consistently met and raised annual
benchmarks, grown the supplier diversity program, and filed
legislation in February 2020 to promote participation by minority and
women-owned businesses in state construction projects. The Administration also
included $50.8 million in grants in its recently-launched economic
recovery plan to support small minority-owned businesses in Massachusetts,
which have been disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Legislation Filed Today:
“An Act to Elevate the
Supplier Diversity Office to Ensure Equal Opportunity in State Contracting” would establish the SDO as a separate state agency
under the authority of the Executive Office for Administration and Finance. The
SDO would oversee monitoring and reporting of agency diverse spending and the
development of annual comprehensive diversity spending plans for agencies. The
legislation would also create a Supplier Diversity Compliance Unit within the
SDO, which will systematically audit and review direct and indirect spending
data to ensure compliance and accuracy.
Additional Supplier
Diversity Improvements:
Going forward, the SDO annual
report will separate indirect spending between state contractors and their
diverse business partners by subcontracting and ancillary products and services
and itemize minority-business-enterprise spending by race and ethnicity. The
Administration will also raise the threshold for the Small Business Purchasing
Program from $150,000 for the total value of the contract to $250,000 per year,
which will help increase preference and access for minority businesses, as many
are small businesses.
The SDO will align its
supplier diversity program with a component of the “Massport Model” by
expanding the percentage of bid evaluation scores dedicated to the supplier
diversity plan from 10% to 25%, for procurements above a certain threshold.
Additionally, the SDO will work with state and private sector partners to
translate existing materials into foreign languages to further accommodate
diverse businesses seeking to do business with the Commonwealth.
“The Baker-Polito
Administration continues to implement creative reforms that empower diverse
businesses across the Commonwealth,” said Secretary of Administration and
Finance Michael J. Heffernan. “We look forward to continuing to work
closely with the minority business community, our colleagues in the
Legislature, and other key stakeholders to enact and implement these critical
measures to support and promote any businesses seeking to work with the
Commonwealth.”
“Expanding opportunities for
minority-owned businesses working with state government is a crucial way that
we can expand economic opportunity for people of color, and I am glad to see
the Baker-Polito Administration take further steps to advance that goal,” said
Deborah Enos, Chair of the Black Advisory Commission. “The legislation
elevating the Supplier Diversity Office and additional steps to strengthen the
program will support our shared efforts to enable more diverse businesses to
access state contracting opportunities.”
“The Commonwealth benefits
from ensuring equal opportunity for diverse companies to participate in state
contracting, and the Baker-Polito Administration has done important work to
strengthen the Supplier Diversity program in support of that goal,” said
Josie Martinez, Chair of the Latino Advisory Commission. “The new
initiatives announced today build upon the Administration’s efforts to promote
opportunities for minority-owned businesses, and I thank the Governor and Lt.
Governor for their focus on these important issues.”
These new measures build
upon the Administration’s previous efforts to optimize the supplier diversity program
such as expanding the categories of diverse businesses that participate in the
supplier diversity program, streamlining and simplifying the certification
process, upgrading systems to allow for electronic applications and to better
manage records, entering into multi-year agreements with third party
certification organizations to provide free certifications for Massachusetts
businesses, increasing compliance with program guidelines, implementing new
training, and hiring additional personnel to further improve the program.