Chair: Ester Burns

Subcommittee: Jim Bachmeier, Frank Foster, Michele Golightly, Pat Haynes, Simone Jonaitis,

Martha Moore, Sherry Moyer, Pat Smith, Tim Thimmesch, Dante Villarreal

 

To lay a foundation for the work the Purchasing & Contracts Subcommittee will endeavor, initial meetings were focused on defining what a supplier diversity program is, summarizing the business case for maintaining a program, providing historical information about GVSU’s program, and outlining the strategies utilized in the University’s program. A summary of this detail is enclosed for reference. 

 

The Supplier Diversity Program at GVSU was established to support and strengthen the University’s Purchasing Policy of prohibiting discrimination against any vendor. Toward that end, the goal of the University’s program is to increase opportunities for minority and women business enterprises to compete for University contracts as suppliers, contractors, and subcontractors. This goal has always been achieved by employing inclusive and ethical-standards practices without enumeration, quotas or set-a-sides. Therefore, no dramatic changes are required in the Supplier Diversity Program for compliance with Proposal 2.

 

The Purchasing & Contracts Subcommittee will focus on developing strategic purchasing and contracting initiatives for the future that will:

 

Consistent with those disadvantaged groups included in our reporting, the GVSU supplier diversity program hereafter defines a DBE as a disabled-person business enterprise. An M/W/DBE is legally defined as a privately or publicly owned business organization whose ownership is at least 51% owned, controlled and actively managed by one or more minority/women/disabled persons. Federal guidelines define minority/women/disabled persons as members of any one of the following groups:

 

The supplier diversity program was founded in the late 1980’s under the premise, that we have an obligation to assure our vendor base reflects the diversity of our campus constituency and the very taxpayers who provide our revenues. There are no preferences or guarantees to any vendor under this strategy, only a commitment to provide opportunities to bid for our goods and services contracts.

 

The formative years focused on identifying the M/W/DBE’s (hereafter referred to as minority vendors) we were doing business with and our total purchases from those vendors. This was a manual and labor-intensive process with no financial technology available at that time. By the 1990’s, an automated purchasing system had been implemented that facilitated the data collection. However, identifying minority vendors remains one of the greatest challenges of a successful program. The annual average of minority vendor purchases for the five-year period from 1995 to 1999 was $926,767. 

 

Program initiative evolved to include:

In our supplier diversity program’s next generation, the primary focus is campus and community outreach. Additionally, our program strives to develop long-term vendor relationships. The University’s decentralized purchasing environment and the Purchasing Card program present a challenge to assure inclusive and compliant buying practices.

 

The annual average of minority vendor purchases for the five-year period from 2002 to 2006 was $4,154,570 or an average 4% of the University’s CSSM (Contract Services, Supplies, and Maintenance) expenditures for that same period. Although this represents a 348% increase in purchases over the aforementioned five-year period in the formative years, the average percent of CSSM spend is low for an institution as large as GVSU. The national average is 7-11%. Adding the University’s spend on construction projects does not significantly influence this average, as historically, minority contractors and subcontractors are underrepresented in GVSU’s construction contracts. 

 

GVSU is the fiscal agent for the Regional Alliance for Diversity in Public Purchasing. The Alliance is comprised of members representing government, public and non-profit institutions and business resource organizations. Their mission is to increase opportunities for minorities, women, veterans and ADA disabled business owners to sell their products and services. The Alliance website provides a portal for vendors’ centralized access to doing business with Alliance members, bid opportunities, vendor registration, and community events. The vendor database is being upgraded, and will provide vendor and product sourcing information for Alliance members and their communities. Visit www.regionalalliance-westmi.org.

 

GVSU has gained state-wide recognition as a champion for supplier diversity. In addition to the initiatives mentioned in the formative years, the second generation includes:

The Diversity Assessment Committee

(Pat Haynes, Sherry Moyer, Martha Moore)

(Dante Villarreal, Simone Jonaitis, Michele Golightly, Frank Foster)

(Jim Bachmeier, Tim Thimmesch, Pat Smith)