Supplier Diversity Newsletter

New OMWBE Certified Businesses

Greetings Partners,

Every month we share a list of the most recent state certified businesses including the business name, contact information, business description, etc. This list is best utilized regularly in combination with OMWBE's Directory of Certified Businesses.

Please contact our Supplier Diversity team for assistance using our online directory, or to schedule a virtual training for your procurement team.

Email: supplierdiversity@omwbe.wa.gov

Statewide Contracts – Analysis and Action

You can easily access Statewide Contract use data If you are curious about how your agency or organization is using them by going to Data.WA.gov. DES makes it easy to download the info—all you need are some basic Excel skills to analyze it. OMWBE provides guidance on how to download, sort, and filter the spreadsheets here: Agency Statewide Use Analysis. It also includes instructions on what to do with the information. You can get some practice on this at the next Toolkit Workshop.

We are hosting a Statewide Contracts Workshop on July 20. Please join us at this interactive session.

Governor’s Subcabinet on Business Diversity: Fresh Start, New Energy

The Governor’s Subcabinet on Business Diversity took a pause at the end of 2022 to regroup, find focus, and develop a strategy to increase engagement with both partner agencies and the business community. We took the time to establish a charter that defines roles, responsibilities, and expected outcomes. Most importantly, the Subcabinet is adopting Pro Equity, Anti Racism (PEAR) Principles. This shows up as including business representation on the Subcabinet, as well as holding Subcabinet meetings in a public setting.

The July Subcabinet Meeting Has Been Rescheduled for August

The next Subcabinet quarterly meeting will take place in August at Tabor 100. We will be reaching out shortly with the new date and meeting details. At this meeting we will get acquainted, discuss our statewide diverse spending trends and what we are doing to improve it, and begin prioritizing the backlog of workgroups that will amplify our efforts to address disparities in our use of OMWBE certified businesses. You can find current information on Subcabinet activities on OMWBE’s website: Subcabinet on Business Diversity.

If you would like to receive news about future Subcabinet activities, please use the link below to opt-in for updates.

Access Equity Update

In September, OMWBE will be onboarding 43 state agencies and three state universities to Access Equity. These organizations will join others already launched during Phase 1 in the utilization of an online portal to submit contract spend data electronically, for all contracts that have subcontracts. This is a shift in statewide practice, where different methods of reporting are utilized throughout the state.

Access Equity will standardize data reporting, reduce errors in manual reporting processes, and cut down on the amount of time spent on data cleaning efforts. Access Equity will also provide the opportunity to run real-time reports on an organization’s spend data, which will help to close its equity gap faster, by monitoring spending data on an ongoing basis.

As a part of this launch, Access Equity will provide each of these organizations tools to better enhance outreach capabilities that help agencies identify qualified certified vendors and perform outreach to these businesses to share bidding opportunities.

After the successful launch and training of these organizations, OMWBE will look to Phase 3, which will encompass another 57 agencies and colleges. We will include more news about Access Equity and our phased launch plan in future newsletters.

Washington Regional Contracting Forum September 20th, 2023

Is your agency registered for the 2023 Washington Regional Contracting Forum? This is a free in-person event taking place on September 20th at the Muckleshoot Tribal Event Center in Auburn, WA. DES is leading the event this year along with the City of Tacoma. Join us in celebrating 20 years of making connections! You will have an opportunity to connect with small, diverse, and veteran owned businesses.

Agencies can register for booths on Eventbrite. There is also an option to register for general admission tickets. Booth tickets are limited so act fast!   

If you would like to include others on our distribution list to receive these monthly supplier diversity emails, please let us know at supplierdiversity@omwbe.wa.gov.