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CORRECTION: Today's newsletter did not include a link to view New OMWBE Certified Businesses from July 2023. The Download List button works now.
Supplier Diversity Newsletter
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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
This button has been updated with a working link.
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For the first time in over 20 years, OMWBE has set aspirational spending goals for state agencies. You can view the goals and each agency's Business Diversity Spending Goal Plan for FY 2024 on our website: Agency Reports and Plans
While goal planning must occur early on in the fiscal year so agencies can put their plans into practice, we received just under two-thirds of Goal Plans from reporting agencies. To encourage 100% participation, we have extended the deadline to September 8th for agencies that did not submit their Goal Plans.
Please contact supplierdiversity@omwbe.wa.gov if you have questions about your agency's assigned goal. If every reporting agency achieves their goal for FY24, statewide agency spending would climb to 10.59% utilization of OMWBE certified businesses—over 6% more than what was reported in the last fiscal year.
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You can ask Robert DeNiro and Billy Crystal to help you analyze your current procurement processes, but they might not be available any time soon. Rather than wait, you can dive in by reviewing your current procurement processes with the Tools for Equity in Public Spending and DES’ Supplier Diversity Policy handy.
Look at each step in the process and think about which of the tools might be applicable. If you are familiar with Lean Six Sigma, this might sound like Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA). That’s the model: break the process down to find each step that could be a potential failure point for supplier diversity, or, to think positively about it, look at each step to see if there is an opportunity to improve your procurement process.
The last Toolkit Workshop of the 2023 series will take place on September 28th. Abigail Vizcarra Perez from Metro Parks Tacoma will share experiences on incorporating supplier diversity practices there, and we will go over ideas on how you can look at your current procurement processes to find where you can include the Tools for Equity in Public Spending and requirements in the DES Supplier Diversity Policy.
Are you feeling some anxiety about collecting your agency's forecasting data in order to post it to your website prior to October 1st as required by the DES Supplier Diversity Policy? Did you attend the Forecasting Toolkit Workshop on August 24th and still have questions or concerns or want to talk about something specific to your agency? You can schedule time with Drew and Ernesto from DES and Doug from OMWBE to meet with your team, review what you have, and/or discuss next steps. Just contact one of the individuals below, and they will schedule some time to work with you.
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The Governor's Subcabinet on Business Diversity held its first in-person meeting of 2023 on August 17th at the Tabor 100 headquarters in Tukwila. We were graced with the majority of subcabinet agency leaders in attendance—and for the first time in recent memory—members of the small and diverse business community held seats at the table to provide direct input on the future direction of the Subcabinet. We are thrilled to include new voices in this work, and every new business community member is certified with OMWBE! |
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Now that we have established a Subcabinet Charter and made space for the business community at the table, our next step is to establish workgroups that will focus on numerous Subcabinet initiatives. If you would like to stay up-to-date as we ramp up our efforts, please take a moment to join our Subcabinet Mailing List where we will report out on the work taking place behind the scenes.
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We are happy to report that Access Equity is in the middle of launching Phase 2, which includes 43 state agencies and three universities. Late August saw all users in Phase 2 trained to use the Outreach Module of Access Equity. This module enhances each organization’s ability to connect certified M/WBEs to bidding opportunities throughout the state. Training for the Contract Compliance Module will be conducted throughout the month of September.
By the end of September, OMWBE will have held introductory kickoff meetings for the final two phases of Access Equity. The 26 agencies in Phase 3a will be launched in December 2023, while the 31 technical and community colleges will be launched in February 2024. It is an exciting time for us, as years’ worth of work has led Access Equity to this stage and there are only a few short months to go!
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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. |
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