Back to Basics ~ Certifications

To celebrate this New Year of 2012, we thought it appropriate to talk about diversity certification again, how it came about and the value of being certified. The term diversity really refers to the way in which people differ from one another … even invisible differences. Stumbled across a quote in a paper describing a class on American Literature entitled Real Voices of the 1960’s: A Foundation for the New Canon by Brian Wolf that leapt off the screen: “Prior to the 1960’s, social equality in America was presumed by no one; racism, sexism, and discrimination of every sort were the modus operandi for most Americans, regardless of whether they were perpetrators or victims in the system of injustice.” (emphasis added) Unless you lived during that era it may be difficult to understand, but Mr. Wolf’s statement is exactly how it seemed, except to those of us who continued asking “why”? Fifty years later, it would seem we are still addressing those issues of cultural diversity as they apply to procurement of goods and services by large organizations.

In the United States, the various federal and state agencies have made a commitment to diversity spending by establishing goals for purchasing from certified diverse businesses … those business that are 51% minority, women, veteran, disabled, service-disabled or LGBT owned and operated. These goals vary between agencies and corporations, but this Small Business Administration’s page discusses the federal government statutory goals for small business procurement which are: 

  • 23% of prime contracts for small businesses;
  • 5% of prime and subcontracts for women-owned small businesses;
  • 5% of prime and subcontracts for small disadvantaged businesses;
  • 3% of prime and subcontracts for service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses;
  • 3% of prime subcontracts for HUBZone small businesses

The Unites States federal government, by itself, spends over $200 billion a year on goods and services.  Supplier diversity programs exist in federal, state, or local government and corporate organizations to increase the participation of minority, women, veteran, disabled, service-disabled or LGBT owned businesses in the purchasing of necessary goods and services.  If a contract is set-aside, only those businesses certified in the required category are allowed to bid.  So, the obvious advantage to becoming diversity certified is the opportunity to compete in bidding on prime or subcontracts that are designated as set-asides or have specific goals for certified business participation. To be considered as an eligible business entity competing for the prime and subcontracts categories, the business must be certified by an approved certifying agency or organization.  To qualify for a certification the business must be at least 51% diversity owned, and the diverse owners must control and govern the business.  The business owner(s) bears the burden of proof regarding its eligibility for certification and must demonstrate that s/he meets all of the certifying agency’s requirements regarding societal or individual disadvantage, business size and the ownership, governance and control of the business.

Next time we’ll discuss how to choose a certifying agency and the process for getting certified.