Onondaga County formalizes MWBE considerations

NY News - Published Aug 07, 2018

Legislators for Onondaga County recently formalized a policy requiring consideration of minority- and woman-owned business enterprises (MWBEs) in county contracting procedures.

Prior to the new policy, the administration of the county kept the MWBE considerations going on a serial basis; now the MWBE goals have been formally set forth by county legislators. Furthermore, service-disabled veteran-owned businesses (SDVOBs) are now also considered to be part of the program, and it is the official policy of the county to encourage their use in public procurement as well.

The county's page for the MWBE program can be seen at http://www.ongov.net/purchase/mwbe.html and lists an MBE participation goal of 18 percent and a WBE participation goal of 12 percent (specifying that this constitutes a combined MWBE goal of 30%) for locally funded projects within Onondaga County. There is currently no specified participation goal for SDVOBs. The county does not itself certify MWBEs or SDVOBs, but relies on other state and local agencies for determining certification and status.

Some county legislators have called for a disparity study in order to justify the newly-formalized program, but money has not yet been budgeted for such a study.

The legislation may be read at http://www.urbancny.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/INCREASING-OPPORTUNITIES-FOR-PARTICIPATION-.pdf.