New York State Chief Information Officer Presents at the 2nd Annual MWBE Awareness and Advocacy Day

Albany, NY (March 8, 2011)

On March 8, 2011, Dr. Melodie Mayberry-Stewart, New York State Chief Information Officer and Director of the Office for Technology joined Lieutenant Governor Robert Duffy during the 2nd Annual MWBE Awareness and Advocacy Day to discuss creating more opportunity for minority and women business enterprises (MWBEs) in state procurements.

 

In her position as State CIO, Dr. Mayberry-Stewart increased the use of MWBEs in state technology procurements from less than 1% in 2007 to more than 20% by the end of 2010. Joined by members of the NYS Legislature; NYS Chief Diversity Officer, Yrtha Dinzey-Flores; Paul Williams, CEO and President of the NYS Dormitory Authority; Executive Agencies and MWBEs, she highlighted initiatives that helped CIO/OFT exceed its goal, ahead of schedule, to increase the number of MWBEs participating in state technology purchases to more than 21.57% by the end of 2010.

 

On February 17, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo issued Executive Order 8, establishing a task force to explore ways to meet the goal of expanding minority and women-owned business enterprise (MWBE) participation in state contracting to 20%.

 

During his Executive Welcome, Lieutenant Governor Duffy said, “MWBEs are the backbone of our communities and in order to change the economic backbone of our State we must create opportunities for MWBEs. Governor Andrew M. Cuomo’s target to raise MWBE participation in New York State procurements to 20% is a great starting point, but we must reach beyond this goal. By working together to create opportunity for our MWBEs, we have the opportunity to change the economic development of our communities and our entire State.”

 

Dr. Mayberry-Stewart said, “Supplier diversity is a major economic driver for New York State and especially in the emerging technology landscape of this digital economy. As one of the largest buyers of IT products and services in New York State government, CIO/OFT has increased the participation level of MWBEs in technology procurements from less than 1% in 2007 to 21.57% by 2010. In support of Governor Cuomo’s goal, CIO/OFT has raised the bar to exceed our 2010 MWBE participation level.”

 

During her remarks, Dr. Mayberry-Stewart shared key actions taken by CIO/OFT to achieve the MWBE participation target, which included:

 

• Hosting three MWBE Jumpstart events in Albany, Buffalo, and New York City and match-making sessions to create opportunities for MWBE technology solution providers to connect with technology companies throughout New York State.

• Requiring prime contractors to exhibit a higher “best efforts” standard for all IT procurements. CIO/OFT encouraged state agencies to adopt the “best-efforts” language for future solicitations whenever possible.

• Instilling an understanding and appreciation of supplier diversity importance, by requiring managers complete CIO/OFT required all managers to complete mandatory supplier diversity training and integrating the training into the agency’s new employee orientation program.

• Launching the MWBE Infielder, a monthly newsletter, to present success stories, best practices, MWBE resources, future opportunities, and upcoming events to more than 1,000 subscribers.

• Collaborating with the Division of Minority and Women Business Development (DMWBD) (a division of Empire State Development) to develop and launch — www.nylovesmwbe.ny.gov — a website devoted to helping companies become certified as MWBEs. The technology has enabled DMWBD to reduce the certification process from 24 months in 2007 to 3 months in 2010.

• Hosting MWBE Champions appreciation events for those global IT companies helping CIO/OFT achieve the 20% participation goal.

 

On December 22, 2010, new regulations to improve MWBE participation in state contracts became effective for all state agencies and authorities. The new regulations level the playing field for MWBE firms and open up the marketplace for greater involvement in all business sectors. To view the regulations, please visit: http://esd.ny.gov/MWBE/Data/122210_MWBE15-ARegs.pdf

 

To subscribe to CIO/OFT’s MWBE InFielder newsletter register at http://www.cio.ny.gov/OFT/MWBE_infielder.htm.

 

To view New York State’s MWBE Disparity Study visit: http://www.esd.ny.gov/MWBE.html.

 

To view the photo gallery from CIO/OFT’s participation in the 2nd Annual MWBE Awareness and Advocacy Day visit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nystatecio/.