So you want to create a vendor diversity program. Where do you start? What pieces should you have in place for success? The most common thing preventing procurement teams from creating these initiatives is not having a starting point.

Recently, we had the pleasure of sitting down with DeNita Lacking-Quinn (Supervisor at City of Dallas Procurement Services) and André McEwing (Supplier Diversity Manager at Tarrant County College) during our TexasTalk event to get their tips on creating an effective vendor diversity program.

Keep reading to find the five key takeaways from this conversation or watch the full recording here.

Identify gaps, opportunities, and goals

The foundations of any vendor diversity program come from identifying gaps in procurement accessibility, finding opportunities to help develop disadvantaged business enterprises (DBEs), and setting out which goals you’d like this program to achieve.

During TexasTalk, DeNita mentioned the City of Dallas’s Availability and Disparity Study, which looked at the number of minority and women-owned business enterprises (M/WBEs) who were ready, willing, and able to perform work with the City and how much they were utilized compared to other businesses. The results became the City’s guide when creating their vendor diversity program.

Another way to get more information is to reach out to organizations that represent DBEs in your area such as The Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC) or see if your state has a framework to guide vendor diversity initiatives. The state of Texas has its Historically Underutilized Business (HUB) program, for example.

Gather, store, and use your data

One critical piece of any procurement department is a system to collect vendor diversity data. Rather than trying to secure budget for new tools, André advises working with tools you already have, like your eProcurement system or even Excel.

When it comes to the data you’ll collect, our panelists recommend considering:

• Vendors in your geographical area
• What category they fall into (construction, professional services, etc.)
• What certifications they have (M/WBE, DBE, SBE, etc.)
• What kinds of contracts are they winning
• The award amount for each group of businesses

Build relationships

“It’s not an island—you won’t be in it alone,” says DeNita. Creating a program like this isn’t a solo activity. There are four types of relationships our panelists touched on during TexasTalk:

1. Work with certifying organizations and professional associations

Working with certifying organizations and associations that represent DBEs is a mutually-beneficial way to build your program. Since they work with your target businesses daily, they have a lot of information that can help you ensure you have the elements.

2. Facilitate relationships between subcontractors and prime contractors

Both DeNita and André encouraged fostering business relationships between your subs and primes. One way to do this is to invite both groups of vendors to pre-bid meetings and encourage networking. Look at different ways you can help connect your primes to DBE subcontractors.

3. Create champions in your organization

Demonstrating the value of the program to those in the C-suite, on city council, your direct leadership, or whoever will listen can make sure you have a network of support. These allies can help advocate for more resources, be sounding boards for problem-solving, and help drive your program forward.

4. Make friends at other agencies

Talk to your counterparts at other organizations and share knowledge. They may have experience with a similar challenge, possess wisdom to help you optimize your program, or introduce you to key contacts at other organizations.

Make your procurement more accessible

Getting bid opportunities in front of your target group of vendors requires a multifaceted strategy, as there are quite a few internal and external barriers for your team to address.

Here are a few touched on by our panelists:

• Many vendors aren’t aware that government contracts are a viable avenue of business for them.
• Vendors don’t understand the procurement process and what’s required of them to start bidding.
• Your bid processes or vendor-facing documents are unnecessarily complex or inaccessible.
• Some vendors either don’t see the value in or aren’t aware of DBE, SBE, and W/MBE certifications.

One way DeNita’s team has addressed a gap is translating vendor guides into multiple languages, opening up the process to more ethnic groups. Both DeNita and André discussed education as a key piece, stressing the importance of working with vendors to understand procurement processes.

Set up reporting and review cycles

All the data you collect is going to be valuable for both program optimization and demonstrating results, so setting up regular reporting processes—whether it’s monthly, quarterly, or whatever works for you—helps you track progress. This also provides transparency to leadership, council, the public, and other project stakeholders.

Another way is creating a process review cycle. Leaders at the City of Dallas review each process with their data team annually to cut out fluff, review language, streamline processes, and otherwise make procurement more accessible. This is a great way to continually grow and evolve your program.

Both André and DeNita say you don’t require a complex program right off the bat. Growth of these programs can come in as many phases as you need.

See the benefits of vendor diversity initiatives

As you continue to build and grow your program, you’ll start seeing the benefits not just for your community, but internally as well. Our panelists weighed in on the changes they’ve experienced since working on vendor diversity initiatives.

“Bid competition and best-value within that bid competition is the number one benefit the college has seen,” André said. “And innovation would probably have been second.”

Bonfire can help you build vendor diversity into your procurement processes—chat with one our experts to learn how!