New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer recently announced a year-long series of workshops to boost the contracting capacity of the city's minority- and woman-owned businesses (MWBEs).
The workshops, going under the umbrella name of "MWBE University", will teach MWBEs and businesses wishing to be certified as such crucial aspects of the certification and procurement processes. Topics that will be covered include prevailing wage rules, bonding, and prequalification.
"M/WBE University is so important because these companies help to build real, local wealth across all of our communities," said the Comptroller. "That's why we need to work with these businesses closely. If we’re going to have a true five-borough economy where everyone has a fair shot, we have to make sure our M/WBEs are successful."
Notable businesses are also partnering with the city to facilitate the workshops, with companies like IBM, CDW, Ricoh Partner, and others with experience in city contracting taking part.
The MWBE University initiative is part of the city's broader push for increasing MWBE participation in city contracting. In 2017, the city awarded over $1 billion in contracting dollars to MWBEs; however, this figure represents only 4.9 percent of the city's total contracting awards. The MWBE University program is the latest in a series of other advances, including the bill signed by New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo which raised the limit on the dollar amount of contracts the city may award to MWBEs in no-bid processes to 150,000.
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