Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf (D) is doubling down on efforts to help minority, women, disabled, and veteran-owned small businesses secure contracts with the state government.

Back in 2015, the governor signed an executive order called “Diversity, Inclusion and Small Business Opportunities in Commonwealth Procurement and in Pennsylvania’s Economy.” It created the Bureau of Diversity, Inclusion and Small Business Opportunities (BDISBO). The program is under the Department of General Services (DGS), the Governor’s Advisory Council on Diversity Inclusion and Small Business Opportunities.

The executive order also led to the 2018 Statewide Disparity Study which looked for “disparities in the commonwealth’s contracting system and made recommendations for improvement.”

“This is another important step forward in the ambitious project my administration launched five years ago to open doors for small and diverse businesses in state contracting and to make the process more inclusive and diverse,” the governor said. “We have made progress, but there is more work to do. We cannot allow some people to be shut out of a chance to get a state contract. Our economy and our communities work best when everyone has a fair chance of success.”

Another recommendation of the study was the creation of a Veteran Business Enterprise program. The new rules detailed in a June 15 press release include one targeting Veteran Business Enterprises (VBEs). 

Now with the new changes, there is an explicit goal set for the state to devote 4.6 percent of its contract spending to VBEs. In addition, “to increase the availability of VBEs, the commonwealth will now consider a Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business Enterprises as both an SDB [Small Disadvantaged Business] firm and a VBE firm.”

Moreover, the governor has tasked all state agencies under their jurisdiction to meet a 15 percent threshold of their contract spending to go to eligible and state-certified small businesses through what is called the Small Business Reserve. The program “aids small businesses in competing as prime contractors on government procurement.”

The final new measure introduced by Governor Wolf, and perhaps the most consequential, overhauls the scoring process previously used to evaluate proposals with goal-setting. Now, each “competitive state procurement” will have the goal with each solicitation of reaching 26.3 percent of state-wide contract spending going to Small Diverse Businesses (SDBs).

According to the press release, the goal-setting process became effective immediately for construction solicitations over $300,000 and will go into effect on August 17 for “good and services solicitations” over $250,000.

“Historically, the state contracting process has been uneven, inconsistent and unfair in providing opportunities for SBs and SDBs to do business with the commonwealth,” said DGS Secretary Curt Topper. “These policy and program changes will allow us to increase opportunities for small diverse businesses in state contracts.”