Minority Set-Aside Purchases

Wright State University is comitted to an equitable purchasing program and to this end follows and adheres to these State of Ohio's minority procurement programs.

The State of Ohio has two minority programs that function concurrently as described below:

1. Set-Aside. The State of Ohio has had a minority program in place for many years with a goal of 15% of its eligible goods and services to be purchased from minority owned businesses that have been certified by the State of Ohio. Construction contracting set-aside bidding is not required under this program at this time per Governor’s Executive Order of January 27, 2000.
   1. The Purchasing department will determine classifications of goods and services in which opportunity exists for doing business with a certified minority business. There must be at least three qualified, responsible Minority Business Enterprise (MBE) certified bidders capable of providing the identified goods or services in order to be considered for set-aside bidding. A set-aside bidding process will only include certified minority businesses that have been certified by the state of Ohio.
   2. If bids or proposals resulting from set-aside bidding are not received from invited MBE firms, or submitted pricing is over budget or cannot be provided in a timely manner, a second bid process may become necessary in which the goods or services may be made available for "open-market" bidding. Open-market bidding allows for both majority and minority owned businesses to participate. If re-bidding becomes necessary, additional time may be necessary to conduct the process.
2. Edge. The EDGE program (effective January 1, 2006) establishes a goal of 5% of eligible goods, services, and construction to be placed with suppliers and contractors that have been certified by the state of Ohio. "Set-aside" suppliers are automatically grandfathered in to this program until such times as they are recertified. This program broadens the requirements to become certified as it includes consideration for economically disadvantages businesses and geographic location.

The Purchasing department will determine whether opportunity exists for utilization of a minority vendor that qualifies in one or both of the minority programs. A web site hosted by the Equal Opportunity Division, state of Ohio will be reviewed to determine eligibility status for a particular company, or may be searched by commodity or service type.

Wright State University is committed to conducting business with certified minority owned businesses and will diligently strive to utilize minority businesses. Reporting will be submitted in a timely manner for both programs as required by the Equal Opportunity Division.