NYS CIO/OFT Honored As Champion of Technology Supplier Diversity

ALBANY, NY (09/18/2009)(readMedia)-- The New York State Chief Information Officer and Office for Technology (CIO/OFT) received the 2008-2009 New York State Forum "Best Practices Award for Policy" for its efforts to increase technology supplier diversity for minority and women business enterprises (MWBEs) within New York State.

"We are extremely pleased the NYS Forum recognized CIO/OFT for the outstanding work done during the past year to strengthen New York's economy with greater participation by MWBEs. CIO/OFT's supplier diversity program is about opening doors for our small, minority and women owned businesses to enable them to create relationships that will reach beyond this program," said Dr. Melodie Mayberry-Stewart, New York State Chief Information Officer and Office For Technology.

The Best Practices Awards are given annually to New York State and local government agencies in recognition of efforts to improve government services through the effective use of information management. The awards presentation was held during the New York State Forum's 23rd Annual meeting on September 11, 2009

Executive Director of the NYS Forum, Mr. Greg Benson said, "It is a measure of great achievement when your peers acknowledge your work as being worthy of a Best Practice Award. CIO/OFT has contributed significantly to improving the diversity of New York State technology contracting and that has significant throughout the supply chain. I am particularly pleased the NYS Forum has honored this important work by CIO/OFT and congratulate State CIO, Dr. Melodie Mayberry-Stewart, for her tireless efforts."

Increasing information technology supplier diversity faces special challenges. Many IT contractors are large in scope, which can make it difficult for smaller companies to provide the needed services because of project scope.

In continued efforts to increase the use of MWBE suppliers in state technology procurements, CIO/OFT developed an innovative two pronged approach. First, for state agencies who procure technology services and assets, CIO/OFT established a goal of 20% participation in state technology procurements by 2010. CIO/OFT also developed model language to include in technology procurement proposals and contracts to explicitly define what constitutes a "good faith effort" to identify and include MWBEs as subcontractors. To instill an understanding and appreciation of the agency's MWBE goals and values, CIO/OFT requires all its managers to complete mandatory supplier diversity training and has adopted the training as part of the agency's orientation program.

Secondly, to help MWBEs prepare to do business in New York State, CIO/OFT created a handbook that provides answers to the most commonly asked questions about how to become certified and how to do business with state and local government agencies.

To help build relations and communication in the technology vendor community In 2008-2009, CIO/OFT and the Division of Minority and Women Business Development co-hosted three technology sector MWBE Jumpstart events to create opportunities for MWBE technology solution providers to connect with key technology companies serving New York State.

"Our partnership with CIO/OFT has been an outstanding success and a tremendous lift to our outreach efforts among the MWBE high-tech community in New York State. The Technology Jump Start Events have been very successful and we look forward to hosting additional events," said Michael Jones-Bey, Executive Director of the New York State Division of Minority and Women Business Development. "I am so pleased to be a partner with Dr. Mayberry-Stewart and CIO/OFT. I offer my sincere congratulations to everyone involved for their hard work and enthusiasm for this program. The recognition from the NYS Forum is certainly well deserved."

In collaboration with the Division of Minority and Women's Business Enterprise Development, CIO/OFT assisted in the development and launch of www.nylovesmwbe.ny.gov – a website devoted to helping qualifying companies become certified as MWBEs. Currently, New York State has one of the largest databases of certified firms in the nation, with nearly 7,000 certifications of New York State minority and women-owned businesses. The certification is designed to help MWBE firms gain an introduction to large companies that are interested in doing business with women or minority owned vendors.

To ensure MWBEs are afforded an equal opportunity to participate in New York's purchasing and procurement processes in the private sector, CIO/OFT is also working with New York State's top IT vendors in a similar effort to establish corporate MWBE participation goals. Twenty-five technology corporations that have voluntarily pledged to increase their use of MWBEs to 15 percent by 2009 and 20 percent by 2010. The 25 corporations embracing this commitment are: Accenture, AVAYA, Bearing Point, CGI, Cisco, Computer Aid, Dell, Deloitte, Dunn and Bradstreet, EDS, EMC, IBM, Intel, Johnson Controls, Microsoft, nfrastructure, Oracle, Qwest, SAIC, Siemens, Sun Microsystems, Tandberg, Unisys, CMA and Xerox.

For additional information on CIO/OFT's Supplier Diversity Program, please visit http://www.oft.state.ny.us/OFT/MWBE.htm

For additional information on the NYS Division of Minority and Women Business Development, please visit http://www.nylovesmwbe.ny.gov/

For additional information on the NYS Forum annual best practice awards, please visit http://www.nysforum.org/

About CIO/OFT

The State Chief Information Officer and Office for Technology (CIO/OFT) provide statewide IT strategic direction, IT policy and centralized IT shared services to the State and its governmental entities. CIO/OFT provides IT services to support the missions of state agencies 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, including more than 90,000 telecom users, 50 statewide mission-critical applications, a secure network of over 1,600 miles of fiber, including mainframe operations, telecommunications, Internet and Intranet services, enterprise email systems and support, IT training, networking, data storage and processing, and a state-of-the-art 24x7 Customer Care Center. In addition, CIO/OFT has a world renowned project management practice, develops web applications and assists with application development. For more information, visit http://www.cio.ny.gov/.

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