Supplier Diversity Integration Strategies at UC San Diego

By Anthony Singleton, Chief Small Business Officer, UC San Diego

Supplier Diversity is a connecting link between your university and the small, disadvantaged/women-owned businesses that can serve your campus, as well as state and federal agencies. Supplier Diversity Programs encourage small business participation in the procurement process and ensure continued growth of business opportunities for these businesses.

The role of Supplier Diversity in procurement efforts has developed greatly over time. Since its origination in the 1980s, Supplier Diversity Programs have evolved from simply being a necessity for government compliance and policy purposes to being an imperative for our own business and corporate citizenship practices.

At UC it is our duty to support teaching, research, and public services in a cost-effective manner that best serve the interests of the people of California. In this vein, it is the mission of the Small Business Development Office (SBDO) to create small business opportunities that contribute to the overall growth and expansion of our strategic initiatives and programs through inclusive procurement strategies. We are leading the new phase of responsible procurement by switching up the status quo and, as we like to say – breaking things better!

While SBDO used to brand itself as its own mini-procurement department, it has since expanded its reach to incorporate the resources of our entire Integrated Procure-to-Pay Solutions (IPPS) procurement team. With both UC system-wide and campus-specific goals in mind, it was imperative that we create a system to hold ourselves accountable for achieving these goals. For example, we have added a “Small Business Requirement” to our buyers’ job cards in order to ensure small business inclusion, awareness and accountability efforts. These requirements include activities like:

  • engaging in at least one (1) annual small business project to identify quantifiable, actionable small business goals within their departments,
  • participating in Capability Meetings with diverse suppliers and identifying at least one (1) potential performance opportunity each meeting, and
  • attending local small business outreach events.

As of January 2018, SBDO and IPPS have engaged in more procurement-led small business actions than ever before to deliver the small business solution that we know is right. This increase in small business activity was the result of internal strategic development, emphasis on the economic benefit of small business inclusion, investment in the local community, and innovative solutions to make small business procurement more efficient.

For example, we created a Federal Subcontracts Spend Dashboard tool to track small business spend goals more efficiently, re-designed our website for user efficiency, and established an Interest List program to gain the information of suppliers interested in upcoming RFx’s.

Through dedication to our Diverse Supplier community, SBDO and IPPS have evolved our business culture with actionable initiatives and measurable results. We strive to identify future trends and strategic business needs to better enrich the communities we serve. Together, SBDO and IPPS strengthen community engagement and awareness of our business impact and role on the local, regional, and global level.