New York Codes, Rules and Regulations › Title 9 - EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT › Subtitle A - Governor's Office › Chapter I - Executive Orders › Part 6 - Executive Orders (Eliot Spitzer) › Section 6.8 - Executive order no. 8: establishing the mwbe executive leadership council and the mwbe corporate roundtable

Current through Register Vol. 46, No. 28, July 10, 2024
WHEREAS, in 1988 New York State enacted a law establishing
					 a comprehensive, statewide Minority and Women-Owned Business Enterprise
					 ("MWBE") program; and
WHEREAS, as of February 2007, the MWBE program certified
					 6,975 minority and women-owned businesses, and New York State awarded
					 approximately $445 million in contracts to some of these businesses in the
					 2005-2006 fiscal year; and
WHEREAS, approximately 23% of New York's small businesses
					 are owned by minorities and 26% of New York's small businesses are owned by
					 women, but only 3% of the state's contracts were awarded to minority and
					 women-owned businesses in the 2005-2006 fiscal year; and
WHEREAS, New York's economy must be open for all to
					 participate; and
WHEREAS, it is appropriate to take steps to ensure that
					 state agencies and public authorities increase participation of qualified MWBE
					 businesses in all state contracts;
NOW, THEREFORE, I, Eliot Spitzer, Governor of the State of
					 New York, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the
					 laws of the State of New York, do hereby order as follows:
A. The MWBE Executive Leadership Council
1. There is hereby created an MWBE Executive
				  Leadership Council ("Council") that shall seek to improve the participation of
				  MWBE businesses in the state's procurement process through recommendations made
				  by executives in state agencies and public authorities that award contracts to
				  the private sector.
2. The Council
				  shall consist of at least sixteen members appointed by the Governor, including
				  the Lieutenant Governor, who shall chair the Council, the Commissioner of the
				  Department of Economic Development, the Director of the Division of MWBE
				  Development, the State Comptroller, the Director of the Budget, the New York
				  State Chief Information Officer, the Commissioner of the Office of General
				  Services, the Chancellor of the State University of New York, the Commissioner
				  of Education, the Commissioner of Transportation, the Commissioner of
				  Correctional Services, the President of the Battery Park City Authority, the
				  Executive Director of the Development Authority of the North Country, the
				  Executive Director of the Dormitory Authority, the Executive Director of the
				  Metropolitan Transportation Authority, and the Executive Director of the
				  Thruway Authority.
3. The Council
				  shall meet at least quarterly and make recommendations to increase MWBE
				  participation in state contracting, including, but not limited to:
(a) identifying best practices of state
				  agencies to promote MWBE business participation;
(b) identifying laws, rules, regulations and
				  practices of state agencies which are counter-productive or inimical to MWBE
				  businessess in state contracting;
(c) recommending ways to improve
				  inter-governmental cooperation among state agencies and public authorities to
				  improve the goals of the MWBE program; and
(d) evaluating the practices of public
				  authorities in promoting the participation of certified MWBE businesses,
				  including but not limited to underwriters, legal counsel, financial services
				  firms and consultants, to meet the objectives of State Finance Law §
				  136-b.
4. The Council
				  shall annually prepare a written report of its findings on the first of
				  November which shall be posed on the internet page for the Division of MWBE
				  Deveopment.
5. All agencies and
				  public authorities shall cooperate and provide assistance as may be requested
				  by the Council. The State Procurement Council, created pursuant to State
				  Finance Law § 161, the Council of Contracting Agencies, created pursuant
				  to Executive Order No. 125, issued on May 22, 1989, the MWBE statewide
				  advocate, established pursuant to Executive Law § 311-a, and the MWBE
				  Advisory Board, created pursuant to Economic Development Law § 120, shall
				  work with the Council to increase participation by certified MWBE businesses in
				  state contracting.