The following Minority and Women-Owned Business Enterprises (M/WBE) participation requirements apply to:
The following M/WBE requirements apply when an applicant submits an application for grant funding that exceeds $25,000 for the full grant period.
All applicants are required to comply with NYSED’s Minority and Women-Owned Business Enterprises (M/WBE) policy. Compliance can be achieved by one of the three methods described below. Full participation by meeting or exceeding the M/WBE participation goal for this grant is the preferred method.
M/WBE participation includes services, materials, or supplies purchased from minority and women-owned firms certified with the NYS Division of Minority and Women Business Development. Not-for-profit agencies are not eligible for this certification. For additional information and a listing of currently certified M/WBEs, see the NYS M/WBE Directory.
The M/WBE participation goal for this grant is 30% of each applicant’s total discretionary non-personal service budget each year of the grant. Discretionary non-personal service budget is defined as total annual budget, excluding the sum of funds budgeted for:
The M/WBE Goal Calculation Worksheet is provided for use in calculating the dollar amount of the M/WBE goal for this grant application.
All requested information and documentation should be provided at the time of submission. If this cannot be done, the applicant will have thirty days from the date of notice of award to submit the necessary documents and respond satisfactorily to any follow-up questions from the Department. Failure to do so may result in loss of funding.
Forms should be completed and attached to the applicant’s online application. All forms open as fillable PDFs.
An applicant can comply with NYSED’s M/WBE policy by one of three methods:
This is the preferred method of compliance. Full participation is achieved when an applicant meets or exceeds the participation goals for this grant. For Full Participation, complete the following forms:
This is acceptable only if good faith efforts to achieve full participation are made and documented, but full participation is not possible. Complete the following forms:
This is acceptable only if good faith efforts to achieve full or partial participation are made and documented, but do not result in any participation by M/WBE firm(s). Complete the following forms:
Applicants must make a good faith effort to solicit NYS certified M/WBE firms as subcontractors and/or suppliers to achieve the goals for this grant. Solicitations may include, but are not limited to: advertisements in minority and women-centered publications; solicitation of vendors found in the NYS M/WBE Directory; and the solicitation of minority and women-oriented trade and labor organizations.
Good faith efforts include actions such as setting up meetings or announcements to make M/WBEs aware of supplier and subcontracting opportunities, identifying logical areas of the grant project that could be subcontracted to M/WBE firms, and utilizing all current lists of M/WBEs who are available for and may be interested in subcontracting or supplying goods for the project.
Applicants should document their efforts to comply with the stated M/WBE goals and submit this with their applications as evidence. Examples of acceptable documentation can be found in form M/WBE 105, Contractor’s Good Faith Efforts. NYSED reserves the right to reject any application for failure to document “good faith efforts.”
When full participation cannot be achieved, applicants must submit a Request for Waiver (M/WBE 101). Requests for Waivers must be accompanied by documentation explaining the good faith efforts made and reasons they were unsuccessful in obtaining M/WBE participation.
NYSED reserves the right to approve the addition or deletion of subcontractors or suppliers to enable applicants to comply with the M/WBE goals, provided such addition or deletion does not impact the technical proposal and/or increase the total budget.
All payments to Minority and Women-Owned Business Enterprise subcontractor(s) should be reported to the NYSED M/WBE Program Unit using the M/WBE 104G Quarterly M/WBE Compliance Report. This report should be submitted on a quarterly basis and can be requested at: MWBEGrants@nysed.gov.
NYSED’s M/WBE Coordinator is available to assist applicants in meeting the M/WBE goals. The Coordinator can be reached at: MWBEGrants@nysed.gov.
Applicants must complete and submit form EEO 100: Staffing Plan.