Overall Rating Gold - expired
Overall Score 68.76
Liaison Josh Lasky
Submission Date Feb. 27, 2015
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.0

George Washington University
OP-15: Inclusive and Local Purchasing

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 1.00 / 1.00 Donna Ginter
Executive Director
Procurement and Travel Services
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Does the institution have an institution-wide stated intent to support disadvantaged businesses, social enterprises, and/or local community-based businesses?:
Yes

A copy of the policy, guidelines or directive governing inclusive and local purchasing:
The policy, guidelines or directive governing inclusive and local purchasing:

In lieu of attaching a file above outlining our policy, which is outlined below here, a fiscal year spend summary was uploaded to document and verify the percentage of the university's total purchases from disadvantaged businesses, social enterprises, and/or local community-based businesses requested in separate query field below.

Per GW's Standard Terms & Conditions (for supplier contracts):

Section C5. Supplier Diversity Initiative Program (MBE/WBE).

The University voluntarily maintains a Supplier Diversity Initiative Program as part of its efforts to increase participation of minority and women vendors (MBE/WBE). GW seeks to achieve this goal through primary and second-tier suppliers. All primary suppliers must submit a plan with their bids, indicating how they intend to use minority and women vendors as their second-tier suppliers. Each plan will be evaluated based on good-faith efforts and will consider the following factors:

-- Availability of minority/women vendors who can supply the goods and services requested in the bid documents
-- Competitiveness of the prospective second-tier suppliers.

The use of local minority and women-owned businesses strengthens our commitment to the local community. In all cases, however, it is expected that the vendors meet the criteria relating to price, service, and delivery. Supplier diversity will be one, but not the sole, consideration in all contract awards. Ultimately it will be left to the discretion of the primary supplier as to which second-tier suppliers it uses. When a contract is awarded, the supplier is required to maintain its second-tier effort and to submit monthly reports on its progress.


Does the institution wish to pursue Part 2 of this credit (inclusive and local expenditures)?:
Yes

The percentage of total purchases from disadvantaged businesses, social enterprises and/or local community-based businesses:
44.08

The website URL where information about the institution’s inclusive and local purchasing policies and/or program is available:
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:

GW tracks diversity and local spend via Tableau. A copy of the spend analysis for the last three fiscal years is attached. GW recognizes the SBA categorization of businesses, as well as the Certified business categories as established by the District of Columbia, State of Maryland and Commonwealth of Virginia.

Moving forward, the President's Council on Diversity and Inclusion will evaluate the university's existing contracts with local, underrepresented communities within the District. Based on findings, which are anticipated to be fairly limited, an intentional action will be undertaken to increase the numbers of minority and women-owned businesses located within and supporting low-income areas.


GW tracks diversity and local spend via Tableau. A copy of the spend analysis for the last three fiscal years is attached. GW recognizes the SBA categorization of businesses, as well as the Certified business categories as established by the District of Columbia, State of Maryland and Commonwealth of Virginia.

Moving forward, the President's Council on Diversity and Inclusion will evaluate the university's existing contracts with local, underrepresented communities within the District. Based on findings, which are anticipated to be fairly limited, an intentional action will be undertaken to increase the numbers of minority and women-owned businesses located within and supporting low-income areas.

The information presented here is self-reported. While AASHE staff review portions of all STARS reports and institutions are welcome to seek additional forms of review, the data in STARS reports are not verified by AASHE. If you believe any of this information is erroneous or inconsistent with credit criteria, please review the process for inquiring about the information reported by an institution or simply email your inquiry to stars@aashe.org.