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¹û¶³´«Ã½ River State ¹û¶³´«Ã½ is accessible to all residents of the four-county area (Martin, St. Lucie, Okeechobee and ¹û¶³´«Ã½ River). The people and companies that the ¹û¶³´«Ã½ conducts business with should truly reflect the rich cultural diversity of this expanding community. The ¹û¶³´«Ã½ Purchasing Department strives to assure that our vendor pool mirrors the community we serve.

The Purchasing Department is committed to offering equal opportunity to minority- and women-owned business enterprises to provide the ¹û¶³´«Ã½ community with goods and services. Our Minority-and Women-Owned Business program is in place to ensure that minority group members and women are afforded equal opportunities without regard to race, color, national origin, ethnicity, sex, pregnancy, religion, age, disability, sexual orientation, marital status, veteran status,genetic information, and any other factor protected under applicable federal, state and local civil rights laws, rules and regulations. It is important to the ¹û¶³´«Ã½ Purchasing Department that these minority- and women-owned businesses offer good service, a quality product and a competitive price on a consistent basis.

Program Goals

The Purchasing Department for ¹û¶³´«Ã½ River State ¹û¶³´«Ã½ will make a continuing effort to ensure that minority group members and women are afforded an equal opportunity to do business with the ¹û¶³´«Ã½. These actions will include, but not be limited to:

• Making every effort to identify, develop, solicit, and place orders with minority- and women-owned business enterprises
• Vendor visitations, encouragement and advisement
• Active involvement in trade shows, consortiums, councils, as well as other activities and groups geared toward the advancement of minority- and women-owned businesses in the overall procurement spectrum
• Keeping up-to-date listings of certified M/WBES from the Florida Regional Minority Purchasing Council, the School Board of St. Lucie County, St. Lucie County Board of County Commissioners, and the State of Florida Department of General Services
• Maintaining a detailed vendor reporting system, as a part of the new computerized purchasing system that facilitates the tracking of dollar amounts placed with M/WBES, and comparing this to the total purchases made. Both monthly and yearly comparisons will be made.
• Networking with other governmental agencies to identify qualified M/WBES
• Embarking upon a benchmarking program with other agencies and corporations, in order to keep up to date on any new developments and ideas in this area
• Advertising our bids in local and regional minority- and women-owned publications
• Working closely with departments to match their procurement requirements with qualified M/WBES

Minority Business Enterprises

Minority business enterprises are defined as any business enterprise which is at least 51% owned by, or in the case of a publicly owned company, at least 51% of the stock of which is owned by, citizens or permanent resident aliens who are:

1. Black persons having origins in any of the Black African racial groups not of Hispanic origin.
2. Hispanic persons of Mexican, Puerto Rican, Dominican, Cuban, Central or South American of either ¹û¶³´«Ã½ or Hispanic origin.
3. Asian and Pacific Islander persons having origins in any of the Far East, Southeast Asia, the ¹û¶³´«Ã½ subcontinent or the Pacific Islands.
4. American ¹û¶³´«Ã½ or Alaskan Native persons having origins in any of the original people of North America that are maintaining identifiable tribal affiliations through membership and participation on community identification.

Women-Owned Businesses

Women-owned businesses are defined as any business enterprise which is at least 51% owned by, or in the case of a publicly owned business, at least 51% of the stock of which is owned by citizens or permanent resident aliens of the United States who are female. Ownership interest must be real, substantial and continuing. The management and daily operations of the business must be controlled by such persons, including but not limited to, all business decisions regarding the entity. The business should have a full-service office, preferably within the four county area or in close approximation thereto.