$6 Billion In Contracts Trumpeted at Largest MWBE Conference in State History

The all-star MWBE opening panel

The largest MWBE conference in New York State history kicked off yesterday afternoon at The Egg in Albany. A record 1600 registrants representing a broad array of women- and minority-owned businesses and companies looking to partner with them converged on the Capital for the three-day event which opened with a panel discussion featuring many of the key players in the Cuomo Administration, an indication of the seriousness with which the governor has approached meeting his stated goal of awarding 20 percent of state contracts to MWBEs. The nine-member panel, which included NYS Department of Transportation Commissioner Joan McDonald, State Parks Commissioner Rose Harvey, Port Authority Chief Operating Officer Stephanie Dawson and Empire State Development President Ken Adams, among others, was introduced by State Chief Diversity Officer Yrthya Dinzey-Flores and Deputy Secretary for Civil Rights Alphonso David, and moderated by Leecia Eve, the Deputy Secretary for Economic Development. While the talk touched upon the efforts the Governor has led to make improvements in areas such as reciprocal certification, simplifying the application process and providing bonding assistance, the principal draw of the conference was the whopping $6 billion in contracts up for bidding from the state, the authorities, and other governmental sources, hundreds of millions of which could potentially go to MWBEs. Each of the conference’s attendees was given a flash drive with an e-book detailing all of the contracts currently available. To view the e-book, go to www.nysmwbeforum.org/opportunities.