State of Kansas Procurement and Contracting Opportunities

for Women and Minority Businesses

 KC-CWBO has been working on with the state of Kansas on this issue for several years, and so it is with great pride and anticipation that we applaud Gov. Sebelius. On June 24, 2008, the Governor signed an executive order to support Kansas' small, minority and women-owned businesses, by implementing an M/WBE certification program.

Though Kansas' lack of an M/WBE program was common knowledge among the women and minority business communities, many others were not aware of  it. KC-CWBO stated the conversation with Gov. Sebelius when Director Nancy Zurbuchen made a point of talking to her after an Entrepreneur Exchange event in April of 2005. The Governor expressed an interest and her concern that Kansas did not have an M/WBE certification or vendor program, and she wanted us to work with her Chief of Staff, Carol Foreman, and the Director of Purchasing, Chris Howe. This first meeting took place on June 16, 2005, and was attended by Nancy Zurbuchen, Mary Leonida, and Robbin Reynolds (both Kansas-based business owners.)

Since that meeting, the effort was enhanced by participation and interest from numerous groups, including the Kansas Women's Business Center, the Asian Chamber, the Minority Supplier Council, and the KC Chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners. This would not have been accomplished without reaching out to other groups, forming a coalition with them, getting this issue on their radar screen, and then their efforts and working collaboratively with them. But while the interest was there, movement in Topeka was slow. Purchasing did implement a process whereby they were capturing pertinent data about vendor companies, but there was no move toward creating a program.

Then in 2007 member Denise Farris then made the decision to put this issue on her radar screen, and took up the effort in a big way. Through her efforts, we gained a champion in the legislature (Rep. Anne Teitze), and also gained a clear direction to pursue. It was the NAWBO chapter that provided support in the form of research to provide KS with the latest information on M/WBE programs in other states. Through Denise's encouragement, local Chambers of Commerce in Topeka and Kansas City endorse the program's small business component. In short, Denise successfully nudged in the right places to move this issue to the forefront once again.

The results are Executive Order 08-08. According to the state's press release, "A key component of our economic strength is supporting Kansas small businesses," Sebelius said. "This executive order will make sure that more small businesses can secure contracts and keep their employees working." Executive Order 08-08 expands the Kansas Statewide Certification Program, where women and minority businesses can be certified as a Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE). Certification increases opportunities for women and minority businesses to obtain contracts and subcontracts from governmental and private entities committed to the inclusion of minority- and women-owned businesses. Program services are free and administered through the Kansas Department of Commerce.

For more information, visit these links:

Kansas Statewide Certification Program

KS Executive orders

Where do we go from here?

This order is an important first step in creating and growing the Kansas program, but there is still  work to do. While it opens the door for the creation and  maturation of the program, we still need to continue work on the following:

• Legislation to ensure that the executive order becomes permanent law, consistent from administration to administration; and also enough resources ($$) dedicated to it that it can be successful
• Assisting Kansas in the development and implementation of the processes needed to make the program real; i.e. goal setting, certification process, administration, and enforcement (for example, a commission or board created with representation from the M/W groups)
• Addition of the small business element – this race /gender neutral component of our initial recommended program was important as it: (a) creates a fall-back program in the event the M/WBE program is ever legally challenged; and (b) this element was the component that resulted in the program endorsement by the Topeka and Greater KC Chamber of Commerce and is important to the economic development of Kansas.