| Topic: | Procurement |
| Subtopic: | Diversity Procurement Policy |
| Date: | 2/23/2018 |
| Status: | Active |
Purpose
The purpose of this policy is to establish a framework for the utilization of businesses owned by minorities, women, and persons with a disability (collectively known as MWBE firms) in the procurement activities of the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund (IMRF).
The goal of the policy is to promote utilization of businesses owned by minorities, women, and persons with a disability in procurement activities.
The objectives of the policy are to:
- Increase competition through a diverse source of suppliers and consultants
- Maintain and strengthen the overall competitiveness of IMRF procurements
- Assure compliance with Illinois statutes
Policy
The IMRF Purchasing Unit strives to insure that members, employers, and taxpayers receive the maximum value for each dollar spent by purchasing products and services from responsive suppliers and consultants at the lowest reasonable cost. The Purchasing Unit manages the bidding process to insure compliance with policies. IMRF is committed to ensuring fair consideration of all suppliers and consultants in its day to day purchase of goods and services. IMRF recognizes that working with a wide range of suppliers and consultants provides an open, competitive and diverse business environment.
It is the policy of the IMRF Board of Trustees to include qualified minority and women owned business enterprises and businesses owned by a person with a disability in the Fund’s procurement process and to objectively evaluate all qualified businesses regardless of race, gender or handicap.
IMRF is committed to including firms among prospective providers of purchased goods and services. Special efforts will be made to insure identification of eligible firms for inclusion in the bid process, including monitoring of MWBE-related listings to identify possible MWBE contractors and service providers. It is IMRF’s policy to take affirmative action to ensure that certified minority-owned, women-owned and disabled-owned business enterprises are given the opportunity to demonstrate their ability to provide the Fund with products and services at competitive prices.
We will ask our vendors to refrain from unlawful discrimination and discrimination based on citizenship status in employment and to undertake affirmative action to assure equality of employment opportunity and compliance with the Department of Human Rights' regulations concerning equal employment opportunities and affirmative action.
MWBE firms will be identified using resources such as the City of Chicago Certification and Compliance System MWBE Directory and other public agency resources. All new suppliers and consultants seeking to do business with IMRF will be asked to complete a form to certify the diversity of their business. Ownership of suppliers and consultants will be tracked by the Purchasing Unit. IMRF staff will seek and encourage MWBE businesses to submit bids each time IMRF publishes a request for bids or proposals.
IMRF has set a minimum goal of 20% for contracts and purchases from businesses owned by minorities, women, and persons with a disability as a share of all of its contracts and purchases. These goals are based on the percentage of total dollar amount of all purchasing contracts let, excluding building and staff related payments such as postage, rent, travel expenses, and insurance premiums.
IMRF typically awards bids to the lowest cost vendor. However to meet the goals set for this diversity policy bids may be awarded to a vendor other than the low bidder, if it is a MWBE vendor and its bid is within 15% or $10,000 (whichever is lower) of the low bid.
The Purchasing Unit will track the usage of MWBE businesses in order to meet the goal and review and analyze it each year. The goal may be modified by IMRF to further increase the usage of MWBE businesses as IMRF gains experience and knowledge using the statutory diversity guidelines. These goals shall be reviewed by the IMRF Board of Trustees annually.
All terms used in this policy shall have the same definitions as those found in the Illinois Business Enterprise for Minorities, Women, and Persons with Disabilities Act (30 ILCS 575 et seq.).