Bowie State News December 1st, 2010 Bowie State Exceeds Minority Business Contract Award Standards For Second Consecutive Year (BOWIE, Md.)-For the second consecutive year, Bowie State University (BSU) exceeded the state’s expectation of 25 percent for issuing contract awards to Minority Business Enterprises (MBE) during fiscal year 2010. MBE awards accounted for more than 31 percent or approximately $7.5 million of the University’s overall contracts for the 12-month period. “The Division of Finance and Administration team has worked collaboratively to achieve this milestone for the second year in a row,” Vice President of Finance and Administration Karl Brockenbrough stated. “We are extremely proud of this success and we will continue to evaluate our approach to supporting minority-owned businesses as we move forward.” The state of Maryland has an aggressive MBE program with the 25 percent minority- and women-owned business contracting goals being the highest in the nation. Bowie State was one of a few state agencies to exceed the goal last year at 31.8 percent for fiscal year 2009, and continues to perform at the top in the state. “Increasing access to opportunities for Maryland’s minority and women-owned firms remains a top priority for the O’Malley-Brown Administration. As one of the state’s premier higher education institutions, Bowie State has been very proactive in their approach to increase minority business participation on contracts, and we applaud their efforts to not only meet, but exceed the state’s 25 percent goal for the past two fiscal years,” noted Ms. Luwanda W. Jenkins, special secretary for the Governor’s Office of Minority Affairs. Some of the University’s tactics for increasing MBE support include providing multiple campus-wide training sessions for Bowie State faculty and staff which emphasizes MBE participation in all types of University procurements; monitoring the University MBE participation rate on a monthly basis and if necessary, adjusting procurement strategies; in addition to participating in MBE conferences and seminars sponsors by local and state government agencies. “We are consistently working toward increasing our support for small and minority businesses,” said Steven Jost, director of procurement for Bowie State University. “We have a strong relationship with Prince George’s County’s Chamber of Commerce and Economic Development Corporation, which allows the University to meet and communicate with many local small and minority businesses. SANDRA M. PHOENIX Program Director HBCU Library Alliance sphoenix@hbculibraries.org<mailto:sphoenix@hbculibraries.org> www.hbculibraries.org<http://www.hbculibraries.org/> 404.592.4820 1438 West Peachtree Street NW Suite 200 Atlanta, GA 30309 Toll Free: 1.800.999.8558 (Lyrasis) Fax: 404.892.7879 www.lyrasis.org<http://www.lyrasis.org/> Honor the ancestors, honor the children.