Agency Guidelines for Completing Agency Utilization Reporting Forms
Utilization Reporting Module - Article 15-A requires a submission of MWBE utilization and expenditure detail report to the MWBE Executive Director on a quarterly basis during the fiscal year.
A. As stated above
MWBE utilization reports are due at the end of the quarter
but no later than 15 days thereafter,
Q1 due: July 15 (for April - June)
Q2
due: October 15 (for July - September)
Q3 due: January 15 (for October - December)
Q4 due: April 15 (for January - March)
The reported
data constitutes a summarization of the total numbers and
dollar values of expenditure activities and the total dollar
participation by MWBEs, including percentages against those
activities.
B. Data entered into the Utilization
Reporting Module includes:
I. Total
number of transactions within the quarter.
II. Total dollar expended within the quarter.
III. Total dollar expended with MBEs and WBEs within the
quarter (Detail section).
IV. All
certified vendors utilized during the quarterly reporting
period.
C. Agencies and authorities should
not select vendors who are not NYS certified MWBEs, as such
selection may result in the agency or authority not being
granted MWBE utilization credit for that firm. Agencies and
authorities cannot report expenditures for MWBE credit if a
firm is not yet certified. Once a firm is certified only
expenditures starting from the date the certification
application was submitted can be counted for MWBE credit
(and only within that fiscal year). If the firm does not get
certified, the agency will not receive credit for its use.
D. Agencies and authorities may be
required to provide ESD additional data regarding
"Discretionary Spending" in a format as defined by the
Division. This data includes a breakdown of discretionary
spending in the quarter with MWBEs.
E. As a resource agencies and
authorities should refer to the NYSCS Utilization Reporting
training manual in B2G (Chapter 14), as well as the
Statewide Financial System SFS import guide and the
Quarterly Utilization Report Bulk Upload Guide.
F. Agencies and
authorities with questions regarding the Utilization
Reporting Module should contact their respective Agency
Services Analysts and consult the NYSCS online manuals
referenced herein.
1. While Article 15-A does
not mandate that data be reported for contracts valued less
than $25,000 for commodities and services, and less than
$100,000 for construction, these statistics will
assist the Division of Minority and Women's Business
Development (DMWBD) in providing complete information
concerning MWBE participation in all State procurement. A
significant proportion of the total dollars going to MWBEs
is through these smaller contracts, so it is necessary to
track these expenditures to accurately report agency
utilization of MWBEs.
Certified MWBE's on sole source
contracts can be reported as MWBE utilization in the detail
section.
MWBE utilization on preferred source and OGS
statewide centralized contract (formerly p-contract)
purchases should be counted towards the overall utilization
percentage and reported in the NYSCS in the detail section
of the Utilization module and broken down in the summary
data section.
The dollar ranges on each category
within the four industry codes refer to the size of the
contract or obligation on which the expenditure is being
reported. However, only actual dollars expended during the
quarter should be reported. For example, suppose you are
reporting a $10,000 payment made on a service contract which
was valued at $100,000. The $10,000 should be reported in
the $25,000+ dollar range, since it is being paid on a large
contract award. If the $10,000 payment was for the full
value of the contract, the amount should be reported in the
$0 - 24,999 dollar range, since it would be considered a
small contract.
2. Refer to the following definitions
for clarification of terms:
Expenditure:
An expenditure is an actual payment which has been
made by an agency, either through the Office of the State
Comptroller or by the agency's finance office directly,
including subcontractor supplier payments made by a prime
contractor and verified by the agency.
Grants: For the purposes of this report, grants are
monies dispensed by a contracting governmental agency to a
person or institution to accomplish a public purpose
authorized by law. According to Article 15-A, grants are
considered to be State contracts. For the purpose of
compliance reporting, the recipient of the grant is
considered to be the "contractor". These contracts are
subject to MWBE goals and reported in the same fashion as
any other contract. Grant dollars expended should be
reported in the summary data section (e.g. if the grant
dollars are generally spent for construction, the monies
should be reported in the construction expenditure category;
if for training, the monies should be reported on the
services consultant expenditure category).
Not-for-Profit: An entity organized as a
not-for-profit corporation pursuant to State Law. According
to Article 15-A, not-for-profit entities are considered to
be "contractors". These contractors are subject to MWBE
goals and should be treated and reported in the same fashion
as any other contractor. The expenditure of dollars by a
not-for-profit entity should be reported in the summary data
section (e.g. if the dollars are generally spent to provide
training and or rehabilitation services, then the monies
should be reported in the services consultant expenditure
category; if the expenditures are made on a contract for
low-income housing, the dollars should be reported in the
construction expenditure category).
Preferred
Source: Entities given first preference in State
procurement as identified in the State Finance Law,
including the Division of Correctional Industries, the
Industries for the Blind of NYS, Inc., the NYS Industries
for the Handicapped, and the Office of Mental Health's
Special Employment Program.
Exemptions: Monies that are not
subject to 15-A or included in quarterly reporting. They
include personal services, debt service, travel
reimbursements, utilities, OGS centralized services, sole
source contracts (subject to no MWBE availability when
subcontracting is appropriate), postage, telephones, staff
benefits, operating transfers, certain rental and repairs
(such as OGS space chargebacks and real estate rentals), and
special departmental charges (such as unemployment insurance
and tuition reimbursement).
Exclusions: Exclusive to
procurements and are an exemption of specific
classifications of goods materials or services from all M
WBE requirements. The classifications have been identified
by procurement management and DMWBD as offering no
procurement opportunities for M WBEs. DMWBD allows state
agencies and authorities to reasonably exclude from their
annual M WBE Goal Plan, goods/materials or services that
have been determined to offer no M WBE prime or
subcontracting opportunities. The determination or selection
of such items by the agencies or authorities must be based
on current industry knowledge that absolutely no M WBE firms
exist that are capable of providing the particular
goods/materials or services included on the list. This list
must be approved by DMWBD. As M WBE vendors are identified
that can provide the particular goods materials or services,
said goods/materials or services will be removed from the
list. Exclusion expenditures are not included in MWBE
quarterly reports.
In-Year Exclusions: If during the
contracting year an agency discovers additional contracts
and/or expenditures, which agency staff believes are
appropriate for exclusion, authorized agency personnel
should submit such In-Year Exclusions to ESD for written
approval. Please be advised that In-Year Exclusions must be
submitted on a contract-by-contract basis. Groups or classes
of contracts may not be submitted for exclusion approval
except during the Annual Exclusion process outlined above,
which is conducted pursuant to a master goal plan or annual
update to the master goal plan submission. Expenditures on
in-year excluded contracts are not included in MWBE
quarterly reporting.
Waivers:
Defined in Article 15-A as a request by the contractor to
set aside or modify the goal participation of certified
minority and women-owned business enterprises in the
performance of State contracts.
Subcontract:
a) For construction, a subcontract is any portion
of the contract or any service performed or supplies
provided relative to that contract by any party other than
the prime contractor;
b) For commodities and consultant
services, a subcontract is that portion of the total value
of a contract portioned out to another consultant individual
or vendor. This is also known as second tier spending;
c)
For grants/not-for-profits contracts, a subcontract is that
portion of funding expended for supplies, equipment,
printing, consultants, trainers, services, etc.
3. It is
critical that agencies and authorities provide the detailed
information requested on the MWBE Detail Utilization
Information Form. List each M WBE firm you have included in
the MBE and WBE totals (for prime and subcontract
expenditures) in each expenditure category. Missing
information may result in the firm dollars not counting
toward agency MWBE participation goals.
NOTES: OGS issues 'back drop' contracts that are
pre-approved vendors for agencies to solicit when conducting
a mini bid. Agencies that use the back drop contracts are
responsible for tracking MWBE compliance for each such
contract with MWBE goals. The end user of the contract (the
agency) reports the MWBE utilization to DMWBD.
Second
Tier spending (subcontract) for commodities and services
should be captured when a certified M WBE vendor is used and
the spending is entered in the detail section.
Any question regarding the above
information should be direct to the agency's or authority's
ESD assigned Agency Services Analyst.