On July 19, 2012, Governor Tom Corbett announced the expansion and new efforts of the Small Diverse Business Program—formerly the Small Disadvantaged Business Program

The Small Diverse Business Program encourages and ensures open and equitable contracting practices are used by prime contractors in soliciting and contracting with small diverse businesses, and will now afford small veteran-owned businesses the same opportunities as their small minority- and women-owned counterparts.

How does a business qualify as a Small Diverse Business?

A Small Diverse Business is a DGS-verified minority-owned business, woman-owned business, veteran-owned business or service-disabled veteran-owned business.

A small business is a business in the United States which is independently owned, not dominant in its field of operation, employs no more than 100 full-time or full-time equivalent employees, and earns less than $7 million in gross annual revenues for building design, $20 million in gross annual revenues for sales and services and $25 million in gross annual revenues for those businesses in the information technology sales or service business.

Documentation Required: Offerors are responsible for verifying Small Diverse Business eligibility with each small diverse business submittal. Below are a few requirements:

• A Small Diverse Business verified by BSBO as an MBE/WBE/VBE/SDVBE must provide a photocopy of their active BSBO verification letter.
• All Offerors must include a numerical percentage which represents the total percentage of the work (as a percentage of the total cost in the Cost Submittal) to be performed by the Offeror and not by subcontractors and suppliers. 
• All Offerors must include a numerical percentage which represents the total percentage of the total cost in the Cost Submittal that the Offeror commits to paying to Small Diverse businesses as subcontractors.
• All Offerors must name the specific Small Diverse Business(es) to which you are making subcontracting commitments. List the company name, address, and telephone number for each specific Small Diverse Business included in the proposal. You will not receive credit by stating that you will find a Small Diverse Business after the contract is awarded or by listing several companies and stating you will select one later.
• All Offerors must specify the type of goods or services the Small Diverse Business(es) will provide. Specify the timeframe for each small diverse business to provide the goods or services and the location where the Small Diverse Business(es) will perform these services.

Small Diverse Business (SDB) Participation Scoring

Please see RFP Scoring Formulas to view the scoring methodology for the procurement of goods or services through competitive sealed proposals.

Contract Requirements:

The selected contractor's commitments to Small Diverse Businesses must include a provision requiring the selected contactor to meet and maintain those commitments made to Small Diverse Businesses at the time of proposal submitted or contract negotiation, unless a change in the commitment is approved by the BSBO.

The selected contractor shall complete the Prime Contractor's Quarterly Utilization Report and submit it to the contracting officer of the Issuing Office and BSBO within 10 workdays at the end of each quarter the contract is in force.