State procurement targets for supplier diversity and small business engagement vary significantly in scope, metrics, and decentralization approaches:
Diversity and Small Business Goals
- Massachusetts mandates specific percentages: 14% for women-owned businesses, 8% for minority-owned, 3.3% for small businesses, and 3% for veteran/service-disabled veteran-owned businesses.
- Michigan aims for 20% of expenditures to go to certified geographically disadvantaged businesses and 5% to service-disabled veteran-owned firms by FY2023-24.
- Minnesota targets 12% of procurement dollars for certified small businesses within the state.
Decentralized vs. Centralized Approaches
- Tennessee allows agencies to set individual goals for small, minority-owned, women-owned, and disability-owned businesses, reflecting localized priorities.
- Minnesota also employs cooperative purchasing, which prioritizes economies of scale but often excludes smaller vendors by design.
Focus Areas
- Economic inclusion drives many targets (e.g., Massachusetts’ emphasis on minority-owned businesses).
- Efficiency vs. equity trade-offs emerge, such as Minnesota’s cooperative purchasing reducing small business participation despite its 12% small business goal.
These differences reflect varying state priorities, legislative mandates, and procurement strategies.
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