Occ. Code 6681510

MINORITY BUSINESS SPECIALIST 1, GRADE 18 6681510

MINORITY BUSINESS SPECIALIST 2, GRADE 23 6681520

New York State Department of Civil Service

Classification Standard

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF CLASS SERIES

Positions in this series develop, promote, and direct programs designed to encourage, facilitate, and monitor the participation of minority, women-owned, and service-disabled veteran-owned businesses in providing goods and services for publicly-funded projects, programs, and agencies.

These positions are found in several State agencies.

DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTICS

MINORITY BUSINESS SPECIALIST 1: full performance level; oversees the participation of minority, women-owned, and service disabled veteran-owned businesses in receiving contracts from publicly-funded programs or projects; develops and maintains a list of eligible minority, women-owned, and service-disabled veteran-owned businesses derived from the NYS Directory of Certified Firms; encourages and recruits eligible businesses to apply for public contracts and business opportunities; provides guidance and assistance to eligible businesses seeking opportunities for commerce in the public sector; and monitors the compliance of publicly-funded projects with mandates requiring the participation of minority, women-owned, and service-disabled veteran-owned businesses.

MINORITY BUSINESS SPECIALIST 2: first supervisory level; supervises Minority Business Specialists 1 assigned to an agencys minority business participation program; develops, implements, and directs an agencys minority business participation program; directs an outreach and assistance program to increase the participation of minority, women-owned, and service-disabled veteran-owned businesses in publicly-funded programs and projects; monitors the compliance of the agency, grantees, and contractors with the required participation of minority, women-owned, and service-disabled veteran-owned businesses; and develops related policies, procedures, and reporting requirements.

RELATED CLASSES

Compliance Specialists conduct investigations, inspect job sites, and review employer records to assure that contractors, sub-contractors, consultants, and minority business contractors doing business with the State comply with federal and State Equal Opportunity statutes, rules, regulations, Executive Orders, and policies governing businesses receiving public funds.

Affirmative Action Administrators develop, implement, evaluate, and monitor affirmative action, diversity management, and equal employment opportunity programs including requests for reasonable accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act and Human Rights Law. Incumbents may also develop, implement, evaluate, and monitor Minority and Women Business Enterprise programs. Incumbents may perform one or more functions in support of these programs.

ILLUSTRATIVE DUTIES

MINORITY BUSINESS SPECIALIST 1

Reporting to a Minority Business Specialist 2, or higher level Director of Affirmative Action Programs, Affirmative Action Administrator, or Compliance Specialist, conducts and oversees outreach and assistance programs for eligible minority, women-owned, and service-disabled veteran-owned businesses.

· Publicizes opportunities for minority, women-owned, and service-disabled veteran-owned businesses to participate in publicly-funded projects or programs.

· Explains eligibility requirements to businesses, and assists them in the certification procedure and in obtaining contracts and subcontracts.

· Maintains a directory of certified minority, women-owned, and service disabled veteran-owned businesses regularly used by State agencies.

· Assists grantees and vendors in finding eligible minority, women-owned, and service-disabled veteran-owned.

· Recruits and evaluates minority, women-owned, and service-disabled veteran-owned businesses to facilitate their participation in agency procurement activities.

· Participates in and/or attends trainings for minority, women-owned, and service-disabled veteran-owned businesses.

· Serves as a liaison with community organizations and agencies working in support of economic development in the minority community.

Manages the minority, women-owned, and service-disabled veteran-owned business program within an agency.

· Assists in the preparation and analysis of an agencys minority, women-owned, and service-disabled veteran-owned business enterprise engagement plan.

· Disseminates the agencys minority, women-owned, and service-disabled veteran-owned business enterprise plan to appropriate agency staff, and answer questions related to the plan.

· Meets with program and contract staff to review system requirements and related reporting duties, and addresses problems associated with gathering compliance data as well as generating reports.

· Assists in the development and dissemination of the agencys minority, women-owned, and service-disabled veteran-owned business enterprise informational memoranda, directives, and guides to agency staff and grantees.

· Assists program areas with identifying potential minority, women-owned, and service-disabled veteran-owned business enterprise subcontractors in the New York State MWBE and SDVOB directories.

· Reviews new procurements and contracts prior to execution to set minority, women-owned, and service-disabled veteran-owned business enterprise goals.

· Ensures full use of the New York State Contract System by agency staff and grantees.

· Unlocks and updates contract records in the New York State Contract System.

· Provides support and assistance to agency staff and grantees with the use of the system.

Monitors program compliance of grantees and their contractors working on publicly-funded projects and programs.

· Meets with program and contract staff to review system requirements and related reporting duties, and addresses problems associated with gathering compliance data as well as generating reports.

· Closely monitors internal and external compliance systems to ensure the agency is in compliance with laws and regulations.

· Engages program areas and vendors to ensure their understanding of compliance system requirements.

· Disseminates guidance and updated information from Empire State Development, the Office of Diversity Management, and the Office of General Services.

· Reviews new or revised rules, regulations, and statutes to determine their impact on the agencys minority, women-owned, and service-disabled veteran-owned business enterprise program, and assists in developing and revising policies and procedures as needed.

· Reviews contracts to ensure the agencys compliance with applicable policies, procedures and guidelines.

· Ensures grantees use of the New York State Contract System for utilization plan submission and utilization reporting.

· Monitors grantees minority, women-owned, and service-disabled veteran-owned business enterprise utilization performance to ensure contractors meet the goals established in the contract.

· Interacts with agency program contract staff and contractors to ensure clear understanding of requirements.

MINORITY BUSINESS SPECIALIST 2

Reporting to a higher level Director of Affirmative Action Programs, plans and directs the minority, women-owned, and service-disabled veteran-owned business enterprise program for an agency, as well as grantees and local governments receiving project or program funds controlled by the agency.

· Consults with minority, women-owned, and service disabled veteran-owned organizations and businesses, community leaders, and agency staff to identify barriers inhibiting minority, women-owned, and service disabled veteran-owned businesses from receiving government contracts.

· Evaluates contract and consultant requirements, policies, and procedures to determine if requirements are unnecessarily restrictive toward minority and women-owned businesses, and recommend changes if appropriate.

· Develops and revises manuals, procedures, policies, standards, guidelines, and reporting formats for the agencys minority, women-owned, and service-disabled veteran-owned business enterprise program.

· Reviews and interprets existing and revised laws, rules, regulations, and policies, and assures that the agency and local governments, grantees, and other fund recipients comply with them.

· Prepares periodic reports of program activities for the agency and other State and federal agencies.

· Represents the program with the Legislature, other government agencies, and private organizations.

· Evaluates staff reports and determines actions needed to improve minority business participation in projects or programs, including determining sanctions against non-complying grantees, contractors, and businesses, and meeting with them to discuss and negotiate solutions to effect compliance.

Supervises and directs an outreach program, to increase minority business participation in publicly-funded projects and programs.

· Assists community organizations and businesses in the development of organizational structures and businesses capable of competing for contracts.

· Identifies funding and technical resources available for minority, women-owned, and service-disabled veteran-owned businesses, and assists eligible businesses with applying for funds.

· Coordinates and participates in meetings with State and local agencies, community organizations, and government officials to encourage, promote, and assist them in locating and using minority, women-owned, and service-disabled veteran-owned businesses.

· Provides technical assistance and advice to minority and women-owned businesses about bonding, financing, estimating, packaging, and other technical matters.

· Designs payment schedules to minimize cash flow problems of minority, women-owned, service-disabled veteran-owned businesses.

· Assists municipalities in developing goals and timetables for contracting with minority and women-owned businesses.

· Administers training seminars for local governments, grantees, contractors, and minority, women-owned, and service-disabled veteran-owned businesses.

Supervises subordinate staff.

· Interviews and selects employees for appointment in the agencys minority, women-owned, and service disabled veteran-owned business enterprise program.

· Plans work schedules, and assigns staff to meet schedules.

· Assigns staff to field reviews and special projects.

· Trains staff and provides periodic retraining as programs or the mandates governing them change.

· Evaluates staff performance, and counsels individuals about performance standards and how they should be met.

· Reviews work activities and reports and assists staff in resolving problems and developing alternative actions or solutions to problems.

· Interprets laws, rules, regulations, and policy for staff, and assures staff compliance.

Monitors the agencys purchase of services and goods to ensure that minority, women-owned, and service-disabled veteran-owned businesses are participating in bidding, and are awarded contracts; investigate non-compliance, and develop and implement methods, procedures, and policies to insure participation.

May perform, direct, and/or supervise a combination of tasks and activities described for the following titles: Minority Business Specialist 1, Compliance Specialist, and/or Affirmative Action Administrator/Director.

COMMUNICATION

Minority Business Specialists 1 and Minority Business Specialists 2 have frequent oral and written communications with representatives of the Federal government, State government, local governments, grantees, consultants, contractors, minority, women-owned, and service-disabled veteran-owned businesses, public and private non-profit organizations, and agency business and program management staff to coordinate program activities, explain and promote the programs, provide technical assistance and advice about the programs and their requirements, provide support for and ensure full use of the New York State Contract System, investigate and resolve problems, interpret statutes, policies, rules, and regulations, evaluate program effectiveness and participant compliance, and exchange information. Incumbents must exercise tact and diplomacy to gain acceptance and support for the minority, women-owned, and service-disabled veteran-owned business programs, negotiate and resolve problems, and encourage compliance; and be sensitive to the needs of protected class members.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

MINORITY BUSINESS SPECIALIST 1

Open-Competitive and Non-Competitive: six years of experience in the field of contract compliance, human rights, affirmative action, or minority, women-owned, or service-disabled veteran-owned business enterprise, including: planning, developing, implementing, and reviewing programs dealing with minority, women-owned, or service-disabled veteran-owned business enterprise, human rights, affirmative action, minority business program coordination, affirmative action compliance review, or labor relations directly relating to affirmative action; or experience in the development and administration of programs designed to facilitate minority community access to employment or business opportunities in the public or private sector.

Substitution: an associates degree in in business, marketing, economics, public administration may substitute for two years of experience. A bachelors degree in business, marketing, economics, public administration, or public policy may substitute for four years of the experience. A masters degree in business, marketing, economics, public administration, or public policy may substitute for one year of experience.

MINORITY BUSINESS SPECIALIST 2

Promotion: one year of permanent service as a Minority Business Specialist 1, Affirmative Action Administrator 1, or Compliance Specialist 1.

Open-Competitive: seven years of experience in the planning, development, implementation, and review of programs dealing with equal employment opportunity, human rights, affirmative action, minority, women-owned, or service-disabled veteran-owned business program coordination, affirmative action compliance review, labor relations directly relating to affirmative action, or in the development and administration of programs directly related to minority community access to employment or business opportunities in the public or private sector. One year of this experience must have been in a supervisory capacity.

Date: 5/18

NOTE: Classification Standards illustrate the nature, extent and scope of duties and responsibilities of the classes they describe. Standards cannot and do not include all of the work that might be appropriately performed by a class. The minimum qualifications above are those which were required for appointment at the time the Classification Standard was written. Please contact the Division of Staffing Services for current information on minimum qualification requirements for appointment or examination.