MWBE Pre-Certification Workshop

Are you interested in certification for your company? Attend the monthly Minority and Woman Business Enterprise (MWBE) certification workshop held on the last Tuesday of every month at 1:00 PM. Workshops are currently being held virtually. For more information, please call (816) 513-1836.

Advantages of MWBE Certification

• Certification accepted by the following entities: the KCMO School District, Kansas City Area Transit Authority (KCATA), Mid-America Regional Council (MARC), and the Economic Development Corporation of Kansas City (EDCKC).
• Listing in the City’s MWDBE Directory, which lists certified companies verified by the City of Kansas City. Search for these certified firms by name, type of business, type of ownership or certification code, or view the full list of contractors by leaving all search fields blank. This list is available to the public.
• Regional electronic notification of contract opportunities, RFPs, and RFQs

Requirements

• Firms are certified for one year and must submit annual updates.
• Firms must notify CREO immediately of any changes in ownership or control.
• The applicant must have a Personal Net Worth (PNW) of less than $2,047,000, excluding the value of primary home of residency and ownership interest in the business for which you are seeking certification. 
• The applicant firms’ principal place of business must be within the seven-county Greater Kansas City Metropolitan Statistical Area (KCMSA):
  • Missouri: Cass, Clay, Jackson, and Platte,
  • Kansas: Johnson, Leavenworth and Wyandotte
• The applicant firm must have been in existence in the KCMSA at least six months before they apply for the MBE/WBE certification.
• The firm has transacted business more than once in the KCMSA within the last three years.
• The firm maintains full-time employees in one or more of the firm’s offices within the KCMSA to conduct business or solicit business in the KCMSA the majority of the working time.
• The firm must be independent and currently operating.
• The firm must meet the Small Business Administration (SBA) Size Standard(s) for its industry classification(s)
• The minority or female owner must have the training/expertise to perform the work, and where required, have a license in his or her name.
• The minority or female owner must possess at least 51% ownership, management, and control of the business.

If you meet the requirements and are ready to apply, please visit the MWDBE Online Certification Application Portal.

Certification Process

The certification process includes the following steps:

• Preliminary screening of application and supporting documentation
• Desk audit
• Financial audit
• Field audit
• Committee review and decision

It is very important to submit all supporting documentation promptly to ensure a quick decision.  Once you submit all required paperwork, and staff performs an onsite field audit, the committee will issue a certification decision within 90 days for new certifications and 35 days for renewals.

Minority Business Enterprise & Women Business Enterprise (MWDBE) Program

On all City projects above a certain dollar amount, CREO assigns goals for the participation of certified minority and women-owned businesses. City departments and contractors work together to meet these goals.

• MWDBE Online Certification Application Portal

Mentor-Protégé

The Mentor-Protégé Program assists certified small businesses seeking to move to the next level and become permanent links of the contracting and procurement chain. The Mentor-Protégé Program develops and builds working relationships between business mentors and certified protégés. Business mentors help protégés shorten the learning curve by teaching practical industry skills or by preventing missteps by sharing lessons learned.

For more information, please call CREO at (816) 513-1836.

Affirmative Action

All vendors and contractors doing business with the City of Kansas City must be equal opportunity employers with an affirmative action program in place to hire minorities and women if they are underutilized in the field of expertise. CREO ensures that all vendors and contractors doing business with the City of Kansas City comply with the City’s Contracting Program Requirements Ordinance.

Affirmative action programs are designed to ensure that a good-faith effort will be made to employ applicants and to treat employees equally without regard to their race, color, sex, religion, national origin or ancestry, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity or age.

How to Comply with the City’s Affirmative Action Program

Any contractor with a city contract exceeding $300,000 and with 50 or more employees exclusive of parents, spouse or children must have an Affirmative Action Program Proposal (or Certificate of Compliance) to receive payment on that contract. The same applies to any subcontractors or franchise holders with 50 or more employees who fulfill part of a city contract exceeding $300,000.
A contract exceeding $300,000 shall include the following requirements:

• Contractor executes and submits an affidavit, in a form prescribed by the City, warranting that contractor has an affirmative action program in place and will maintain the program for the duration of the contract.
• Contractor submits a copy of its current certificate of compliance (or its affirmative action plan) to CREO before receiving its first payment under the contract, unless a copy shall have already been submitted to the department at any point with the previous two calendar years.
• Contractor requires and obtains from any subcontractor awarded a subcontract exceeding $300,000 to affirm that subcontractor has an affirmative action program in place, maintains the program for the duration of the subcontract, and submits a copy to CREO within 30 days from the date of the executed subcontract.

Companies doing business with the City must have an approved vendor number obtained from the General Services Department’s Procurement Division. For more information about any of these procedures and becoming an approved vendor, please contact Procurement at (816) 513-0850.

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