State Agency Recognition Awards (SARA) 2011

For the past 11 years Olivia Fonseca has advocated for Small Business, Disabled Veteran Business Enterprises and Disadvantaged Business Enterprise participation within her department’s state and federally funded contracts.  Working for the State for 34 years, the SB/DVBE/DBE realm became for her a passion, not just a career. 

As the Small Business Advocate, Olivia chaired CalTrans’ Statewide Small Business Council, comprised of more than 40 industry, community and organization representatives.  Programs she implemented include the department’s Small Business Task Force developed in 2001, Mandatory Pre-Bids to increase Small Business Exchange and the free technical support services provided by department staff.  Other initiatives she implemented include a bonding assistance program, “On-the-job” training grants, free supportive services assistance, no cost training and networking events.  All these programs not only helped the SB/DVBEDBE community meet other State agency representatives, but taught them to market themselves, submit a responsive bid, and meet with prime contractors for future partnering opportunities.

Since the implementation of its Small Business Task force, CalTrans’ small business participation increased from 9.1% in 1999 to 25.81% in 2009 and continues to grow.  Even prior to Executive Order S-02-06, in 2006, Olivia saw the need to increase small business participation and provided the drive to achieve it!

• California Arts Council

• California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation
• California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation -California State Prison, Pleasant Valley
• California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation -California State Prison, Corcoran
• California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation -Substance Abuse Treatment Facility
• California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation-Commodities Acquisition Unit
• California High-Speed Rail Authority
• California Medical Assistance Commission
• California Military Department
• California Parks and Recreation
• California Public Utilities Commission
• California State Lands Commission
• California State University Chancellor’s Office
• CalTrans District 4
• CalTrans Headquarters - Division of Local Assistance
• CalTrans-Office of Business and Economic Opportunity
• Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training
• Department of Aging
• Department of Consumer Affairs
• Department of Corporations
• Department of Developmental Services
• Department of Fish and Game
• Department of General Services-Office of State Printing -Procurement Team
• Department of General Services-Real Estate Services Division
• Department of Motor Vehicles
• Department of Real Estate
• DGS/CalVet SB/DVBE Outreach/Certification Team
• Employment Development Department
• First 5 California
• Franchise Tax Board

• Albert Rivas

• Catrina Blair
• David W. Brown
• Heather Camp
• Kevin Aria
• Linda L. Langley
• Liza Whitmore
• Lucy Gonzalez Mochizuki
• Molly Lovett
• Olivia Fonseca
• Ryan Huddleston
• Sean O’Neal
• State SB/DVBE Advocate Steering Committee
• Stephanie Green
• Susan Sudmann
• Tanya Marcellana
• Tim Lemos
• Tracie Zamora

   

The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, Commodities Acquisition Unit, provides centralized purchase order processing services to more than 50 purchasing locations, handling over 3,000 purchase orders per year. The operation is instrumental to the meeting and exceeding the Department’s SB/DVBE participation goals. This year, the Unit increased their DVBE participation from 3.73% to 11.06%, their SB participation from 45.12% to 60.82% and has steadily increased participation over the previous fiscal years. This group affects billions of dollars of purchases each year.

For the 10/11 Fiscal Year, and for the second consecutive year, the Silver SARA Award Winner, DGS, Real Estate Services Division, has surpassed its 3% DVBE and 25% Small Business participation Goals by achieving an incredible 10.26% DVBE and 30.30% SB participation.

During the past year, RESD’s internal SB/DVBE reporting process was fine-tuned into an efficient mechanism that provided more consistent reportable data. RESD embarked on an enormous task: a collaborative effort of monthly and quarterly participation tracking among 5 branches and numerous statewide operations. Through continued communication and training opportunities, they received valuable input from individuals across the Division which increased the visibility and consistency of reported data. Monthly and quarterly participation reports were provided to Executive staff, making it easier for each unit and branch to monitor their individual impact on the Division’s goal. This program-specific monitoring allowed real-time changes to be made on solicitations to keep on track.

RESD’s accountability, sense of responsibility, and pride in a job well done has proven their commitment to SB and DVBE. 

RESD registered a one year 173.9% DVBE increase to 10.26% and a 116.5% SB increase to 30.30%.  They plan to continue building on their success. New legislation now requires all projects to submit a final SB/DVBE report. In the future, they expect to capture additional participation dollars. Ongoing improvement of their current processes ensures they maintain an efficient and effective workflow.

The Department of Corporations, achieved its highest ever SB/DVBE participation levels: SB 64.84% and DVBE 22.48%. Executive support, diligent managers, hard-working staff and a great advocate helped accomplished this. The department implemented procedures to award to as many certified vendors as possible. Since 1998, the Department’s top management has ensured that reaching SB/DVBE goals were part of the department procurement objectives. Beginning in 2001, their Advocate aggressively worked with her Department to reach out to California businesses and create the model for all future department advocates. She is respected among her peers and in the business community and has twice been a SARA finalist.

Department of Corporations exceeded the SB goal for ten years and the DVBE goal for the past nine years. SB participation increased from 44.37% in 2009/10 to 64.84% in 2010/11 and DVBE increased from 10.03% to 22.48%. Out of 309 contracts, 50% (156) were awarded to SBs and 30% (91) to DVBEs. The Department's personal contacts and involvement with the vendors promote goodwill between the state and business community.


Bronze -
Department of General Services, Procurement Team - Office of State Publishing
Award Accepted By: Leticia Garcia, Eileen Coggins, DeDe Seda, Richard Brown, Danelle Hamilton, Laura Columbel, Freddie Sells, Dahya Patel, Elizabeth Parker, Lori Morgan, Rob Cook, Teddy Vallejos, Jonee' Oden (not shown), Barbara Verarde (not shown) and Kevin Hannah (not shown)

The Department of General Services, Office of State Printing Procurement Team, has graced this stage before and is again recognized for their daily dedication and collective sustained superior performance in support of the overall SB/DVBE program.  Through their commitment and concerted efforts, their participation percentages for the 2010/2011 Fiscal year are again outstanding and contribute to their department’s overall SB/DVBE program goals.

OSP’s products provide essential, mission critical operations and services to the State of California including the Legislature, elections, revenue generating departments and public health and safety.  To help fulfil these critical demands, the team processed an impressive 1,697 contracts, of which 1,219 went to SB/DVBE firms: nearly $8 million (86.3%) to SB/MBs and over $3.3 million (36%) to DVBEs.

To support California state agencies’ SB/DVBE program, the team consistently reaches out to SB/DVBE firms and diligently builds its working relationships with them.  It helps qualifying vendors become certified with the State of California and focuses bidding/quote opportunities with the SB/DVBE firms, while effectively operating in a fast-paced production environment and fulfilling firm deadlines established by client agencies.


Honorable Mention -
Department of Motor Vehicles
Award Accepted By: Kevin Childers

The Department of Motor Vehicles, surpassed the Small Business (SB) goal for six out of the last eight years, and exceeded the Disabled Veteran Business Enterprise (DVBE) goal for eight years. With total support from the Director on down to procurement and contract managers, this department proves consistently that their SB/DVBE program is a winner!  With the complete support and backing of their Business Management Chief, over the past three years DMV’s new SB/DVBE advocate educated analysts on how to implement and take advantages of using the SB/DVBE option in service contracts, where previously, the option had not been used. Although not required to offer a DVBE incentive, DMV proactively includes the incentive in a number of the department’s Information Technology (IT) projects.

It is now a best practice in the department for analysts to aggressively search for, or ask their advocate for help locating potential SB/DVBE vendors. To ensure SB/DVBE participation in bids, analysts call the SB/DVBE vendors in advance to maximize customer service, and to build a working relationship with them.

DMV awarded $3,171,240 to vendors for IT solicitations that included a DVBE incentive. These awards resulted in more than a 525% increase in dollars awarded to solicitations that included an incentive, over the previous fiscal year. Total SB for FY 2010/11 was reported at 29.51% and total DVBE was 4.84%


Honorable Mention -
Department of Consumer Affairs
Award Accepted By: Kevin Aria

The Department of Consumer Affairs, provides everyday leadership in supporting California certified SB and DVBE vendors. With top-down management support and a dedicated advocate role, Consumer Affairs surpasses their annual SB/DVBE goals year after year. Procurement staff is trained to give first consideration to SB/DVBE vendors in all procurement opportunities and receives reinforcement through constant communication efforts – memos, policies, emails, phone calls, etc.. Consumer Affairs has worked with DGS for over two years suggesting improvements to the eProcurement report templates. Several of these changes directly impact the mechanisms necessary for accurate SB/DVBE reporting and benefit all departments. Consumer Affairs run monthly SB/DVBE participation reports, allowing everyone to know how well they meeting the annual SB/DVBE goals. 

By improving communication with staff, management, DGS, and vendors – Consumer Affairs increased overall small business participation from 43.36% last year to a whopping 51.1% this year along with 3.9% DVBE participation.  And by encouraging many vendors to either become certified or renew their expired certifications, the department is responsible for dozens of current SB and DVBE certifications.

Albert Rivas, formerly of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, received no fewer than four separate SARA nominations this year, including two from his fellow Advocates. In June 2008, Albert was hired as the SB/DVBE Advocate for his department. From his arrival, he provided assessments, training, support, regular communication, SB/DVBE workshops, statewide webinars, and motivation.  He reaffirmed SB/DVBE priorities and best practices to the 33 SB/DVBE liaisons in 33 satellite institutions and to Headquarters Contract and Procurement staff who all contributed to the Department exceeding prior year performance records. 

At the onset of his assignment, he assessed department advocates in the field by developing a performance and training request matrix. He also used DVBE three year trend data to target underachieving and mid-performing sites and provided training on specific program components.

Albert also assessed management, led contract staff and provided training on the small business preference and DVBE Bid Incentive. He further supplemented this training with standing monthly California Socio-Economic preference workshop training. He used the workshop to assess actual proposals. He provided one-on-one training to SB/DVBE vendors on how to do business with the State including how to navigate through BidSync to register and improve their business profiles to increase exposure. Albert also developed new lines of communication with his department’s Accounting Office to reduce processing times to ensure prompt payment to the Small Business and DVBE Community.  In July 2011, as Chair, he led the State Department Advocate Steering Committee through delivery of the first SB/DVBE Advocate Boot Camp Workshop.  Lastly, since his arrival in FY 2008/2009, the DVBE participation in his very large department has increased by 181 percent from 1.36% to 5.01%.

Ryan Huddleston, California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, Corcoran, joined the facility in August 2009 with an enthusiasm for creating better awareness and education in using the SB/DVBE program. Before that, he was part of a team who was honored with the Gold SARA Award in 2009.

Prior to Ryan’s arrival, this facility had historically experienced challenges in achieving the mandated minimum 3% DVBE participation goal. In Fiscal Year 06/07, they recorded a dismal 1.42% DVBE participation, and in FY 07/08, the DVBE participation rate fell to .91%. Fast forward to 2010/11 and with a combination of hard work, increased commitment and Ryan’s additional training, CDCR, Corcoran has elevated the SB participation to 42.20% and DVBE participation to 14.02%.

Ryan’s idea that all bid proposals target the SB/DVBE community are now common practice. His facility is a statewide leader providing a one-on-one assessment and quarterly training service to those responsible for purchasing. Ryan is also a co-chair of the SB/DVBE Mentoring Program to spread the word of the importance of SB/DVBE contracting by mentoring throughout California.

This year, our Bronze winner’s agency, the California Public Utilities Commission, did 29.74% ($11.35 million) of their contracting with small businesses. Their Advocate, Stephanie Green, ensured executive level support for SB performance by having it discussed at agency Directors’ meetings. She worked with contract staff to provide detailed customer service, examining contracts and suppliers to ensure all applicable parties were certified and receiving the benefits of certification. Stephanie also pursued an aggressive outreach program, partnering with local chambers, small business associations and ethnic business groups, participating in 55 events and reaching thousands of small business owners.

Stephanie also partnered with chamber and associations to publish articles in websites/newsletters. Most importantly, she organized three small business expos (San Diego, Burbank, Oakland), matchmaking with state agencies and utilities and hosting a workshop on “Connecting Small Business with State and Utility Contracts”. Around 300 small business owners attended each event. Last year, $5.17 billion of the PUC’s contracting dollars went to women, minority, disabled veteran owned firms, and SB participation increased from 15.21 % in 2009-10 to 29.74% in 2010-11.

Kevin believes that during the current economic times, it is more important to focus efforts toward local and community businesses in order to aid California's struggling economy. By supporting local California small businesses we, in turn, support job growth and state revenue. Kevin actively supports California certified small businesses and DVBE vendors by clearly and efficiently conveying SB/DVBE related information to his department’s procurement staff, vendors, and management. He provides constant phone and email interactions, departmental memorandums, distributes an SB/DVBE brochure, attends outreach events whenever possible, and encourages vendors to become certified.

He has also been an eProcurement administrator for over two years and participated in developing vital changes to the eProcurement reporting templates. These changes allow all state departments to more accurately report their annual SB/DVBE participation to the Department of General Services. Kevin goes the extra mile to resolve issues that arise during the procurement process and he makes himself readily available to SB/DVBE vendors on a daily basis.

Through increased communication efforts with staff, management, DGS, and vendors, Kevin’s department increased overall small business participation from 43.36% last year to a whopping 51.1% this year. He sent over 200 emails to expired SB/DVBE vendors encouraging them to reapply for certification resulting in dozens of renewed certifications over the last year.

Liza is the DVBE Advocate for Caltrans District 3. Liza provides continuing and active outreach to the DVBE and newly disabled veterans in her district, helping them understand the SB/DVBE program, the certification process and connecting with Caltrans and other state procurement entities.  Liza is active with many of the Northern Chapters of the CA Disabled Veteran Business Alliance.  She works to increase opportunities for DVBE-only solicitations for contracts using the SB/DVBE Option (Minor B contracts) through internal advocacy and educating buyers on effective use of the DGS/BidSync database.

Further she educates prime contractors (especially those projects in the $5-$15 million dollar range) on how the DVBE Incentive can help them win contracts.  She planned an outreach workshop for early 2012 to continue best practices in this specific area, increased education about Commercially Useful Function and advocated to support her department’s enforcement of CUF regulations.

Liza provides outstanding customer service through prompt attention to all inquiries, follow-through when issues need investigating, connection with appropriate buyers, intensive technical assistance in marketing techniques and referrals to business development resources, and development of a comprehensive and up-to-date knowledge base.

Liza has received a past Commitment to Excellence award for “dedication to public service and striving for excellence and customer satisfaction” in 2010 and Gold Superior Accomplishment Award for “recognition of exceptional performance” in 2011.

Tracie has served as her department’s SB/DVBE Advocate for the last eight years. She provides expertise on the SB/DVBE programs and is the go-to person when procurement agents, SBs, DVBEs and advocates from other agencies have questions pertaining to State contracting. She demonstrates her steadfast stewardship of the SB/DVBE programs by continually promoting opportunities for improved SB/DVBE participation in her department’s procurements. This is evident by the 4% increase in FTB’s SB participation to 29.36% and an almost 2% increase in DVBE to 7.99%.

Tracie shows her enthusiasm by providing education and outreach through various forums throughout the State, including participating at this year’s California Disabled Veterans Business Alliance’s “Keeping the Promise Expo” in Los Angeles, serving as a panelist on the Supplier Diversity Panel at the “Small Business Summit” in Stockton, and facilitating at the DGS Small Business Council Advisory Meeting. At all of these venues, she proficiently explains the real-world State procurement process to interested vendors so they can participate in upcoming procurements. As the co-chair of the statewide SB/DVBE Advocate Steering Committee, she helps lead the discussion with other advocates by sharing FTB’s best practices, developing new ideas to improve the SB/DVBE program participation for the State, and mentoring new advocates. 

Molly is a quiet leader in the division and a mentor to all, a team player who has proven time and again to be instrumental in the success of the SB/DVBE Program. She continually communicates with her senior management on the correct implementation of reaching the SB/DVBE goals.

Her dedication is exemplified by making herself available to vendors, clients, and staff, be it in person, on the phone, or email.  She has strong communication skills, has thorough knowledge of her job and knows when to ask for additional help. Within her area, which awards large scale contracts with capped incentive amounts, she consistently strives to maximize SB/DVBE participation and with the installation of her department’s SB/DVBE First Policy, they far exceed the minimum of 25% SB, 3% DVBE goals respectively.  Since she became their advocate RESD, which used to routinely miss its goals, has increased its participation for SB from 26.01% in 2008/09 to 30.26% in 2009/10 and for DVBE from 5.90% in 2008/09 to 10.25 % in 2009/10. Molly was instrumental in this achievement.

This was the first presentation of the Advocate/Support Award, given to someone who, through their daily support functions, excels in promoting the Small Business/Disabled Veteran Business Enterprise Program.  Catrina Blair from the Department of General Services/Communication and Outreach Branch, is a well-prepared and organized individual as evidenced in the preparation of her department’s Small Business Council Meetings.  The comprehensive and extensive material is always organized and delivered in a timely manner.  As a representative of her organization, she is gracious, helpful, and has a compassion that makes people around her feel special.

Her exceptional organization leads to goal accomplishment. The Small Business Council meetings consistently meet their mission because of Catrtina’s hands-on method of making things happen.  Behind the scenes crises such as electronic problems, tactical issues, or unseen situations are handled with apparent ease and the meetings run seamlessly.  She is always the professional.

Additionally, Catrina is tasked daily with her regular job to help small business owners not only get certified, but to explain the ins-and-outs of contracts, finding the right advocate, or updating profiles.

This is the fourth year we have bestowed a State and Consumer Service Agency Secretary’s Award. This recognition goes to a State department or agency whose best practices, innovation and advocacy efforts allowed them to exceed our state’s SB or DVBE contracting goals. 

Without a passionate and well supported Small Business (SB) and Disabled Veterans Business Enterprise (DVBE) Advocate, it is nearly impossible for any state department to excel in Small Business and DVBE contracting.  Advocates are the lifeline of the firms who seek to do business with the State.  They are also a vital liaison to department buyers looking for SB and DVBE firms from which to buy.  Representing the advocates are the members of the SB/DVBE Advocate Steering Committee who are hereby nominated for this award.  Led by Albert Rivas, formerly of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and formed by former State Small Business Advocate, Marty Keller, this committee includes Tracie Wagner-Zamora from the Franchise Tax Board; Robert Beamer of CalVet; Michael Aguillio from DGS; Kevin Aria of Consumer Affairs; Kevin Childers from DMV; Colleen Reubens representing CalRecycle; Dale Clack of CSU Sacramento; Shaironda Morris from the Department of Rehabilitation; and Gloria Anderson of CalVet.

This Committee has started to establish uniform standards for Advocates in all departments.  The Committee developed and implemented the first ever Advocates Boot Camp, which provides critical training to new and seasoned Advocates alike on how to effectively champion for Small Businesses and DVBE firms in the procurement process.  The Steering Committee developed an online Advocates’ Handbook, a mentor/protégé program that matches up longtime advocates with new ones, and provided critical input to DGS to be incorporated into the DGS Small Business/DVBE Off-Ramp Policy for Statewide Contracts.

Finally, where the State, as recently as 5 years ago recorded about 17.9% SB contract participation and 1.79% DVBE participation, over the past three years, the State now averages over 26% SB contract participation and will soon exceed 4% DVBE contract participation.  This consistent increase is due in large part to the group of dedicated department Advocates mentored and led by this Steering Committee.

Military Department

The Military Department, which handles many large scale public works projects, uses the State’s small business and DVBE programs as their primary methods of procurement with heavy emphasis on the recently expanded Small Business/DVBE Option.

Although the Department's procurement budget was significantly less this year, it continued to stress small business/disabled business enterprise participation in every aspect of procurement. Every level of command in the organization embraced the process and enabled the department to award 57% of their total procurement business to small businesses and 15.8% of the total business to DVBEs. The department also maintained a close working relationship with the DVBE Alliance who, in several instances, helped to find DVBE vendors for some "hard to find" specialties that might otherwise have been sent to public bid.

This year, the Military Department concentrated on Small Business and DVBE participation in their public works contracts.  Almost 95% of these contracts were issued to small businesses. The department awarded over 31% of its public works contracts to DVBEs, either through award as the prime contractor or through a mandatory 10% DVBE participation in all publicly bid projects.

Department procurement personnel also participated in many conferences and SB/DVBE events, in order to have face-to-face contact with potential vendors. They also assisted the SB/DVBE option vendors by waiving the requirement for bid bonds which cut out-of-pocket expenses for bidding on public works projects.