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To maintain and improve our universal mail service at cost-effective and competitive prices, it is essential that we use both large and diverse suppliers. By providing opportunities for all suppliers, we will continue to ensure that no supplier is excluded or given preference to compete on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, age, or national origin.
Providing opportunities to suppliers who are able to meet USPS needs is the responsibility of all USPS employees who participate in procurement activities.
We will aggressively identify and include all classes of small businesses in our sourcing plans, whenever practical. We will work closely with trade and industry associations, government agencies and purchasing organizations as resources to expand purchasing opportunities for SMWOBs. We will partner with organizations that promote supplier diversity and will inform buyers and market analysts of suppliers who have had success in obtaining business opportunities with USPS.
Our immediate objectives are to identify and do business with suppliers who can provide the best value to USPS. Our community of diverse suppliers is required to be innovative, provide quality products and services, and be able to compete effectively. We expect our supplier base to be integral in achieving our business objectives.
USPS key suppliers can severely impact our business if they do not meet the high service and performance standards we require. To ensure that our organization and our suppliers meet our performance goals, our contracting officers and internal business partners meet frequently to discuss any performance deficiencies identified during the review period and develop a plan to eliminate those deficiencies.
Our goal is to be recognized as a world-class leader of supplier diversity. We strive for continuous improvement by establishing effort-based indicators and monitoring progress
by tracking suppliers’ number of transactions, dollars awarded, opportunities offered, and other factors. We benchmark ourselves against “best practices” and track performance overtime.
The following terms describe the four categories of business that are central to our mission:
- Small Business. A business, including an affiliate, that is independently owned and operated, is not dominant in producing or performing the supplies or services being purchased, and has no more than 500 employees, unless a different size standard has been established by the Small Business Administration. See Title 13, Code of Federal Regulations, Part 121 (13 CFR 121), particularly for different size standards for airline, railroad and construction companies. For subcontracts of $50,000 or less, a subcontractor having no more than 500 employees qualifies as a small business without regard to other factors.
- Minority Business. A business that is at least 51 percent owned by, and whose management and daily business operations are controlled by, one or more members of a socially and economically disadvantaged minority group — namely, U.S. citizens who are Black Americans, Hispanic Americans, Native Americans, or Asian Americans. Native Americans are American Indians, Eskimos, Aleuts, and Native Hawaiians. Asian Americans are U.S. citizens whose origins are Japanese, Chinese, Filipino, Vietnamese, Korean, Samoan, Laotian, Kampuchean (Cambodian), Taiwanese, in the U.S. Trust Territories of the Pacific Islands, or in the Indian subcontinent.
- Woman-Owned Business. A business that is at least 51 percent owned by a woman (or women) who is a U.S. citizen, controls the firm by exercising the power to make policy decisions, and operates the business by being actively involved in day-to-day management.
- Educational or Other Nonprofit Organization. Any corporation, foundation, trust or other institution operated for scientific or educational purposes, not organized for profit, and no part of the net earnings inures to the profits of any private shareholder or individual.
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