Eliminate barriers to sustainable city procurement opportunities for worker cooperatives.

• Expand the definition of a MBE, under the M/WBE program, to include business enterprises in which at least 51% is owned, operated and controlled by NYC residents.  Acceptable documentation demonstrating NYC residency should include the NYC ID. Immigrant-owned small businesses form an essential part of the backbone of our city’s economy.  Inclusion of the NYC ID will ensure recognition of all immigrant business owners as Minority and/or Women-Owned.  It is also important to support the preservation of IDNYC as a safe and equitable identification card program for all New Yorkers and provide adequate education and outreach to immigrant-owned businesses about this change as well as about the importance of the NYC ID.

• Ensure procurement officers at various city agencies make a good faith effort to solicit and obtain bids from worker cooperatives and prime contractors that subcontract with worker cooperatives.  Increase information, transparency and language access to worker coops on available micro-contracts and subcontracts with various city agencies. 

• Create a program which fosters relationships between procurement officers of city agencies and worker cooperative businesses.

• Work with NYC NOWC to create a worker cooperative certification program for procurement that would be additive to other certification programs such as M/WBE.  Recognize NYC NOWC as the industry representative to certify worker cooperative enterprises for the program.

  • Create a pilot program to procure services specifically from worker cooperatives, following from authority in NYC Procurement Policy Board rules, under section 3-12.