Wellesley’s Diversity Program Covers Construction Projects of $5 Million or More
Wellesley College is committed to providing a workplace that includes people of diverse backgrounds and that fully utilizes their talents to achieve its mission. Wellesley will strive to ensure that women and minorities are represented at all levels of the contractor workforce, including in supervisory and management positions. For construction projects exceeding $5 million in value, the College has established a goal of 10 percent participation rate for women and minorities in the workforce.
Wellesley College is also committed to actively developing supplier and contractor diversity for construction projects by supporting Minority Business Enterprises (MBE) and Women Business Enterprises (WBE). Wellesley College will ensure that MBEs and WBEs are given the opportunity to demonstrate their ability to provide the College with commodities and services at competitive prices. For construction projects exceeding $5 million in value, the College has established a goal of 15 percent participation rate (by dollar value) for vendor and contractor firms owned by women and minorities.
Contractors will be asked to confirm their commitment to equal opportunity in employment and contracting, and to ensure, to the maximum extent possible and consistent with applicable law, the fair inclusion of women and minorities in their workforce, as follows:
Contractors shall insert the substance of this standard into each subcontract. Within ten (10) business days of a written request from Wellesley College, a contractor shall provide documentation, satisfactory to Wellesley College, of the actions it has undertaken (and, as applicable, the actions each covered subcontractor under the contract has undertaken) to demonstrate its good-faith efforts to comply with the aforementioned provisions. For purposes of contracts, “good-faith efforts” shall include actions by the contractor (and, as applicable, actions by each covered subcontractor under the Service Contract) to identify and, if present, remove barriers to employment for women and minorities and to expand employment opportunities for women and minorities within its workforce. Efforts to remove such barriers may include, but are not limited to, outreach and recruitment strategies to ensure that applicant pools include women and minorities and providing job-related training or other activities that could lead to removing such barriers.
At the initiation of a contract, the contractor or consultant will submit a plan to meet these goals. Each month, with the payment application, the contractor shall submit utilization reports for approval by the Wellesley College Facilities Department Project Manager. If workforce participation rates for women and minorities fall short of Wellesley College’s goals, the contractor or consultant will submit a revised plan describing additional good-faith efforts to remove barriers and expand employment opportunities for them. Invoices will be approved when the Facilities Project Manager is satisfied with participation rates.