Equitable and Inclusive Purchasing Practices at PlanRVA

The growing focus on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) within the workplace has implications beyond recruiting, beyond putting in place hiring practices designed to result in a diverse workforce. The “I” component of DEI, for example, extends to the ways in which an organization spends its money. And for PlanRVA, that commitment to inclusive purchasing goes a long way toward ensuring that the agency’s vendor choices are not only consistent with federal law but reflect the values and makeup of the larger community.

This growing consciousness related to procurement is actually nothing new. “Shop local” campaigns, for instance, have been around for many years, reminding consumers and organizations alike of the concentric impact of purchasing decisions. But today, that mindfulness about where an organization’s dollars are going is an integral part of how it works to fulfill its mission.

“One of the things that we’ve been pretty focused on the last couple of years is evaluating our opportunities to embed compliance with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act into our operating functions,” says PlanRVA executive director Martha Shickle. “It’s all about making sure that we’re serving the whole community from a public outreach perspective, from an employment perspective and from a purchasing perspective, so the notion of purchasing or supplier diversity is inherently embedded into our work.”

Two years ago, PlanRVA updated its Title VI plan to create a set of internal guides, one of which related to inclusive purchasing, providing staff with a playbook of sorts to help make inclusive buying decisions.  The next step is to create a dashboard where the public can see how PlanRVA’s vendors meet specific criteria – for example, locally, women, minority or veteran-owned. That transparency goes hand-in-hand with a commitment toward being more intentional about where it spends its money – keeping it local first and then evaluating opportunities where it can incentivize greater diversity.

One way to compel increased diversity is by encouraging collaboration. If, for instance, a professional services vendor is not minority owned, PlanRVA might suggest that the company find a minority-owned partner, even as a subcontractor. It’s a means for helping align its values with its spending.

“Our commitment in this area is grounded in our obligation as a public entity to be a good steward of the dollars we administer,” says Shickle. “And part of that is the compliance requirements, but frankly, it’s more about being committed to the spirt and not just the letter of the law.”

And PlanRVA is not just talking the talk but walking the walk as well. Every major contract that it has pursed in the last three years has adhered to this commitment of prioritizing vendors that are local-minority-women owned.