About Us
USDP Mission
To expand enrollment and participation of small/minority businesses on University contracts, by facilitating the opportunity for said businesses to provide valuable, quality, timely goods and services, while building mutually beneficial, respectful, lasting business relationships with the University community.
USDP Policy Statement
The University of Connecticut is committed to providing a professionally inclusive environment within which small/minority businesses are encouraged to participate in the procurement experience, as they are afforded equal access to the bid process that transfers goods and services to the campus communities.
Supplier Diversity Information
USDP Core Values
UConn Supplier Diversity Outreach Events
Participation in these events are a few ways that the USDP continues to encourage and welcome small/minority businesses (S/MBE’s) to participate in the UConn procurement experience, with the mission of expanding enrollment of S/MBE’s on University contracts.
Supplier Diversity Symposium in Higher Education
“Training for Higher Education P-Card Holders” (Slide 7) is an idea that “garnered a great deal of interest” at this Symposium, according to The Northeastern Lab for Inclusive Entrepreneurship’s, it’s host and just one institution with whom the University of Connecticut Supplier Diversity Program (USDP) has shared its success story. UConn’s story can also be found in the Spring 2023 Edition of the NAEP Procurement Journal. The USDP contracted with LightSpeed Edu, a minority-owned company to develop and launch their Supplier Diversity E-Learning course on October 1, 2019, entitled, “Embracing Supplier Diversity at UConn”. Continue reading →
UConn… a Supplier Diversity Leader
The University of Connecticut is acknowledged in this article as a supplier diversity leader.
UConn… a Regional Reputation in Minority Contracting
Prodded by Racial Reckoning, Colleges Aim To Increase Minority Contracting. Will They Succeed? | GBH (wgbh.org) – Update August 2023
The University of Connecticut is acknowledged in this article for its regional reputation in minority contracting.
UConn Supplier Diversity Website Highlighted
How Supplier Diversity Webpages Can Open the Window to Opportunity | Inclusive Entrepreneurship (northeastern.edu) – June 3, 2023
This article was published following The Northeastern Lab for Inclusive Entrepreneurship’s Webinar held on April 11, 2023, entitled, “Benchmarking Higher Education Procurement Websites”, in which the University of Connecticut was one of two participating higher education institutions.
Supplier Diversity Best Practices
UConn’s Supplier Diversity Program (USDP) was recently mentioned in the initial draft of the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill’s “Proposed Strategic Plan for the UNC System to Increase Utilization of Historically Underutilized Businesses”. This proposal highlighted UNC’S research results taken from interviews of different institutions, with the following key elements being attributed to UConn and others as examples of best practices:
- Provide explicit, enthusiastic, and evergreen top-down support
- Dedicate staffing and resources to supplier diversity
- Empower university purchasers as economic changemakers
- Celebrate successes