Governor Corzine Opens Supplier Diversity Office, Unlocking Economic Opportunity for Women and Minority-Owned Businesses

TRENTON - Underscoring a continuing commitment to promote entrepreneurship and enhance equity in procurement and employment opportunity, Governor Jon S. Corzine today celebrated the opening of the State Office of  Supplier Diversity. The office was established by the Governor in January of this year and is a one-stop shopping destination where small, minority and women-owned business enterprises can receive training, mentoring and information on contracting opportunities in both government and private industry.

“Small businesses are the very fabric of New Jersey ’s industries and communities,” said Governor Corzine, noting that about 98 percent of all businesses are small businesses.  “If we want to grow New Jersey ’s economy, we have to remove impediments that prevent  women and minority-owned businesses from developing and prospering.  Today, we raise the bar in the effort to promote minority- and women-owned small businesses throughout New Jersey .”

 “The Office of Supplier Diversity is a demonstrative, working example of how the Corzine Administration is putting economic develop tools directly into the hands of the businesses that need them in New Jersey ,” said Treasurer David Rousseau.

Sandy Davis, Office Director noted: “Since being formed in January, we have provided information and assistance to hundreds of businesses through workshops, conferences networking, and seminars.  Today’s grand opening reinforces that the office is open for business, and open to business,” she said.

The Office is an outgrowth of Governor Corzine’s Executive Order No. 34, which created the Division of Minority and Women Business Development and directed it to comprehensively track and monitor State contract utilization among minority and women owned business enterprises (MWBE) – a first for New Jersey.  Over the last 18 months, the division has been developing a strategic reporting system to collect refined information quarterly from 109 State agencies, authorities, commissions, colleges and universities.

 “We approach this responsibility by building a reporting system from scratch,” said Nina Moseley Senior Director of the Division of Minority and Women Business Development. “We worked closely with MWBE liaisons statewide to develop uniform elements and partnered with the Office of Information Technology to tie all of the data resources together.  We will continue to make refinements to capture additional business participation among subcontractors, but we have made great progress in a short period of time.”

The report, which tracks activity in the last quarter of 2007, marks the first time that 100 percent of the 95 require reporting agencies submitted reliable, uniform data. Among the findings:

     * Minorities and women combined received 7.9 percent of all payments on prime  contracts;
     * Minority vendors (both males and female) received payments of $25.4 million, or 2.9 percent of the total $851 million in payments;
     * Non-minority women vendors received $42.3 million, or 5 percent of payments;
     * The remaining 92.1 percent were recorded by vendors not classified as minority or women-owned;

The fourth quarter results compare favorably to private industry, other states that track this information, and the nationwide average. According to Diversity Inc. Magazine, the top 50 companies for Supplier Diversity in 2008 awarded 9 percent of their prime contractor procurement activity to MWBEs, and the nationwide average was 2 percent. Among peer states, New Jersey ’s participation ranks comparably to that of Virginia ’s (8.6 percent for both prime and subcontractors) for the same quarter .

“This is a striking improvement from previous estimates and deserves recognition—yet we still have a tremendous amount of work ahead—which makes the Office of Supplier Diversity absolutely critical,” Governor Corzine said. “We are witnessing advances in equity, but minority and women-owned firms account for 20 percent and 28 percent of the small businesses in the state, respectively—so eight percent is a small fraction of the prime contract payments that they should be reaping.”

A copy of this report is available at www. http://www.state.nj.us/njbusiness/contracting/

Today’s event also highlighted the Corzine Administration efforts to use the regulatory process to enhance employment opportunities for women and minorities in public contracting.  Among the proposed changes, New Jersey would:

    * Ensure that every public contract offers a fair chance for qualified minorities and women to be employed;
    * Provide an on-going pool of funding for the construction trades training program for minorities and women (NJ Build) which is administered by the Department of Labor;
    * Require contractors and bidders on State contracts  to make good faith efforts to hire minorities and women on public contracts;
    * Reiterate that contracting agencies must comply with any regulations promulgated by the Division of Contract Compliance and EEO in Public Contracts in order to assist with EEO/AA compliance and enforcement efforts;

 “These amendments help to ensure that minorities and women have a equal access to employment on public contracts through policy changes that are backed by regulatory reform,” said Deirdre Webster Cobb, Director of the Division of Contract Compliance and Equal Opportunity in Public Contracting.

NJ LAWMAKERS FIGHT EFFORTS IN WASHINGTON TO LIFT OFFSHORE DRILLING MORATORIUM  

Belmar, NJ --- With President Bush and Senator McCain now in favor of opening our coasts to offshore drilling and Republicans in Congress currently working to overturn a 26 year offshore drilling moratorium, U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ), U.S. Sens. Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ) and Robert Menendez (D-NJ) and Gov. Jon Corzine (D-NJ) today stressed the need for Congress to pass their legislation that would permanently extend the moratorium on oil and gas drilling off the Jersey Shore.     

The COAST (Clean Ocean and Safe Tourism) Anti-Drilling Act would permanently extend an existing moratorium on oil and gas drilling off the Jersey Shore and all North and Mid-Atlantic states from Maine to North Carolina.  It would prohibit the U.S. Department of Interior from issuing leases for exploration, development or production of oil, natural gas or any other mineral in the Mid and North Atlantic.

The moratorium on leasing activities has been in effect since 1982 and is included annually in Interior Department appropriations acts.  While President Clinton extended the moratorium through 2012, President Bush has consistently explored ways to end it.  Congressional Republicans are now stepping up their assault to lift the moratorium with false claims that such action would help reduce record gas prices at the pump.

When the Bush administration proposed drilling off the Virginia coastline, its own Minerals Management Service (MMS) estimated that the recoverable oil in the Mid-Atlantic Planning Area would only last between 17 and 41 days and recoverable gas an additional three months.  These minimal resources would also not actually make it to the market for at least another 10 years, as it takes time for oil and gas companies to explore and then construct the equipment to extract the resources from the earth.   

The three New Jersey lawmakers said it would be shortsighted to put our beaches, our fishing and our tourism economy at risk for such minimal amounts of oil and gas.  Tourism is one of New Jersey’s largest industries.  It brings in more than $5.5 billion in tax revenues, provides jobs to more than 500,000 people and generates more than $16.6 billion in wages.

"The Bush-McCain plan is a gift to the oil companies that endangers the economic and environmental health of the Jersey Shore and our entire state," Lautenberg said.  "The Bush-McCain drilling scheme chooses Big Oil over American consumers and does nothing to immediately reduce gas prices.  While we have offered real solutions to bring relief at the pump—like combating oil market speculation and price gouging and taking on the OPEC cartel—the Bush-McCain Republicans, acting on behalf of the oil companies, have blocked our efforts."

"Unfortunately, the Bush-McCain drilling plan doesn’t include a time machine that we can use to jump to the year 2017, when we might finally see the first drop of oil out of our coastline," Menendez said.  "They want to make it sound as if we can run a pipeline from the ocean floor straight into our gas tanks, but it’s really a plan that won’t have any effect on gas prices for a decade and even then will only amount to a handful of pennies.  This is why we have led the defeat of four separate attempts in the Senate to open up the coastline to drilling and why we are championing legislation to permanently ban drilling along our coastline.  This is why I have signed onto Senate legislation that would press the oil companies to utilize the 68 million acres of unused land already leased to them by the American taxpayer.  We are still working to pass Senate legislation that will crack down on speculation that artificially raises gas prices while investing in the renewable energy we need for the future of this economy and this planet."

"Ending the moratorium on offshore drilling is not the answer to lowering prices at the pump," Pallone said.  "If Washington Republicans were serious about providing real relief to consumers, they would join our efforts to force Big Oil to drill where they already have leases, invest in renewable energies that are already bringing down prices at the pump by about 50-cents a gallon, and punish price gougers.  Unfortunately, the only solution Republicans have come up with is more drilling--- the same failed policy that helped produced these record prices in the first place."

"Drilling for oil and gas off the Jersey Shore is a bad idea," Corzine said. "Our world-renowned coastline is the lifeblood of our economy and a fragile environmental treasure.  In many respects, it shapes our way of life, and we will fight any attempt to jeopardize it.  The Bush-McCain team would do well to remember that true leadership isn't about making easy choices; it's about making the right choices."

President Bush and Washington Republicans want to give away more public resources to the very same oil companies that are sitting on 68 million acres of federal lands they have already leased but not drilled.

According to the Interior Department, there are 7,740 active leases in the outer continental shelf but only 1,655 are actually in production.  While four times more natural gas is available in areas already open to drilling than in waters protected by the current Congressional moratorium, the Interior Department found that the oil industry is using only 18-percent of what it already has access to.

Department of Health and Senior Services
News Releases
RELEASE: July 07, 2008
 
PAAD and Senior Gold Participants to Receive Important Letter Outlining Benefit Changes

This week, the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services is sending PAAD and Senior Gold participants a letter describing prescription benefit changes that will take effect August 1, Health and Senior Services Commissioner Heather Howard announced today.
“Beneficiaries and caregivers should watch for these important letters, which describe how the changes will affect them personally,” said Commissioner Howard.  “Senior Gold participants will need to take action.  Beneficiaries must now sign up for federal Medicare Part D prescription coverage in order to remain eligible for Senior Gold.
“Department staff is available to answer participants’ questions about the changes, which also affect co-pays and coverage for diabetic testing supplies, she added.
New Jersey’s Fiscal Year 2009 budget makes several important changes in the two benefit programs as of August 1:
    * PAAD Co-Pays – The first increase since 1992 will raise the co-pay for a generic drug prescription $1 (to $6) and the co-pay for brand-name medications $2 (to $7).  PAAD participants with the lowest income and assets – about 50,000 beneficiaries -- will not be affected by the increase.  
    * Senior Gold Co-Pays -- Co-pays are unchanged for all beneficiaries.
    * Diabetic Testing Supplies -- PAAD and Senior Gold participants must use their federal Medicare Part B coverage or other insurance for diabetic testing supplies.  PAAD and Senior Gold will no longer pay for test strips, lancets and other such items.
    * Senior Gold Eligibility -- The approximately 6,000 Senior Gold members who haven’t yet enrolled in a Medicare Part D prescription plan must do so, if they are eligible, and pay their own Part D premiums, in order to remain in Senior Gold.  The two plans will work together to help beneficiaries reduce their prescription costs, such as out-of-pocket costs for deductibles, co-insurance and the coverage gap known as the “donut hole.”

The Department of Health and Senior Services is sending letters tailored to the needs of beneficiaries.
As a courtesy to Senior Gold participants who must sign up with Medicare Part D, DHSS will recommend a plan that best matches each person’s prescription needs and pharmacy use.  The plan’s phone number will be included so beneficiaries can sign up directly if they decide to choose the suggested plan.

After making their choice, beneficiaries should call Senior Gold at 1-800-792-9745 so the program’s records may be updated.

Senior Gold members should not wait to sign up during the normal 2008 Part D enrollment period, which begins on November 15.  The DHSS letter is proof that the Senior Gold member is eligible for a Part D Special Enrollment Period.

To obtain diabetic testing supplies after August 1, Senior Gold and PAAD members must ask their pharmacist to bill their Medicare Part B or other health plan for these items.  PAAD and Senior Gold will no longer pay for them.

Members who are on Medicare or have private insurance may look into companies that deliver diabetic testing supplies and will bill Medicare or a private insurance company on behalf of beneficiaries.  A list of such companies and their phone numbers is included in each DHSS letter.

The DHSS letters also are available on the Department’s website at: http://nj.gov/health/seniorbenefits/services.shtml.

About 168,000 people are currently enrolled in the PAAD program for low-income seniors and disabled people.  About 21,000 people are enrolled in the Senior Gold prescription discount program for people with moderate incomes.

For more information on enrolling in Part D, Senior Gold participants or their family members should call the Medicare program at 1-800-633-4227 and have ready their Medicare card, a list of current prescription drugs including strength and dosage, and the name of their pharmacy.  They may also contact the New Jersey SHIP health insurance assistance program at 1-800-792-8820.

For other questions, PAAD and Senior Gold program members should call the PAAD/Senior Gold hotline at 1-800-792-9745.