Dear Colleagues,
Last year, the state of Illinois increased its goal for state contracts and purchase orders awarded to businesses owned by minorities, women, veterans, and persons with disabilities from 20% to 30%. This year, Chancellor Jones is recommitting our university to meeting the state’s new guidance.
As part of this effort, on Tuesday, April 4, 2023, our offices are hosting an event, “Doing Business with the University of Illinois” at the I Hotel. The event invites diverse vendors to a half-day session to connect with campus unit purchasing decision-makers, gain access to resources, and learn more about university procurement processes.
We ask that you encourage your units’ purchasing decision makers to participate in the “Structured Networking” portion of the event from 10:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. This session’s objective is to help to connect business attendees to campus units whose purchasing activity may align with the business attendees’ goods and services. It will create a space for businesses to meet campus representatives with knowledge of their unit’s purchasing needs.
Please share this registration link with staff who can engage businesses in discussions about their products and services and purchasing needs for their unit: https://forms.illinois.edu/sec/887868763. We have also shared this information with your college/administrative unit budget officer, who has also received the campus units’ purchasing analysis.
Registration for colleges and units is open through Wednesday, March 15, 2023. This is an event for registered participants only.
Knowing who to contact in a campus unit can be difficult and a barrier to doing business with the university. With your help, diverse vendors will be able to create the connections they need to become viable vendors for your unit’s purchasing needs as well as contribute to the campus and state’s goal.
Sincerely,
Michael T. DeLorenzo, Vice Chancellor for Administration and Operations
Sean C. Garrick, Vice Chancellor for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
