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Authorizing HREEO staff, on behalf of the City of Saint Paul, to enter into a Joint Powers Agreement with the Metropolitan Airports Commission and the State of Minnesota, through the Department of Administration for the Gateway Certification Portal initiative.
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WHEREAS, the City of Saint Paul is the lead agency for the regional CERT collaborative along with the City of Minneapolis, Ramsey County, and Hennepin County, and
WHEREAS, the CERT Collaborative operates a local certification for small, small woman-owned, and small-minority owned businesses, and
WHEREAS, the Metropolitan Airports Commission is the lead agency for the federal Disadvantaged Business Enterprise program, which operates its own certification for DBEs as defined by the federal government, and
WHEREAS, the State of Minnesota operates the Targeted Group Business (TGB) program for TGB businesses a defined by State law, and
WHEREAS, the three different certification programs all have separate application processes, resulting in administrative burdens for small businesses, and
WHEREAS, a streamlined certification process would eliminate redundancies for small businesses applying to multiple certification programs, and
WHEREAS, Chapter 84 of the Saint Paul Administrative Code allows the Department of Human Rights and Equal Economic Opportunity to partner with other government entities to more efficiently certify businesses as Minority Owned Enterprises, Woman Owned Enterprises and Small Business Enterprises, and
RESOLVED, that the proper City officials are authorized and directed to enter into a JPA to operate a streamlined certification process, known as the Gateway Certification Portal, attached as Exhibit A.