Published by BBC Research & Consulting

The study evaluated the State of Indiana’s Minority and Women’s Business Enterprises (M/WBE) Program. The Indiana Department of Administration (IDOA) operates the State of Indiana’s M/WBE Program, which is designed to encourage the participation of minority and women-owned businesses in state contracting and create a fair, competitive, and equitable environment for those businesses. The program comprises various measures to encourage the participation of minority and women-owned businesses in state contracting. Some of those measures are race and gender-neutral, which are designed to encourage the participation of all businesses in state contracting, and other measures are race and gender-conscious, which are designed to specifically encourage the participation of minority and women-owned businesses in state contracting (e.g., using MBE/WBE participation goals to award individual contracts). IDOA also operates the Indiana Veteran-owned Small Business (IVOSB) Program, which is designed to encourage the participation of veteran-owned businesses in state contracting and help ensure that those businesses can build productive relationships throughout relevant contracting industries.