Case Study: A Focus on Small and Diverse Businesses

Supporting Small and Diverse Businesses

With roots as a small women-owned business, Knowledge Services understands the importance of providing opportunities to small and diverse businesses. When first awarded a contract to manage IT contingent labor as the Managed Services Program (MSP) provider for a Midwestern state, we had a strong understanding of the State’s key goals to provide opportunities for all subcontractors of IT staff augmentation services, including small and diverse businesses.

When Knowledge Service began working with the State, less than 65% of vendors in the MSP were small and diverse businesses. By working with the State to understand their unique pain points and needs, Knowledge Services was able to help the State dramatically increase their small & diverse business participation. Today, 83% of the vendors in the MSP are small and diverse businesses.

Engagement Across Small and Diverse Businesses

That growth in small & diverse business participation is important and impressive, and it is not by accident.  The dedicated MSP Team worked hard to understand the State’s goals and provide mentorship opportunities for small and diverse vendors, in addition to regular communication and outreach with all vendors in the program.

Measures to Increase Small and Diverse Business Engagement

Knowledge Services fully supports our client’s statewide initiatives to increase and engagement and success for our small and diverse businesses in the MSP program. Together with our client, Knowledge Services focuses on these key areas:

• Addressing the State’s goals for vendor engagement
• Mentoring small & diverse contractors
• Identifying opportunities for creating efficiencies in State government
• Exploring innovative ways to deliver State services at the lowest cost and best value to taxpayers
• Seeking out means to perform core State functions more effectively and efficiently
• Demonstrating opportunities for the staff augmentation program to be more transparent, user friendly, and accountable to the citizens it serves

Today, 92% of the most active vendors in the MSP are small and diverse businesses.

Knowledge Services is proud to support small and diverse businesses and is committed to helping State governments build stronger opportunities for participation, engagement, and success.

“We understand the needs of small and diverse businesses because we started as one”, said Julie Bielawski, Founder and CEO at Knowledge Services. “As a woman-owned business that grew through hard work and a commitment to service, we know how important getting an opportunity is to the growth and development of small, diverse, and veteran-owned businesses.”