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Minority-Owned Business:

A business concern that is at least 51% owned and controlled/managed by a minority individual or minority group. This includes but is not limited to the following minority groups:

  • African Americans: any of the black racial groups of Africa
  • Hispanic Americans: any person(s) of the Spanish-speaking countries of Latin America, Mexico, Central America, South America, Brazil, the Caribbean, and other Spanish culture or origin
  • Native Americans: any person(s) having the origins of the original peoples of North America or the Hawaiian Islands, in particular American Indians, Eskimos, Aleuts, and Native Hawaiians
  • Asian Pacific Americans: any person(s) having origins in Asia or the Indian subcontinent, including but not limited to, person(s) from Japan, China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Korea, Samoa, Guam, the U.S. Territories of the Pacific, Northern Marianas, Laos, Cambodia, Taiwan, India, Pakistan and Bangladesh

Women-Owned Business:

A business concern that is at least 51% owned and controlled/managed by a woman or women.

Physically Challenged Owned Business:

A business concern that is at least 51% owned and controlled/managed by an individual or a group of individuals pursuant to the Federal Americans with Disabilities Act.

Veteran/Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Business:

A business concern that is at least 51% owned and controlled/managed by one or more disabled veterans who served in the Armed Forces of the United States or a service-disabled veteran of the Armed Forces of the United States who has a service-connected disability as determined by the United States Department of Veteran Affairs.

Small Business Enterprise:

A business concern that performs a commercially useful function; is not owned and controlled by individuals designated as minorities, women, veterans, or physically challenged; and has annual gross sales that do not exceed $2 million dollars.

Second Tier Purchasing:

A relative term in that it is a function of who is the customer. From a customer’s perspective, a first-tier supplier invoices a customer for goods and services directly rendered by the supplier. A second-tier supplier is a supplier that invoices the first-tier supplier for goods and services rendered.

  • Direct-spend second-tier purchasing refers to those products and services that can be identified in support of the customer’s requirements.
  • Indirect-spend second-tier purchasing refers to those products and services that cannot be identified in support of the customer’s requirements.

Small and disadvantaged vendors are encouraged to pursue opportunities with CSN as first-tier suppliers but can also recognize the opportunities to participate as suppliers of goods and services as it relates to second-tier suppliers. The emphasis on second-tier suppliers complements the other initiatives to create a more diverse vendor base from which to select the most competent and able supplier.