PG&E Spends $2.1BN With Diverse Suppliers in 2014

Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) today announced that it spent $2.1 billion with diverse suppliers in 2014, accounting for 41 percent of its total procurement. For the third straight year, diverse suppliers accounted for $2 billion-plus of the utility’s spend and more than 40 percent of the utility’s total spend for the second year in a row.

 In addition, PG&E surpassed the California Public Utilities Commission’s diverse spending goal of 21.5 percent for the ninth consecutive year, spent more than $1 billion with women business enterprises (WBEs).

“Diversity is one of the cornerstones of PG&E’s success in our mission to provide safe, reliable and affordable energy. We’ve worked diligently for 34 years to build the supplier diversity program. We maintained our spending last year at levels on par with the strongest in our history. We are aiming to do more, through our technical assistance program, to strengthen the competitive profile of small and diverse businesses,” said PG&E President Chris Johns in the 2014 Supplier Diversity Annual Report.

PG&E has been committed to supporting a diverse supply chain for more than three decades. The company has developed one of the leading supplier diversity programs in the energy industry.

PG&E’s dedication to supplier diversity is shown in numerous ways. For more than five years, in addition to maintaining high levels of spend with diverse suppliers, PG&E has focused on elevating the quality of its supplier diversity program by addressing key success factors for suppliers:

• PG&E was the first utility and one of the initial 26 companies to participate in President Obama’s SupplierPay Pledge, which encourages large corporations to develop ways to assist small business suppliers address financial challenges.
• In 2014, PG&E introduced “Diverse Suppliers are Cyber-Secure,” a program to raise cybersecurity awareness within the small and diverse business community by highlighting the risks associated with cybercrime, and resources to help mitigate risks.
• PG&E has actively supported the development of its diverse suppliers through mentorship, scholarships, opportunity identification, and value chain analysis. In addition, PG&E’s formal Supplier Development Program has matched 24 diverse suppliers with PG&E senior executive mentors.
• In 2012, PG&E was the first utility to add LGBT-owned enterprises, certified by the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce (NGLCC), to its supplier diversity program.

PG&E’s Supplier Diversity Department has produced many industry-leading events to support diverse businesses. Some of the most popular have been workshops that provide networking opportunities and useful information to help enterprises compete for PG&E’s business.

On Feb. 23, the utility held a targeted business workshop for African American-owned enterprises. On March 2, PG&E played hosts to the first LGBT Business Builder sponsored by the U.S. Small Business Administration and the NGLCC. Last December, PG&E joined the SBA in convening the second “Boots to Business” workshop for disabled veteran-owned enterprises (DVBE).

PG&E’s diversity programs have received numerous honors (partial list):

• Recognized this year by Black Enterprise as one of the “40 Best Companies for Diversity.” The publication cited PG&E’s Supplier Diversity Program as one of the company’s strengths.
• DiversityBusiness.com named PG&E as one of the “Top-50 Organizations for Multicultural Business Opportunities in 2015.” The utility was recognized for providing business opportunities to diverse American business owners.
• Received a perfect 100 percent rating on the Human Rights Campaign’s 2015 Corporate Equality Index for its consistently strong commitment to embrace diversity and inclusion.
• The U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce named PG&E to its “2014 Million Dollar Club” for spending a record $554 million with Hispanic-owned businesses in 2013.
• The Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC) recognized PG&E on its 2014 list of “America’s Top Corporations for Women’s Business Enterprises.”

PG&E’s Supplier Diversity website contains more information about the program. The site also provides details on how to become a certified diverse supplier.