The MCRO prohibits discrimination based on:

• Race
• Color
• Creed
• Religion
• Ancestry
• National origin
• Sex, including sexual harassment
• Sexual orientation
• Gender identity
• Disability Age
• Marital status
• Status regarding public assistance
• Familial status

Please see Title VII - Minneapolis Civil Rights Ordinance

An Affirmative Action Plan (AAP) is a combination of policies and procedures a company utilizes to prohibit discrimination and promote employment opportunities for women, minorities and disabled individuals.

The city has thirty (30) days to approve an Affirmative Action plan, beginning from the date the AAP was received by the MDCR.

No. The MDCR accepts AAPs approved by the Minnesota Department of Human Rights (MDHR), the Minnesota Mechanical Contractors Association (MMCA), the National Electrical Contractors Association and the City of St. Paul, provided the MDCR receives a copy of the plan and corresponding certificate of approval.

The MDCR will send out an Approval Letter notifying you of: (1) the date of the approval; (2) the date the AAP expires; and (3) the corresponding MDCR contact person in the department to whom you may direct questions.

City of Minneapolis AAPs are valid from three (3) years from the date of approval.

The MDCR offers three (3) Affirmative Action Plans depending on the size and location of your company. Use the Affirmative Action Plan for a company with 21 or more full time permanent employees. Fill out the Modified Affirmative Action Plan if your business employs 20 or fewer full time permanent employees. Finally, if your company is located outside the seven (7) county metro area please utilize the Non Metro Area Affirmative Action Plan. The counties included in the metro area are: Anoka, Carver, Dakota, Hennepin, Ramsey, Scott and Washington.

Contact the MDCR Contract Compliance Division corresponding Contract Compliance Officer

The City accepts valid Affirmative Action Plans approved by the Minnesota Department of Human Rights (MDHR), the Minnesota Mechanical Contractors Association (MMCA), the National Electrical Contractors Association (NECA) and the City of St. Paul, provided the MDCR receives a copy of the plan and corresponding certificate of approval.

The Small Underutilized Business Program (SUBP) was established to remedy the effects of discrimination on women-owned business enterprises (WBEs) and minority-owned business enterprises (MBEs). The City of Minneapolis participated in a regional joint disparity study in 2017, which evidenced the wide disparities and challenges W/MBEs experience in the contracting and business sectors. The SUBP was established to ensure no business is excluded from or denied participation on a City of Minneapolis contract based on race or sex.

In 2017 the City of Minneapolis participated in the regional joint disparity study. A disparity study analyzes the current economic, socioeconomic and business climates in a region to identify whether public affirmative action programs are necessary to remedy gender, racial and socioeconomic challenges in the community. For more information, please read the 2017 Disparity Study.

The Minnesota Unified Certification Program (MNUCP) website offers an extensive list of both WBEs and MBEs that may be tailored depending on your contracting needs. Please note that only firms that have their principal place of business located within the City's Marketplace will count towards meeting SUBP goals. The City's Marketplace consists of the geographical area of the Minnesota counties of Anoka, Carver, Chisago, Dakota, Hennepin, Isanti, Le Sueur, Mille Lacs, Ramsey, Scott, Sherburne, Sibley, Washington, or Wright; or the Wisconsin counties of Pierce or St. Croix.

The Minnesota Unified Certification Program identifies four (4) eligibility requirements:

• The firm must be at least 51% owned by a socially and economically disadvantaged individual(s) who also controls the firm. The personal net worth of the individual(s) must not exceed $1.32 million.
• The firm is a small business that meets the Small Business Administration’s (SBA’s) size standard
• The firm’s annual gross receipts do not exceed $23.98 million. (Please note: size limits for airport concessions DBEs are higher.)
• The firm is organized as a for-profit business.

For more information please visit MNUCP or the federal Small Business Administration.

No. The City of Minneapolis only accepts MNUCP certified businesses to count towards the Small and Underutilized Business Program (SUBP) goals.

The Minneapolis Department of Civil Rights directs developers, general contractors and subcontractors to utilize the MNUCP database. The Contract Compliance Division also engages in networking opportunities for W/MBEs and underutilized businesses. For more information, contact the Contract Compliance Division.

The Contract Compliance Division conducts pre-award and post-award reviews to ensure small business participation. Prior to contract approval, the Division will review a bidder or proposers final SUBP participation including MBE/WBE letters of intent or confirmation of participation in our Contract Compliance Information Management System (CCIMS). Once a contract is awarded, the Division enters the contract into CCIMS for monthly subcontractor payment reporting and confirmation by MBE/WBE firms. 

The City of Minneapolis Purchasing Division handles most purchases of products for City departments and associated boards. For more information, please visit Procurement.

For information on bidding for commercial and residential development projects, please visit Community Planning and Economic Development’s Request for Proposals.

For information on City of Minneapolis construction projects, please see Public Works.

The MCRO states the CCD has thirty (30) days after receiving notice of the proposed contract to complete the pre-award compliance review. Therefore it is important for developers and contractors to inform the CCD of impending projects. Once a Pre-Construction Booklet has been submitted, the CCD works as expeditiously as possible so construction projects may begin on time for their estimated start dates.

The Pre-Construction Booklet is a document contractors fill out to identify subcontractors working on the project, employment goals and SUBP contracting goals. The Neighborhood Stabilization Project (both NSP2 and NSP3) may be found here. For other projects please use this Pre-Construction Booklet. Depending upon the size and funding mechanisms in your project, you may be required to use an alternative form. If you have questions, please contact the MDCR Contract Compliance unit.

The Contract Compliance Officer will send a notification via e-mail that your project was approved and the CCO notifies the corresponding city department, e.g. Community Planning and Economic Development.

The MDCR Contract Compliance Unit will arrange a meeting with your business to explain the pre-award review process, compliance policies and provide a Pre-Construction Booklet to be filled out by your business. When filling out the Pre-Construction Booklet, contractors are encouraged to contact MBEs, WBEs and Section 3 businesses to solicit bids for city projects. The CCD ensures small business participation by following-up with the businesses you include in your Pre-Construction Booklet to ensure your good faith efforts to utilize small underutilized businesses.

Yes. The MDCR may not approve any bid proposal reviewed in the pre-award approval process that fails to include W/MBEs or Section 3 businesses or any bid deemed non-compliant, or unresponsive. Contractors who fail to meet city contracting goals must prove they made good faith efforts to contract with SUBP and Section 3 businesses.

The city defines good faith efforts (GFE) as “every necessary and reasonable effort to subcontract work to W/MBEs in advance of the contract bid submittal dates or requests for proposals.

If the CCD determines a contractor has failed to make good faith efforts to meet city goals, it will conduct a good faith efforts (GFE) review. Factors that constitute GFE include: (1) soliciting W/MBE interest in the scope of the contract through reasonable and available means prior to bid opening; (2) contracting out portions of the work to W/MBEs, such as breaking out contract work into smaller pieces; (3) providing interested W/MBEs with adequate information in a timely manner; (4) good faith negotiations with interested W/MBEs analyzed by looking at price, scheduling, capabilities and the contract goal; (5) additional costs in using W/MBEs is not sufficient to for a bidder’s failure to meet project goals; (6) bidders must make reasonable efforts to assist W/MBEs to find funding; and (7) using community organizations to provide assistance to W/MBEs.

City Ordinance tasks the CCD to review contracts “resulting in a cumulative contract award in excess of one hundred thousand dollars.” Mpls. Ord. 139.50(d). In a calendar year if a company has contracts exceeding $100,000, each contract must undergo civil rights compliance review because even though an individual general contractor may have a contract under $100,000 for a single project, the aggregate total money dispersed was above the $100,000 cumulative amount. For more questions regarding the compliance review threshold, please e-mail contractcompliance@minneapolismn.gov.