Contractor Portal 

Summary: Under the Minnesota Human Rights Act (MHRA), the Minnesota Department of Human Rights (MDHR) oversees compliance for over 3,500 businesses contracted with state entities, including cities, counties, and the University of Minnesota. Their responsibilities include ensuring these businesses hire and retain people of color, Indigenous individuals, and women, as well as enforcing equal pay between men and women. Businesses seeking to demonstrate compliance apply for Workforce and Equal Pay Certificates by submitting Affirmative Action Plans and annual reports, which MDHR reviews alongside utilization rates. 

Currently, data collection processes are inefficient due to reliance on manual methods. To improve efficiency and oversight, MDHR is adopting a product methodology, beginning with the development of a contractor portal. This portal will facilitate electronic completion of applications, integrating with OnBase to initiate necessary actions. It will also provide real-time feedback to vendors on missing information and use analytical tools to flag businesses potentially requiring MDHR review for enforcement actions. Additionally, the system will enable industry benchmarking to identify trends and prioritize vendors for further MDHR scrutiny, such as audits or enforcement actions. 

The new portal aims to reduce application approval times, enhance workforce diversity among women, people of color, and Indigenous communities, broaden MDHR's operational scope, and improve the overall contractor experience with more streamlined reporting requirements. These enhancements are expected to foster greater compliance with MHRA regulations. 

Value: Deploy a streamlined and proactive system for submitting information to MDHR, enabling the identification of businesses needing further review or enforcement. This ensures compliance with hiring practices for women, people of color, and Indigenous community members, and equal pay between men and women for the same work. 

Impact: Enhanced customer experience with faster application approvals, streamlined procurement support for all state agencies, counties, cities, and municipalities, and reallocation of staff capacity to more impactful enforcement activities, improving overall operational efficiency. This initiative aims to provide proactive support, monitoring, and enforcement aligned with the One Minnesota Plan.