§ 11-60 Definitions.
RCNY § 11-60
As used in this subchapter, the following terms have the following meanings: (1) "Agency" means a city, county, borough, or other office, position, administration, department, division, bureau, board or commission, or a corporation, institution or agency of government, the expenses of which are paid in whole or in part from the city treasury.
(2)"Agency chief contracting officer" means the individual to whom an agency head has delegated authority to organize and supervise the agency's procurement activity.
(3)"Availability rate" means the percentage of business enterprises within an industry classification that are owned by minorities, women or individuals who are socially and economically disadvantaged willing and able to perform agency contracts.
(4)"Bidder" means any person submitting a bid or proposal in response to a solicitation for such bid or proposal from an agency.
(5)"Bidders list" or "proposers list" means a list maintained by an agency that includes persons from whom bids or proposals can be solicited.
(6)"City" means the city of New York.
(7)"City chief procurement officer" means the individual to whom the mayor has delegated authority to coordinate and oversee the procurement activity of mayoral agency staff, including the agency chief contracting officers and any offices that have oversight responsibility for procurement.
(8)"Commercially useful function" means a real and actual service that is a distinct and verifiable element of the work called for in a contract. In determining whether an MBE, WBE or EBE is performing a commercially useful function, factors including but not limited to the following will be considered: (a) whether it has the skill and expertise to perform the work for which it is being utilized, and possesses all necessary licenses; (b) whether it is in the business of performing, managing or supervising the work for which it has been certified and is being utilized; and (c) whether it purchases goods and/or services from another business and whether its participation in the contract would have the principal effect of allowing it to act as a middle person or broker in which case it may not be considered to be performing a commercially useful function for purposes of this section.
(9)"Commissioner" means the commissioner of small business services or his or her designee or his or her successor in function.
(10)"Construction" means construction, reconstruction, demolition, excavation, renovation, alteration, improvement, rehabilitation, or repair of any building, facility, physical structure of any kind.
(11)"Contract" means any agreement, purchase order or other instrument whereby the city is committed to expend or does expend funds in return for goods, professional services, standard services, or construction.
(12)"Contractor" means a person who has been awarded a contract by a city agency.
(13)"Direct subcontractor" means a person who has entered into an agreement with a contractor to provide services or perform work required pursuant to a contract with a city agency.
(14)"Director" means an individual designated by the mayor to perform the oversight functions of the director described in this title who either reports directly to the mayor or is a commissioner.
(15)"Directory" means a list prepared by the division of firms certified pursuant to Section 1304 of the Charter.
(16)"Division" means the division of economic and financial opportunity within the department of small business services.
(17)"EBE" means an emerging business enterprise certified in accordance with Section 1304 of the Charter.
(18)"Geographic market of the city" means the following counties: Bronx, Kings, New York, Queens, Richmond, Nassau, Putnam, Rockland, Suffolk and Westchester within the state of New York; and Bergen, Hudson, and Passaic within the state of New Jersey.
(19)"Goal" means a numerical target.
(20)"Graduate MBE," "graduate WBE" or "graduate EBE" means an MBE, WBE or EBE which must have been awarded contracts by one or more agencies within the past three years where the total city funding from the expense and capital budgets for such contracts was equal to or greater than fifty million dollars and whose size has exceeded the size standards established for its industry by the United States small business administration for three years.
(21)"Human services" means services provided to third parties, including social services such as day care, foster care, home care, homeless assistance, housing and shelter assistance, preventive services, youth services, and senior centers; health or medical services including those provided by health maintenance organizations; legal services; employment assistance services, vocational and education programs; and recreation programs.
(22)"Indirect subcontractor" means a person who has entered into an agreement with a direct subcontractor to provide services or perform work required pursuant to the direct subcontractor's contract with a contractor.
(23)"Industry classification" means one of the following classifications: (a) construction; (b) professional services; (c) standard services; and (d) goods.
(24)"Joint venture" means an association, of limited scope and duration, between two or more persons who have entered into an agreement to perform and/or provide services required by a contract, in which each such person contributes property, capital, effort, skill and/or knowledge, and in which each such person is entitled to share in the profits and losses of the venture in reasonable proportion to the economic value of its contribution.
(25)"MBE" means a minority-owned business enterprise certified in accordance with Section 1304 of the Charter.
(26)"Minority group" means Black Americans; Asian Americans; Hispanic Americans; and Native Americans, provided that the commissioner is authorized to add additional groups to this definition upon a finding that there is statistically significant disparity between the availability of firms owned by individuals in such a group and the utilization of such firms in city procurement.
(27)"Non-certified firm" means a business enterprise that has not been certified as an MBE, WBE or EBE in accordance with Section 1304 of the Charter.
(28)"Person" means any business, individual, partnership, corporation, firm, company, or other form of doing business.
(29)"Professional services" means services that require specialized skills and the exercise of judgment, including but not limited to accountants, lawyers, doctors, computer programmers and consultants, architectural and engineering services, and construction management services.
(30)"Qualified joint venture agreement" means a joint venture between one or more MBEs, WBEs, and/or EBEs and another person, in which the percentage of profit or loss to which the certified firm or firms is entitled or exposed for participation in the contract, as set forth in the joint venture agreement, is at least 25% of the total profit or loss.
(31)"Scope of work" means specific tasks required in a contract and/or services or goods that must be provided to perform specific tasks required in a contract.
(32)"Socially and economically disadvantaged" refers to an individual who has experienced social disadvantage in American society as a result of causes not common to individuals who are not socially disadvantaged, and whose ability to compete in the free enterprise system has been impaired due to diminished capital and credit opportunities as compared to others in the same business.
(33)"Standard services" means services other than professional services and human services or services procured under a construction contract.
(34)"Utilization rate" means the percentage of total contract expenditures expended on contracts or subcontracts with firms that are owned by women, minorities, or individuals who are socially and economically disadvantaged, respectively, in one or more industry classifications.
(35)"WBE" means a women-owned business enterprise certified in accordance with Section 1304 of the Charter. (Amended City Record 5/25/2021, eff. 6/24/2021)
