ALEXANDRIA, Va. — NCUA is touting a 49% increase in its total dollars awarded to minority- and women-owned businesses during 2014, but the agency's workforce diversity levels continue to decline.
A new report today from NCUA notes the agency awarded $12.4 million to minority- and women-owned businesses during 2014, a significant increase over 2013 when the agency doled out just $8.3 million to those businesses. Total dollars awarded to minority- and women-owned businesses constituted 29% of NCUA's total awards in 2014, a seven percentage point increase over the previous year. Much of that lift was driven by large technology-related contracts.
"The progress made last year demonstrates the effectiveness of the policies and procedures NCUA has put in place to advance our supplier diversity program and goals," NCUA Chairman Debbie Matz said in a statement. "A diverse supplier base is a sound business policy. It helps the agency use its resources efficiently, allowing NCUA to better serve federally insured credit unions and their members."
In spite of those gains, NCUA —
"While we are pleased that we have increased the number of minorities in our workforce, we still have work to do to achieve our strategic goal of recruiting and retaining a well-diversified workforce that reflects the relevant labor force," Matz said. "Following our Annual Diversity Policy Statement, NCUA leadership and management will continue to make a concerted effort to hire, promote, develop and train a highly qualified and diverse workforce."
NCUA said in a statement that the agency plans to "review and refine its initiatives to recruit, retain and promote women and minorities" through 2015, and that it has also created a Diversity Advisory Council to support those efforts.
More information about the agency's diversity efforts — including specifics on fields where the regulator met its goals and those where it did not — should be available when its 2014 Annual Report is released next month.
