At Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan and Blue Care Network, we believe that creating opportunities throughout the community is essential to our success.
It's our mission to establish best-in-class business development practices that empower the diverse communities we serve. We seek to maximize the inclusion of all diverse groups, with fair and impartial consideration in the procurement of goods and services to Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan.
We help diverse suppliers succeed by:
“Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan is proud of our supplier diversity program as one way to help support the health of Michigan’s communities. Our strong commitment to diversity in our partnerships with vendors and suppliers not only build economic growth in Michigan communities, but it also helps drive innovation and deliver quality results.
Inclusion of diverse groups in our procurement of goods and services for Blue Cross is a non-negotiable facet of our business that will help provide everyone an opportunity to succeed.”
Cassandra Alston-Childs
Vice President, Corporate Services
We've developed partnerships throughout the community with organizations like:
We've received recognition from some of our partners for our supplier diversity.
We’re committed to working with diverse businesses. Our program is made up of two tiers:
We contract with diverse suppliers. These businesses are 51 percent or more owned and operated by:
We encourage our primary contractors to use diverse suppliers when they work with us. We also ask them to let us know how much they spend with those diverse suppliers. This program creates more meaningful business opportunities for diverse businesses.
To participate in our supplier diversity program, a business needs to fall into one or more of these classifications:
A Historically Underutilized Business Zone, or HUBZone, is an area found within one of these:
The Small Business Administration keeps a list of the qualified HUBZone small businesses. You can find it on SBA.gov.
An LGBTQ business is at least 51 percent owned, controlled and operated by people who are either lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer.
A Minority Business Enterprise is at least 51 percent owned, controlled and operated by people from these minority groups:
In a Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Business, service-disabled veterans own at least 51 percent of the business and manage the daily business operations.
A small business, including its affiliates, is:
A Small Disadvantaged Business is at least 51 percent owned by people who are socially and economically disadvantaged, as defined by the U.S. Small Business Administration.
In a veteran-owned business, veterans own at least 51 percent of the business and manage daily business operations.
A Woman-Owned Business Enterprise is at least 51 percent owned, controlled and operated by women.
These are the steps you'll need to follow.
We require that our suppliers are either certified as a diverse business or use diverse subcontractors.
To qualify for our Tier I program, we require certification from these organizations and their regional affiliates:
If you’re applying for the Tier II program, we’d like to know how much you spend on subcontracting with diverse suppliers. Please email us at SupplierDiversity@bcbsm.com so we can enroll you in our Tier II reporting program.
Reporting is submitted on a quarterly basis:
First Quarter (Jan. to March)
Second Quarter (April to June)
Third Quarter (July to Sept.)
Fourth Quarter (Oct. to Dec.)
Complete your application by registering for an account with us.
If you have questions about the form, please email VendorManagmentCOE@bcbsm.com.
Once you’ve completed the steps above, please follow up with an email to SupplierDiversity@bcbsm.com.
Note: We can't guarantee all businesses that apply will be chosen to do business with us.