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The commissioner or his or her designee shall serve as the director of the public utility service established by section 22-301 of the administrative code.
a. There shall be in the department small business advocates dedicated to helping business owners obtain appropriate services from the department and other city, state and federal agencies. The duties of such dedicated small business advocates shall include, but need not be limited to:
1. receiving requests for assistance from small businesses with respect to their interactions with the city, including, but not limited to, agency inspections, rules, adjudications of violations, technical assistance programs, workforce development programs, language access, and customer service;
2. taking appropriate action to resolve requests for assistance, including referring such requests to appropriate city, state and federal agencies; and
3. identifying opportunities for policy and program development to assist the small business sector and improve interactions between small businesses and city agencies.
b. The department shall conduct outreach and education targeted to small business owners and the general public related to the duties of such dedicated small business advocates and their role as a central point of contact for businesses seeking assistance from city agencies. Information indicating how to contact the small business advocates established pursuant to subdivision a of this section shall be prominently posted on the websites of relevant agencies. For purposes of this subdivision, relevant agencies shall include the department of buildings, the department of consumer and worker protection, the department of health and mental hygiene, the department of environmental protection, the department of sanitation, the bureau of fire prevention of the fire department and the department of small business services.
c. The department shall provide an initial written report to the council not later than April1, 2017, and a second report not later than April1, 2018, each documenting requests for assistance received by the small businesses advocates in the immediately preceding calendar year. Each report shall include, but need not be limited to: (i) the total number of requests for assistance received by the small business advocates during the reporting period; (ii) a general description of the type of each such request; and (iii) a general description of the actions taken by the small business advocates, if any, in response to each such request.
(L.L. 2015/066, 6/29/2015, eff. 9/27/2015; Am. L.L. 2020/080, 8/28/2020, eff. 8/28/2020)
Editor's note: For related unconsolidated provisions, see Administrative Code Appendix A at L.L. 2020/080.
a. For the purposes of this section:
Disconnected youth. The term "disconnected youth" means youth between the ages of 18 and 24 years, who are neither attending school nor employed.
b. The department shall administer a workforce development program for disconnected youth. The commissioner shall administer the provisions of this section to develop programs in consultation with the department of youth and community development to:
1. Identify obstacles impacting disconnected youth who seek the department's youth workforce development services, including but not limited to, issues related to transportation, child care, housing, health care and substance abuse, criminal justice, and language and cultural barriers;
2. Ensure that disconnected youth are connected with city agencies or community based organizations that will enable them to address those obstacles;
3. Develop and implement or connect disconnected youth with education programs that will encourage disconnected youth to explore opportunities to pursue a college degree or a technical or vocational career education;
4. Develop and implement a job training program, based on career progression, that offers sector based training for high growth industries including, but not limited to, construction, transportation, technology, industrial/manufacturing, and health care;
5. Connect disconnected youth with financial literacy education resources offered through the city's agencies and community based organizations;
6. Provide entrepreneurial skills training;
7. Connect disconnected youth with on-going follow-up services, such as adult mentoring, work-related peer support groups, additional education or career pathway development training, for at least 12 months after they complete the job training program and/or are connected to employment opportunities;
8. Provide information regarding the complete array of services offered by the department; and
9. Make available labor market and employment information about New York city's high demand industry sectors or occupations obtained from state or federal government agencies, as appropriate.
c. The department, with the assistance of the department of youth and community development, shall coordinate with the appropriate agencies, including but not limited to, the human resources administration, the department of education, the mayor's office, and community based organizations, to implement the provisions of this section.
(L.L. 2017/113, 7/22/2017, eff. 7/22/2017)
a. As used in this section, the following terms shall have the following meanings:
1. The term "mentoring program" means a program established pursuant to this section:
(i) to provide mentee businesses with the opportunity for up to four years, to compete for and, where awarded, to perform certain contracts designated for inclusion in the mentoring program, with the assistance of a competitively selected mentor firm that has extensive management and mentoring experience, with the mentor providing the mentee business with advice and assistance in competing for and managing contracts; and
(ii) to provide to a mentee business that the mentoring program agency has determined has successfully completed the program under subparagraph (i) of this paragraph, for up to four additional years: (A) additional opportunities to compete with other designated mentee businesses in the program for certain contracts to be designated for inclusion under this subparagraph and, where awarded, to perform such contracts, with the further assistance of a competitively selected mentor firm that has extensive management and mentoring experience, with the mentor providing the mentee with advice and technical assistance in competing for and managing contracts; and (B) assistance, as determined by the mentoring program agency, for such a mentee business to obtain bonding for contracts that are competitively awarded pursuant to any other provision of law.
2. The term "mentoring program agency" means an agency that has established a mentoring program pursuant to this section.
3. The term "mentoring program contract" means a contract designated by the mentoring program agency, in an estimated amount of not more than one million five hundred thousand dollars for contracts under subparagraph (i) of paragraph one of this subdivision and five million dollars for contracts under subparagraph (ii) of such paragraph, for which bids or proposals are to be invited and accepted only from businesses that are enrolled in a mentoring program and have been selected by the mentoring program to compete for the contract.
4. The term "small business" means a business that: is independently owned and operated; and has annual revenues that do not exceed an average of five million dollars for the three preceding fiscal years, as calculated at the end of each fiscal year, or such lesser amount as established by the mentoring program agency pursuant to this section.
b. Any agency may establish a mentoring program for small businesses in the construction trades.
c. Notwithstanding any other law, including section two thousand five hundred four of the insurance law, except as otherwise provided in subdivision g of this section, a mentoring program agency shall have the authority to:
1. Determine the criteria pursuant to which a small business shall be eligible for and selected as a mentee business participating in the components of its mentoring program, as set forth in subparagraphs (i) and (ii) of paragraph one of subdivision a of this section, the number of mentee businesses to participate in each such component of such a program, the criteria for the competitive selection of the firms that will provide mentoring services, and the assignment of a mentor to a specific mentee business;
2. Designate which eligible contracts shall be mentoring program contracts;
3. Establish standards for qualifying mentee businesses to compete for a mentoring program contract, consistent with subdivision d of this section;
4. Determine when bids or proposals for a mentoring program contract should be restricted to mentee businesses that, prior to the receipt of bids or proposals, have been qualified for such competition;
5. Competitively select, designate, and contract with one or more experienced firms that, under the general supervision of the mentoring program agency, will provide mentoring services to the mentee businesses, and assign such mentors to one or more designated mentee businesses;
6. Assist mentee businesses that have been awarded mentoring program contracts to obtain any surety bond or contract of insurance required of them in connection with such contract only; and
7. Provide mentee businesses technical assistance in obtaining bid, payment, and performance bonding for contracts that are not mentoring program contracts, for which such businesses are otherwise qualified.
d. If the total number of qualified mentee businesses that respond to a competition and are considered capable of meeting the specifications and terms of the invitation to compete is less than three, or if the mentoring program agency determines that acceptance of the best offer will result in the payment of an unreasonable price, the agency shall reject all offers and withdraw the designation of the contract as a mentoring program contract. If the agency withdraws the designation of such contract as a mentoring program contract, the mentee businesses, if any, that made offers shall be notified.
e. A mentor shall provide construction management services to a mentoring program agency in relation to a mentoring program contract and services and assistance to a mentee business, as designated by the mentoring program agency, including but not limited to the following:
1. providing business training in the skills necessary to operate a successful business and to compete for and perform a contract;
2. providing technical assistance to the mentee business to assess the outcome if the mentee business competes for but is not awarded a contract;
3. if the mentoring program contract is awarded to the mentee business, providing guidance, advice, and technical assistance to the mentee business in the performance of the contract; and
4. providing other technical assistance to the mentee business to facilitate learning, training, and resolution of other issues that may arise.
f. Except as provided in subdivision g of this section, any mentoring program agency may promulgate rules implementing the provisions of this section.
g. 1. Notwithstanding any other subdivision of this section, the mayor may authorize any office of the mayor or any department the head of which is appointed by the mayor to promulgate rules implementing the provisions of subparagraphs one, three, five, six and seven of paragraph one of subdivision c of this section; authorizing such office or department to exercise any power set forth under subparagraphs one, three, five, six and seven of paragraph one of subdivision c of this section; authorizing such office or department and the mentoring program agency to jointly manage the performance of any mentoring program contract, with the assistance of the mentor firm providing services pursuant to subdivision e of this section; or combining two or more mentoring programs, which may include the program established under section twelve hundred six of this charter, into a single centralized mentoring program, provided that no provision of this subdivision shall limit the authority of a mentoring program agency to exercise the authority set forth in subparagraph two or four of paragraph one of subdivision c or subdivision d of this section or otherwise limit an agency's authority to establish the specifications for a contract or to award a contract, and provided further that if the program established pursuant to section twelve hundred six of this charter is centralized pursuant to this subdivision, any such rules promulgated pursuant to this paragraph shall apply to such program.
2. If the mayor authorizes an office or department to promulgate rules combining two or more mentoring programs into a single centralized mentoring program pursuant to paragraph one of this subdivision:
(i) such office or department shall by rule establish a goal for the aggregate value of mentoring program contracts awarded by mentoring program agencies participating in such centralized program, which, to the extent consistent with the budget adopted pursuant to chapter ten of this charter, shall be calculated as follows:
(A) for the first full fiscal year following the establishment of such centralized program, fifteen million dollars in contract value; and
(B) for each year of such centralized program following the first full fiscal year of the centralized program, a goal that is twenty-five percent greater than the goal established pursuant to this subparagraph for the preceding year, provided that such annual goal shall not exceed one hundred fifty million dollars in aggregate contract value;
(ii) all mentees participating in a mentoring program that is combined into such centralized program shall be deemed selected for participation in such centralized program;
(iii) all mentees participating in a mentoring program established pursuant to section twelve hundred six of this charter that are small businesses shall be deemed selected for participation in such centralized program, provided that such program established pursuant to section twelve hundred six of this charter is designated as combined into the centralized mentoring program by a rule promulgated pursuant to paragraph one of this subdivision; and
(iv) all mentoring program contracts and contracts let pursuant to section twelve hundred six of this charter for which an invitation to compete is released prior to the effective date of rules promulgated pursuant to paragraph one of this subdivision shall not be subject to such rules.
h. Commencing on October first, two thousand twenty-four, the department shall submit an annual report to the governor, the temporary president of the senate, and the speaker of the assembly that contains the following information for the preceding city fiscal year:
1. the total number and total dollar value of mentoring program contracts from each mentoring program established under this section;
2. a brief description of (i) each project, (ii) agency compliance with mentoring program contract designation procedures, (iii) the type of assistance provided to obtain any surety bond or contract of insurance, and (iv) the type of technical assistance provided in obtaining a bid, payment, or performance bonding for mentoring program contracts from each mentoring program established under this section;
3. mentoring program participation rates;
4. the participation rate of and total dollar value of monies paid to businesses certified as minority or women-owned business enterprises or emerging business enterprises pursuant to section thirteen hundred four of this chapter or those certified as disadvantaged business enterprises pursuant to part twenty-six of title forty-nine of the code of federal regulations or any successor provisions; and
5. the degree to which a centralized mentoring program, established pursuant to subdivision g of this section, has achieved a goal established pursuant to such subdivision.
(2023 N.Y. Laws Ch. 604, 10/25/2023, eff. 2/22/2024)
Editor's note: Pursuant to 2023 N.Y. Laws Ch. 604, § 7, this section expires on February 22, 2034.