Our Supplier Diversity Program complements the CVS Caremark commitment to sound business practices and social responsibility in the communities we serve and recognizes the critical role diverse-owned businesses play in our continued success and in providing outstanding service and solutions to our customers and clients. CVS Caremark’s corporate culture encourages support of the program to help ensure that all diverse businesses are given a fair opportunity to do business with us.
In order to qualify for our Supplier Diversity Program, the supplier should meet the definition of a Minority Owned, Woman Owned, Veteran or Disabled Veteran Owned, Disadvantaged Owned, LGBT Owned, HUBZone Owned, 8(a) Owned Business Enterprise and Small Business Enterprise or be certified by authorizing bodies such as the National Minority Supplier Development Council, Women’s Business Enterprise National Council, Small Business Association or by a recognized government agency.
We spent more than $128 million within the diverse supply chain in 2011 and we are dedicated to continuing to develop procurement opportunities with diverse suppliers.
We have also taken our Supplier Diversity Program to a new level by implementing a Tier II Diverse Supplier Program. In addition to monitoring our purchases to ensure we have diverse suppliers providing quality goods and services (Tier I), we now monitor our large valued suppliers to ensure the inclusion of diverse suppliers within their own supply chain (Tier II). This further illustrates that CVS Caremark is not only committed to the use of diverse suppliers in our organization, but also to doing business with suppliers who are committed to the use of diverse suppliers in their own supply chains as well.
In 2011 this program was further enhanced to allow for better tracking of how much is spent within Tier II and in the way the program measures and accounts for diversity in the secondary supply chain. In order to gain more visibility for the CVS Caremark Supplier Diversity Program and identify additional diverse suppliers, the company participated in numerous supplier diversity events in 2011 hosted by the following organizations:
- South Florida Minority Supplier Development Council
- Chicago Minority Supplier Development Council
- Keeping the Promise
- National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce
- Women’s Business Enterprise National Council
- Greater New England Minority Supplier Development Council
- United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce
- National Minority Supplier Development Council
- Cosmopolitan Chamber of Commerce
- City of Chicago Treasury Office
CVS Caremark is a member of the National Minority Supplier Diversity Council (NMSDC), NMSDC Health Care Industry Group, NMSDC Retail Industry Group, Women’s Business Enterprise National Council, Association for Disabled Veterans Business Enterprises, United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce and Keeping the Promise.
In 2011, the Supplier Diversity Program also became more sophisticated with the launch of an online portal that diverse suppliers can use to register with us. High-tech solutions were also deployed to better track and report on spending within the diverse supply chain and on the proper certification of diverse vendors.
Diverse Retail Pharmacy Program
The Diverse Retail Pharmacy Program is a component of the CVS Caremark Supplier Diversity Program. The pharmacy program encourages diverse-owned, independent retail pharmacies to become certified diverse-business enterprises in order to expand and establish potential business opportunities with CVS Caremark. Through this program, CVS Caremark actively seeks to establish business relationships with diverse-owned retail pharmacies that want to sustain and grow their businesses. During 2011, CVS Caremark continued to identify diverse retail pharmacies for inclusion in the program.
