Skip to main content
Contact Us

Mentor Protégé Program

Overview

BEP has created the Mentor Protégé Program to foster the development and mentoring of minority, women, and persons with disabilities-owned businesses and enables experienced firms to provide various types of support to create more equitable access for economic growth while meeting the State’s BEP contracting goals.

Request more information on the Mentor/Protege Program

Program Goals

The Mentor Protégé Program goals are to motivate and encourage established businesses to provide developmental assistance to BEP certified firms; to maximize access to the State’s procurement programs; to foster long-term relationships; to enhance the core capabilities of minority, women, and persons with disabilities-owned businesses; and to increase subcontracting opportunities for those businesses.

Program Expectations

The Mentor must enter into an agreement with a BEP-Certified Firm as their Protégé who will self-perform a commercially useful function under the contract.

The Mentor must provide mandatory capacity-building to the Protégé in the following areas:

  • Provide guidance and oversight to the Protégé
  • Work with the Protégé in developing a Project Management Plan from conception of the project through project completion.
  • Familiarize Protégé with applicable laws, regulations, and rules.
  • Identify Protégé's unique challenges and provide a plan to address each challenge.

Program Qualifications

  • The Protégé must be certified and in Good Standing by the Business Enterprise Program and have the wherewithal and experience to perform under the prime consultant and not act merely as a middle-person, passive conduit, or broker of services.
  • The Protégé should have an established track record as a professional services consultant and expressed interest in expanding its services. The Protégé is eligible to participate in other subcontracting opportunities, outside the parameters of the Mentor Protégé Program, on other contracts. Exclusive agreements between the Mentor and Protégé are prohibited and violate federal antitrust laws.
  • The Protégé must remain a separate and distinct independent business entity from the Mentor.