In today’s evolving industry landscape, diversity and inclusion are not just buzzwords, they are driving forces behind innovation, collaboration, and sustainable business growth. For public agencies, municipalities, and private developers alike, choosing the right engineering partner is about more than technical excellence. It’s about aligning with partners who share your values, contribute to your goals, and helping you meet broader social and regulatory objectives.
As a WBE-certified civil engineering firm, Van Cleef is proud to bring those advantages to our clients every day. Our certification not only reflects who we are as a company but also strengthens the value and opportunities we deliver through every project we undertake.
What It Means to Be WBE Certified
A Women Business Enterprise (WBE) certification is an official recognition that a business is at least 51% owned, operated, and controlled by one or more women. The certification is verified through a rigorous review process that confirms management control, operational authority, and financial independence.
This designation is issued by accredited organizations such as the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC) and recognized by federal, state, and local agencies nationwide. For our clients, this certification serves as a mark of credibility, proof that Van Cleef has met the high standards set by an independent body.
But beyond recognition, WBE certification carries real-world benefits that extend far beyond our company walls. It translates directly into added value for our clients, helping them achieve compliance goals, gain competitive advantages, and strengthen community impact.
Helping Clients Meet Supplier Diversity Goals
Many of today’s public and private projects include supplier diversity goals designed to ensure fair representation of women-, minority-, and veteran-owned businesses. For municipalities and public agencies, these requirements are often tied to state and federal funding. For private developers and corporations, supplier diversity aligns with internal DE&I (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) initiatives and corporate social responsibility commitments.
By partnering with a WBE-certified engineering firm like Van Cleef, clients can directly contribute to these goals. Including our team on a project helps them fulfill mandated participation targets and demonstrate measurable progress toward inclusive procurement. Whether we serve as a prime consultant or as part of a larger project team, our certification allows clients to report meaningful engagement with a certified diverse partner, without sacrificing quality, experience, or technical capability.
Strengthening RFP Competitiveness
For many projects, especially those funded by government agencies, working with a certified WBE firm can enhance a proposal’s competitiveness during the RFP process. Agencies often assign points for diversity participation or maintain set-aside contracts exclusively for certified firms.
When clients team up with Van Cleef, they not only gain access to our full range of engineering, surveying, transportation and water/wastewater services, they also strengthen their bid packages with documented diversity participation. Our WBE certification can help clients earn additional scoring points in evaluation categories such as community engagement, social impact, or subcontracting diversity.
In other words, working with a certified firm doesn’t just fulfill a checkbox, it can make the difference between a winning proposal and a missed opportunity.
A Certified Partner You Can Trust
WBE certification requires ongoing documentation and periodic review to maintain active status. This process ensures that certified firms remain in full compliance with the ownership and management standards required by the certifying agency.
For clients, this means confidence. Partnering with us means you’re working with a firm that has been independently verified for accountability, transparency, and ethical business practices. Our clients know they can depend on us not only for engineering excellence, but also for consistency, integrity, and professionalism across every phase of a project.
Supporting Local Economies and Community Impact
When clients work with WBE-certified businesses, they help strengthen local economies and promote inclusive growth. Supporting women-owned firms contributes to job creation, leadership diversity, and economic equity in the communities where we all live and work.
At Van Cleef, we take pride in not only delivering high-quality land development services, road and highway design, construction inspection, water resources, and GIS services, but also in playing an active role in our community. Our certification reinforces that commitment, ensuring that every project we take on has a positive ripple effect, supporting opportunities for women in engineering, and advancing a more equitable industry overall.
More Than a Certification — A Commitment to Excellence
While WBE certification opens doors to new opportunities, our success has always been built on the same foundation: technical expertise, client service, and trust. Our team of civil engineers, certified inspectors, landscape architects, planners, land surveyors and geospatial experts brings decades of experience across municipal, transportation, utility, and land development projects.
We combine the personal attention of a medium-sized business with the capacity and depth of a multi‐disciplined consulting firm, a balance that allows us to meet complex project requirements while maintaining agility and responsiveness. Our WBE certification simply underscores what we’ve always believed: that diversity and excellence go hand in hand.
Partner With a WBE-Certified Engineering Leader
At Van Cleef, we’re proud to combine our long-standing reputation for technical excellence with our WBE certification, helping clients achieve their project goals while supporting diversity and inclusion in the industry.
To learn more about how our WBE certification can benefit your next project, contact our team today or visit www.vancleefengineering.com.
