Becoming a Supplier

To become a diversity supplier to Staples, your business must be at least 51% unconditionally and directly owned by one or more socially and economically disadvantaged individuals who are citizens of the United States, except for businesses owned by Indian tribes, Alaska Native corporations, Native Hawaiian organizations or community development corporations. Recognized minority groups as defined by the federal government are as follows:

African-American: A U.S. citizen having origins in any of the Black racial groups of Africa.
Asian-Indian: A U.S. citizen whose origins are from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
Asian-Pacific: A U.S. citizen whose origins are from Japan, China, Taiwan, Korea, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, the Philippines, Samoa, Guam, the U.S. Trust Territories of the Pacific or the Northern Marianas.
Hispanic: A U.S. citizen of true born Hispanic heritage, from any of the Spanish-speaking areas of Latin America or the following regions: Mexico, Central America, South America and the Caribbean Basin only.
Native American: A person who is an American Indian, Eskimo, Aleut or Native Hawaiian, and regarded as such by the community of which the person claims to be a part. Native Americans must be documented members of a North American tribe, band or otherwise organized group of native people who are indigenous to the continental U.S. and proof can be provided through a Native American Blood Degree Certificate (i.e., tribal registry letter, tribal roll register number).
Certified 8(a) Firms (8A)
Small Disadvantaged Businesses (SDB)
Women-Owned Businesses (WBE)
HubZone Businesses
Veteran-Owned Businesses (VO)
Service Disabled Veteran-Owned Businesses (SDVOB)
Small Businesses
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Businesses (LGBT)

Certification Requirements

Companies must have verifiable certifications by a qualified independent third-party certifying agency (i.e., NMSDC affiliate councils, WBENC, SBA).

For minority-owned businesses, visit www.nmsdc.org
For women-owned businesses, visit www.wbenc.org
For small businesses, small disadvantaged businesses, veteran-owned or HUBZone small businesses, visit www.sba.gov/certifications
For registration with the Central Contractor Registration (CCR), visit www.bpn.gov/CCR/scripts/index.html

Supplier Diversity Selection Process

Complete and submit the online application at http://app.suppliergateway.com/staples. Please do not fax or mail the application to our Store Support Center, as this will cause unnecessary delay and possible inaction in reviewing your Supplier Diversity application.
Within 72 hours of submission, your information will be forwarded to the appropriate category manager/buyer for consideration as a potential supplier.
Within 30 days the category manager/buyer will provide a response regarding their level of interest in your product or service offering. Note: You will receive responses for each business unit within Staples to which you apply as they are all typically assigned to different category managers/buyers. If an opportunity exists, the category managers/buyers will request more specific information about your business.
Please note that Staples has decentralized purchasing practices and each business unit makes its own decisions. Thus, if your product or service has been approved by one business unit, it does not mean you will gain approval from another.
The category manager/buyer will then make a final decision from the list of all available suppliers.

Note: You may check the site with the login/password provided to you to follow the status of your application.