HOBI is heading to the 2026 WBENC National Conference in Salt Lake City from June 15 to 18, and we are bringing a question that belongs on every procurement leader’s desk: Does your IT asset disposition RFP give any weight to supplier diversity? For chief procurement officers and supplier diversity officers, a WBE-certified ITAD provider is one of the few vendors that can meet both a diversity-spend target and a data-security requirement simultaneously. This preview explains how women’s business enterprise certification factors into procurement scoring, and why pairing it with technical certifications is the cleaner way to de-risk vendor selection.
Why HOBI will be at WBENC 2026
The WBENC National Conference is the largest event of its kind for women-owned businesses and the corporations that buy from them. WBENC, the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council, has certified more than 18,000 women-owned firms since 1997 and counts most of the Fortune 500 among its corporate members. The 2026 program runs from June 15 to 18 in Salt Lake City under the theme Impact, putting certified suppliers and corporate procurement teams in the same room for three days of matchmaking.
HOBI will be there as a women-owned ITAD company. Our CEO, Cathy Hill, co-founded the business more than three decades ago, and HOBI holds active WBE certification alongside the technical credentials that ITAD buyers actually audit. If you are attending, it is a good chance to see what a WBE-certified ITAD partner looks like in practice rather than on a capability statement.
Why supplier diversity belongs in your ITAD RFP
Most large enterprises now carry a supplier diversity goal, often tied to ESG reporting or to customer and government contract requirements. The problem is that diversity spend and core operational categories are usually managed on separate tracks. IT asset disposition tends to sit on the operational track, scored on price, data security, and logistics, with diversity treated as a tie-breaker if it shows up at all.
That split leaves value on the table. When you write supplier diversity into the ITAD RFP itself, one award can count toward a diversity target and a secure-disposition requirement in a single contract. A WBE-certified ITAD provider lets procurement report verified diverse spend without standing up a parallel, lower-stakes vendor just to hit a number. For companies pursuing diverse suppliers on state or federally funded projects, that spend can also carry tax incentives, which strengthens the business case beyond the scorecard.
What WBE certification actually verifies
Supplier diversity only de-risks a deal if the certification behind it means something. WBE certification is a third-party process. To earn it, a company must be at least 51 percent owned, operated, controlled, and managed by one or more women, with a woman holding the highest officer title and documented control of day-to-day operations. WBENC backs that up with a documentation review and a site visit, and the certification must be renewed every year. You can review the current standard on the WBENC certification page.
That rigor matters for procurement because it is the same posture you take toward technical claims. A self-declared diverse supplier is a box on a form. A WBE-certified ITAD vendor has been audited by an independent body, listed in the WBENCLink database, and put through a yearly renewal, which is exactly the kind of evidence a sourcing team can defend to an auditor.
Diversity and technical certifications de-risk ITAD selection together
Diversity certification answers the question of who you are buying from. It says nothing about whether devices get sanitized correctly or whether downstream recyclers are legitimate. That is where technical certifications come in, and why the two belong together in scoring.
For ITAD, the credentials that carry weight are R2v3 for responsible reuse and recycling, NAID AAA for data destruction, ISO 14001 for environmental management, and RIOS for recycling operations. Data sanitization should follow the NIST 800-88 guidelines that most enterprise security teams already reference. HOBI holds R2v3, NAID AAA, ISO 14001, and RIOS, and runs that work through secure facilities in Batavia, Dallas, and Phoenix.
Stack the two, and the risk picture changes. A WBE-certified ITAD partner that also holds R2v3 and NAID AAA gives you verified diverse spend and a defensible chain of custody from the same contract. Take either away, and you accept a gap: a diverse supplier who cannot prove secure data handling, or a technically sound vendor who does nothing for your diversity numbers. A provider that clears both bars closes that gap and supports your diversity and ESG goals without a trade-off.
How to score a WBE-certified ITAD provider in your RFP
You do not need to rebuild your sourcing process to make this work. A few adjustments put supplier diversity on equal footing with the technical requirements.
Add a diversity line to the scorecard and ask for the actual certificate, not a checkbox. Require the WBE certification number and expiration date to confirm it in WBENCLink. Keep the technical bar non-negotiable, with R2v3 and NAID AAA as pass-or-fail gates and a verified downstream chain of custody. Then, weigh diversity meaningfully, not as a 2 percent afterthought, so a WBE-certified ITAD vendor that meets every technical gate is genuinely rewarded for it.
Written this way, the supplier diversity RFP is no longer a separate exercise. It becomes a single scorecard that protects your data, satisfies your environmental policy, and moves your diversity spend number at once. That is the practical case for putting a WBE-certified ITAD provider on your shortlist.
Meet HOBI at WBENC 2026
If your team is rethinking how IT asset disposition gets scored, the conference is a good place to start the conversation. You can see how a WBE-certified ITAD operation runs end to end, from secure logistics and data sanitization through value recovery and recycling, and how the diversity and technical credentials line up against your RFP language.
HOBI has spent more than 30 years as a women-owned ITAD provider, and we work with enterprises that need both certification and operational proof to back it up. Learn more about partnering with a WBE-certified ITAD provider or about doing business with HOBI before the show, and find us in Salt Lake City from June 15 to 18.
Frequently asked questions
What is a WBE-certified ITAD provider?
A WBE-certified ITAD provider is an IT asset disposition company that is at least 51 percent owned and operated by women and certified by a third party, such as WBENC. The WBE credential verifies diverse ownership, while ITAD certifications like R2v3 and NAID AAA verify secure, compliant device disposition. One vendor can satisfy both diversity and data-security requirements.
How does supplier diversity factor into an ITAD RFP?
Procurement teams add a diversity criterion to the RFP scorecard and ask vendors for proof of certification. Writing supplier diversity into the ITAD RFP allows a single award to count toward both a diversity-spend target and a secure-disposition requirement, rather than managing the two on separate vendor tracks and treating diversity as a tie-breaker.
Why pair WBE certification with technical certifications?
WBE certification confirms who you buy from; it does not confirm how devices are sanitized or recycled. Pairing it with R2v3, NAID AAA, and ISO 14001 means a WBE-certified ITAD partner delivers verified, diverse spend and a defensible data-security chain of custody from a single contract, which de-risks the selection.
Is HOBI a women-owned ITAD company?
Yes. HOBI is a women-owned ITAD company led by co-founder and CEO Cathy Hill, with more than three decades of industry experience. HOBI holds active WBE certification along with R2v3, NAID AAA, ISO 14001, and RIOS, and processes assets at secure facilities in Batavia, Dallas, and Phoenix.
Where can I meet HOBI at WBENC 2026?
HOBI will attend the 2026 WBENC National Conference in Salt Lake City from June 15 to 18. It is a chance to see how a WBE-certified ITAD operation handles secure logistics, data sanitization, value recovery, and recycling, and to compare those credentials against your own RFP requirements.