Paul D. Larson links the establishment of supplier diversity concerns to the American civil rights movement in the 1960s.
[7] A wider categorization including women, minority, disabled veteran, and/or LGBT business enterprises (WMDVLGBTBE) is referenced in Californian supplier diversity requirements.
[13] When the target was increased, the Association of General Contractors (AGC) sued the state for failing to release documents via New York's Freedom of Information Law (FOIL).
In New York in 2018, Eastern Building & Restoration was charged for fraudulently receiving over $1 million from public construction contracts by representing itself as an MBE during the years 2012 - 2014.
The handbook was supported by Supplier Diversity Europe, a business-led initiative which at that time operated in the UK, France and Germany, along with the Migration Policy Group and the Economic and Social Research Council.
[19] The slower pace in adopting supplier diversity programmes in Europe, compared to the United States, was also acknowledged at the World Economic Forum in 2020.