Sacramento County Re-Vamps Small Business Preference Program

Small and local businesses now have a greater advantage when bidding for lucrative county contracts.

The County of Sacramento announced sweeping changes to the Procurement Opportunities Program on Tuesday that will allow more small and local businesses to take on county service contracts. Changes include a “more robust” online vendor registration process that will allow businesses to automatically receive bid opportunity notifications, as well as increasing allowed contracting from the existing goods and services to include non-professional services and small construction contracts.

In addition, the new program will eliminate the need for multiple quotes if a contract under $5,000 is awarded to certified micro-business located in Sacramento, El Dorado, Placer, Yolo, Sutter or Yuba counties. When multiple quotes are solicited, small and local businesses will now receive up to a 5 percent bid preference over other bidders. Small businesses can now bid on bigger contracts, too; contract limits have been increased from $100,000 to $250,000.

The Sacramento County Board of Supervisors approved the changes on Tuesday with the goal of spurring economic growth in the area. The Procurement Opportunities Program was established in 2002 to help small businesses become involved in county contracting, and the county has set a goal of using small businesses for at least 25 percent of its procurement and contracting budget. A message left with Sacramento County Procurement about the program changes has not been immediately returned.