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INTERNAL OPERATIONS COMMITTEE

Meeting Date:	10/17/2022
Subject: Small Business Enterprise, Outreach, and Local Program Report for January through June 2022
Submitted For:	Brian M. Balbas, Public Works Director/Chief Engineer
Department:	Public Works
Referral No.:	IOC 22/3 & 22/4
Referral Name:	Small Business Enterprise, Outreach, Local Bid Preference Programs
Presenter:	Cynthia Shehorn, Procurement Services Manager	Contact:	Cynthia Shehorn, 925-957-2495

Information

Referral History:

Contra Costa County values the contributions of small business and developed programs to assist in soliciting and awarding contracts to the SBE community. The Board of Supervisors adopted these programs to enable small and local businesses to compete for a share of the County's purchasing transactions.

The Board of Supervisors has set a goal of awarding at least 50% of eligible product and service dollars to small businesses. The Small Business Enterprise (SBE) Program applies to: (1) County-funded construction contracts of $100,000 or less; (2) purchasing transactions of $100,000 or less; and (3) professional/personal service contracts of $100,000 or less.

The objective of the program is to award at least 50% or more of the total eligible dollar base amounts to SBEs. A Small Business Enterprise, as defined by the California Government Code, Section 14837, Chapter 3.5 must be:

Independently owned and operated business, which is not dominant in its field of operation;
The principal office of which is located in California, the officers of which are domiciled in California, and which together with affiliates, has 100 or fewer employees;
Have average annual gross receipts of fifteen million dollars ($15,000,000) or less over the previous three tax years, or a manufacturer with 100 or fewer employees.

Reporting Requirements
It is the responsibility of each County department to track and compile the data for purchasing activities in order to provide a countywide report to the Board of Supervisors.

The Internal Operations Committee has responsibility for evaluating the semi-annual reports and making recommendations to the Board on program policies and reporting. The Board receives reports in six-month increments, with the last report submitted to the Board for the period ending December 2021. Attachment A constitutes the report due for the period of January 1 – June 30, 2022.

Referral Update:

The table below summarizes the attached department activity on a countywide basis.

January – June 2022

ACTIVITY TYPE:	Total # of ALL Contracts	Total # of SBE Contracts	SBE Percent of Total	Total Dollar Value of ALL Contracts	Total Dollar Value of SBE Contracts	SBE Percent of Total
Professional/Personal Services	207	85	41.1%	$14,801,053	$4,184,261	28.3%
Purchasing Transactions	1026	321	31.3%	$14,751,088	$5,102,177	34.6%
Construction Contracts	0	0	0.0%	0	0	0.0%

While the County did not achieve the 50% goal, this information shows the County directed more than $9.2 million in qualifying transactions to SBE firms during the six-month reporting period, achieving a 28.3% award rate for professional/personal services transactions and a 34.6% award rate for purchasing transactions. There were no construction contracts reported in this period.

It is worth noting that the SBE participation goals of surrounding agencies are typically in the 20-25% range. By that measure, Contra Costa County’s reported activity is just above that threshold for professional/personal services, and well above the range for purchasing transactions. The following departments are to be commended for achieving 50% or more program compliance this reporting period:

Professional/Personal Services: Clerk of the Board, Dept of Child Support Services, District Attorney, Health Services, Library Administration and Public Works

Purchasing Transactions: Conservation & Development, Communications Media, District Attorney, Probation, Public Defender, Public Works, Treasurer – Tax Collector, and Veteran Services

Of particular note, the District Attorney is to be commended for achieving a 100% award rate for qualifying professional services contracts.

Department/Activity

Total # of ALL Contracts

Total # of SBE Contracts

SBE Percent of Total

Total Dollar Value of ALL Contracts

Total Dollar Value of SBE Contracts

SBE Percent of Total

Professional/Personal Svcs

Clerk of the Board

50%

$215,000

$135,000

62.8%

Dept of Child Support Svcs

50%

$153,163

$99,999

65.3%

District Attorney

100%

$35,000

100%

Health Services

108

49.1%

$5,725,317

$3,043,003

53.1%

Library Administration

85.7%

$143,100

$132,600

92.7%

Public Works

50%

$109,700

$103,200

94.1%

Purchasing Transactions

Conservation & Development

85.7%

$212,761

$206,761

97.2%

Communications Media

50%

$73,505

$54,137

73.7%

District Attorney

54.2%

$278,748

$218,132

78.3%

Probation

48.6%

$217,838

$173,943

79.8%

Public Defender

50%

$90,219

$61,425

68.1%

Public Works

147

51.7%

$3,222,493

$1,672,649

51.9%

Treasurer-Tax Collector

30%

$45,020

$25,572

56.8%

Veteran Services

22.2%

$48,920

$39,444

80.6%

E-Outreach Report
In order to encourage the use of small, local, and disadvantaged businesses, the County's E-Outreach Program requires bids and Request for Proposals greater than $10,000 to be solicited online. For this period, there were 46 bids totaling $27,293,989 that fell within the parameters of the program.

The data specific to electronic solicitations is developed and provided by the Purchasing Division of the Public Works Department, and reflects outreach to small, women-owned, minority-owned, local, disabled veteran-owned, and disadvantaged business enterprises. During this reporting period, 46 bids were conducted using the BidSync e-outreach site. Notifications were sent to 626,459 businesses, of which 14.07% are considered small, local, or disadvantaged business enterprises.

E-Outreach January 1, – June 30, 2022
Number of Solicitations	46
Total Notifications	626,459
Dollar Value	$27,293,989

BUSINESS CATEGORY		Notifications	Percentage of Total
MBE - Minority Business Enterprise		15,102	2.40%
WBE - Women Business Enterprise		13,555	2.10%
SBE - Small Business Enterprise		48,002	7.70%
LBE - Local Business Enterprise		2,066	0.30%
DVBE - Disabled Veteran Business Enterprise		430	0.07%
DBE – Disadvantaged Business Enterprise		9,125	1.50%
Total		88,280	14.07%

Local Business Preference
For opportunities exceeding $25,000, the Local Business Preference Program allows for local businesses to submit a new offer if within 5% of the lowest bidder. There were no instances of the Bid Preference utilized in this reporting period.

Dollar Value Awarded to Local and Bay Area Businesses
The dollar value of Purchase Orders issued for the period was $20,558,730. The dollar value awarded to Contra Costa County businesses was 17.25% or $3.5 million. The value awarded to other Bay Area businesses was 15.62% or $3.2 million. This represents Contra Costa County’s contribution to the local economy.

Contra Costa County	$3,542,835	17.25%
Other Bay Area Counties	$3,219,407	15.62%
Other	$13,796,488	67.13%
Total	$20,558,730	100.00%

Conclusion
The County has demonstrated continued commitment to achieving the 50% goal for participation by SBE firms in contract and purchasing activities. While the data for some departments is below this threshold, departments are showing some interest in increasing the percentage of awarded contracts. Instruction is being provided on the search features of the purchasing system, to assist in identifying businesses in the small, local, women, minority, veteran, and disadvantaged business categories.

Recommendation(s)/Next Step(s):

ACCEPT the Small Business Enterprise, Outreach, and Local Bid Preference Programs Report, reflecting departmental program data for the period January 1 through June 30, 2022.

Attachments
SBE, Outreach and Local Bid Preference Rpt Jan -Jun 2022