OC Supervisor Andrew Do and Chairwoman Lisa Bartlett Spearhead Program to Boost Local Small Businesses

Local Small Business Preference Policy

Orange County is making it easier for local small businesses to do business with the county.
 
Starting September 1, 2019, Orange County-based small businesses will be first in line as they compete for hundreds of millions of dollars in contracts issued by the county government.
 
“We’re making it easier for small businesses to do business with the county,” said OC Supervisor Andrew Do, a former small business owner. “This policy keeps Orange County tax dollars in Orange County. Our goal is to create an open and accessible process that delivers the best value for taxpayers.”
 
OC Supervisor Andrew Do and Chairwoman Lisa Bartlett updated the county’s procurement process to engage local small businesses and expand opportunities for minority and women-owned businesses. County supervisors unanimously approved the first-ever Local Small Business Preference Program at its August 13th board meeting.
 
“We are always striving to make Orange County a great place to live, work, and play,” said Chairwoman Bartlett. “This addition to our procurement process will give our local and small businesses more opportunities to work directly with the County by providing services and products that further enhance the Orange County economy, producing local jobs and adding to our quality of life.”
 
Orange County joins numerous other governments in adopting a preference policy for procurements – Los Angeles, San Diego, Riverside, San Bernardino, Sacramento, and Imperial Counties are some of the many that offer preference programs in their procurement policies. Orange County oversees a $6 billion budget covering public safety, parks, homeless services, mental health programs, child protective services, and many more areas.
 
“By working with OC small businesses, we’re reinvesting our tax dollars back into our community, creating more job opportunities and continued economic prosperity for Orange County,” said Supervisor Do.  
 
According to a report from the U.S. Small Business Administration released last year, 3.9 million small business in California created jobs for over 7.0 million employees. As the third largest populated county in California, and the sixth largest in the country, by 2011, Orange County had 86,473 small businesses registered.
 
For more information, contact Supervisor Andrew Do’s office at 714-834-3110, or email Chris.Wangsaporn@ocgov.com.