Meeting_Body
EXECUTIVE MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE
JUNE 20, 2018
Subject
SUBJECT: SMALL BUSINESS PRIME PROGRAM UPDATE
Action
ACTION: RECEIVE AND FILE
Heading
RECOMMENDATION
Title
RECEIVE AND FILE update regarding the Small Business Prime Program (SB Prime).
Issue
ISSUE
In January 2014, the Board approved Metro's set-aside program (SB Prime) to help small businesses compete for contracts as primes by "setting aside" specific purchases for exclusive competition among Small Business Enterprise (SBE) firms. This includes FTA funded competitively negotiated contracts, sealed bids and public works (RFPs and IFBs) meeting threshold criteria, as well as non-federal competitively negotiated procurements (RFPs). For the first time, SBEs were able to bid on Metro's prime contracting opportunities without having to compete with larger, more established firms.
During the 2016 California State Legislative Session (and effective January 1, 2017) Metro successfully obtained approval through the passage of AB 2690 (Ridley-Thomas), to expand the program to include non-federally funded low-bid procurements (IFBs).
This report provides an update on the Program's progress to date.
Discussion
DISCUSSION
Objective and Impact
Metro originally adopted the SBE set-aside program as an element to foster small business participation, fulfilling the requirement set forth in 49 CFR ? 26.39 to utilize race-neutral measures to achieve Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) participation to the maximum feasible extent.
SB Prime has been vital toward increasing small business participation and competition in Metro's contracting policy, and has demonstrated measurable growth each year since the program was launched:
* From program inception through Fiscal Year (FY) 2018 to date, Metro has awarded more than $83 million in SBE set-aside awards, including substantial fiscal year-over-year growth since 2014 (see Table A).
* The average SBE commitment for all SB Prime awards has been 98...
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