The Port of Los Angeles Small Business Enterprise (SBE)
Program awarded $97.6 million in contracts to small businesses during the
2012/2013 fiscal year, according to newly released data.
Of the $97.6 million awarded in FY 2012/13, $30.8 million
went to minority-owned small businesses and $21.6 million to those owned by
women, according to port figures.
The port’s SBE Program was created in 2007 to provide
additional opportunities for small businesses to participate in professional
service and construction contracts. Of the $1.3 billion in total contracts
awarded by the Port of LA over the last six fiscal years, $431.5 million, or 32
percent, has gone to small business enterprises.
While other Los Angeles City departments mandate that a
contract awardee show a “good faith effort” to include small, minority or
women-owned businesses, the port makes it a requirement that contract awardees
include SBE participation.
Annually, the port sets an overall goal of 25 percent SBE
participation, of which five percent is designated for Very Small Business
Enterprises (VSBEs), a stipulation added in 2010. VSBEs are firms with
three-year average gross revenues of less than $3.5 million. The port
establishes SBE/VSBE requirements for each contract that it awards, except in
the case of some federally funded contracts that do not allow mandatory SBE
requirements.
In 2011, the port further expanded its SBE program to accept
Disabled-Veteran Business Enterprise (DVBE) certifications, awarding two
contracts to DVBEs that year totaling $154,000. In FY 2012/13, the port awarded
five contracts for a total of $7.7 million to DVBEs.
