TITLE
Recommendation to receive and file a report and presentation on the City’s plan to recruit and include Long Beach businesses in City of Long Beach procurement opportunities. (Citywide)
DISCUSSION
At its meeting on August 9, 2016, the City Council asked the City Manager to create a comprehensive plan to recruit and include Long Beach businesses in all City of Long Beach purchasing opportunities. The City Council also requested that staff benchmark the City’s efforts against those of other public agencies.
Staff has conducted a review of the City’s current efforts to recruit and include Long Beach businesses in all City purchasing opportunities. Staff has also completed an internet-based benchmarking survey looking at Los Angeles, Oakland, Pasadena, Sacramento, Santa Monica, Anaheim, San Francisco, and San Diego, which includes all cities identified by the City Council at its August 9, 2016, meeting. This research considered local preference policies, local business outreach efforts, and program marketing. Staff has also identified steps the City expects to take to further strengthen ongoing efforts.
As confirmed by benchmarking research, the City has a comprehensive program that includes many of the practices of other California agencies with strong local business-related efforts. It also includes both direct and indirect outreach and assistance to local vendors and businesses to support their inclusion in City purchasing opportunities and to grow the Long Beach economy without adversely impacting the cost of City purchases. The City’s practices are both reflective of, and coordinated with, our specific regulatory environment. Examples of the regulatory environment include that the City is required by the City Charter to award to the lowest responsive and responsible bidder; that the funding source or type/scope of work may require contractors to comply with additional hiring and reporting requirements (some of which may benefit local businesses and emp...
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