Change in SBE Policy from Sheltered Market Program to SBE Local Market Component

Procuring goods and services in a timely manner is critical to the operations of Pinellas County. Equally important are the opportunities that can be made available to the County’s SBE program through the procurement process. It is important to find a balance between timeliness of procurring goods and services and facilitating opportunities to the sheltered market through the procurement process. In an effort to accelerate the current process, the Purchasing & Risk Division is making a change, effective June 26, 2023, from the County’s sheltered market program to an SBE local market component as follows: SBE Local Market Component Small business enterprises shall be given preference of award on contracts $5,000 to $100,000 to the lowest responsive, responsible quoter that meets the Pinellas County SBE Program criteria at time of award, at the discretion of the Board or designated representative. Preference will be given to SBEs that submit within the first five (5) business days of the solicitation. If a responsive and responsible SBE submits a quote after the first 5 (five) business days, they shall receive a 5% preference above open market pricing. SBEs shall be awarded economically feasible contracts or portions of contracts. Additionally, the Purchasing & Risk Division will conduct a virtual vendor open house on July 27, 2023, from 9:00 a.m. until 10:30 a.m via Microsoft Teams and will review these changes. You are invited to join the meeting by clicking this link Teams link to join Purchasing open house , or locate the meeting invite by going to OpenGov Procurement , and after logging in, put open house in the search field and select view post, which will contain the meeting invite. We look forward to seeing you at the vendor open house and thank you for your continued participation.