(1) Purpose. The City is committed to ensuring opportunities for local Small Business Enterprises ("SBEs") located within the Toledo Market Area to contract with the City for the provision of construction services, professional services, goods and other services. The Small Business Reserve Program is intended to further the City's compelling interest in stimulating economic development through the growth and development of SBEs, and to ensure that the City is neither an active or passive participant in marketplace discrimination, and to promote equal opportunity for all segments of the contracting community.
(2) The Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and the Commissioner of Purchases and Supplies in consultation with Department Directors may designate certain City procurements as small business reserve procurement opportunities for competitive bidding restricted to Small SBEs certified under this Chapter.
(A) Eligible procurements for the Reserve Program may include proposed solicitation of construction, architecture & engineering, or professional services, and other services or goods that are estimated to be contracted at a cost of between ten thousand dollars ($10,000) and seventy-five thousand dollars ($75,000), and where such inclusion in the Reserve Program would not be in conflict with applicable state or federal law or grant funding restrictions.
(B) Reserve Program designation may be made only when there is a reasonable expectation that bids will be obtained from at least three responsible SBEs and that the award will be made at a fair market price.
(C) The Reserve Program is not intended to break down into component elements individual purchases or projects that are important to be bid as a single project for purposes of coordination and effective implementation or delivery.
(D) The Commissioner of Purchases and Supplies and the Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion may agree to exclude any procurement from the Reserve Program at their joint discretion given these parameters and the best interests of the City.
(3) To be eligible for award of a Reserve Program procurement contract, a certified SBE must directly perform a certain percentage of work under the contract. The Commissioner of Purchases and Supplies and the Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion may determine the minimum percentage of the work to be completed directly and include such in the terms of the bid request or request for proposals.
(A) Minimums may not be less than the following:
(a) At least fifty (50) percent of a services contract cost for personnel must be performed by the SBE prime contractor's employees.
(b) At least fifteen (15) percent of the cost of the general or heavy construction contract, not including cost of materials shall be performed by the SBE prime contractor with its employees. For special trade construction, such as plumbing, electrical or tile work, this requirement is twenty-five (25) percent.
(c) At least fifty (50) percent of the cost of manufacturing, not including the cost of materials shall be performed by the SBE prime contractor.
(Ord. 238-23. Passed 5-30- 23.)