King County (the “County”) recently adopted an ordinance designed to assist small business contractors and suppliers seeking to participate in contracting opportunities with the County. The program, called the “Small Business Accelerator,” was enacted in October 2011. The County defines the Small Business Accelerator as “a competitive procurement method that allows only Certified Small Contractors and Suppliers to compete for designated contracts.” The program is designed to increase participation among King County certified Small Contractors and Suppliers (“SCS”) for certain types of goods and technical service contracts.
The program is currently limited to purchases of $25,000 or more for: (1) goods provided in furtherance of functions by the former Metro agencies of Transit and Wastewater; and (2) technical services for all county departments and offices. Examples of goods that can be procured under the initiative include bus cleaning supplies for Transit and plumbing materials involving in-house repairs for Wastewater. Examples for technical services involving any county department include: welding services, on call hydroseeding services and small equipment repairs.
In order to take advantage of the program, the contractor must be a King County certified SCS. The eligibility criteria for the SCS certification are available online and the application can be downloaded from the County’s website, click here. The Small Business Accelerator ordinance could be viewed in full by clicking here.