About Us   |   Packages   |   Testimonials  |   Blog   |   Newsletter   |   Press

By James Dowd  - Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Acknowledging the impact of small businesses on the local economy, Memphis Mayor A C Wharton and interim Shelby County Mayor Joe Ford pledged Tuesday to significantly boost the percentages of government contracts awarded to such vendors.

For Wharton, that means a push to award at least a quarter of all city contracts to small businesses. Similarly, Ford wants to increase county contracts to small vendors from 15 percent to 20 percent.  Both hope to achieve the results by the end of this year and maintain those gains in the future.

Their remarks came during a breakfast forum sponsored by the Small Business Chamber of Commerce that drew more than 80 area entrepreneurs. "I plan to be as aggressive as city mayor as when I was county mayor in increasing governmental contracts awarded to small businesses," Wharton said. "I want to make it an easier process and also make some of the insurance requirements for small bidders more realistic." Ford agreed.

"The county awards $69 million annually in contracts for goods and services, and I'd like to see the number of small businesses participating in that process grow," Ford said. "That was one of the primary recommendations by our business development task force."

Currently, the county has 185 certified locally owned small-business vendors, Ford said, but he would like to see that figure doubled. He is encouraging potential bidders to check out the county's site at shelbycountytn.gov to become certified.

While efforts to reach out to small businesses were welcomed by forum attendees, more should be done to streamline the bidding process, said small- business owner Glynnis Anderson-Smith.

Anderson-Smith is partner at Entice Advertising & Design, which is nationally certified by the Women's Business Enterprise National Council and therefore eligible in the state and across the country for certain bidding considerations.  However, the firm can't get the same consideration for city contracts or be identified as a female-owned business for bidding purposes without undergoing additional local certification.

The process is an unnecessary duplication of credentials, Anderson-Smith complained, and requires hundreds of dollars in application fees, extensive paperwork and site visits.  "If I'm certified nationally as a female-owned business, then I shouldn't have to spend the extra time and money to duplicate that certification in Memphis," Anderson-Smith said. "In small business, every penny counts, and if my certification is good enough for the rest of the country, it ought to be good enough for Memphis."

Wharton agreed, saying his office is investigating the issue. While he could not offer a timetable for remedying the situation, he did announce the launch of memphistn.gov/business, a portal at the city's website intended to make the bidding process more transparent.

The site tracks contracts according to amount and category. The site includes dates when contracts are executed or amended and instructions on how to do business with the city, and provides listings of current bids.

And that's much-needed information for area entrepreneurs, said Andre Fowlkes, executive director of the Small Business Chamber.  "From an economic development standpoint, it just makes sense to extend the governmental opportunities to small businesses," Fowlkes said. "It's encouraging to see our top officials making such a concerted effort."