The Port of Long Beach this week is celebrating National Small Business Week and its own 10 years of working to encourage small companies to compete for contracts and other opportunities with the City of Long Beach Harbor Department.
Last year the Harbor Department spent more than $230 million with small – and very small – businesses for a utilization rate of 25.7 percent. Given the success of the Small Business Enterprise (SBE) Program, the Board of Harbor Commissioners has set the bar a little higher for 2015 and 2016 – 27 percent.
By supporting small and very small businesses – many of which are local – the Port is increasing competition and giving all businesses an opportunity for success. Since the SBE Program’s inception 10 years ago, small and very small businesses have received hundreds of millions of dollars in payments for products and services rendered, either as prime contractors or subcontractors.
“It’s the Harbor Department’s duty to provide meaningful opportunities to the small companies out there. They are often local and with their success they can expand and provide healthy competition to the big firms,” said Harbor Commission President Doug Drummond.
May 4-8, 2015, is National Small Business Week – proclaimed by the President of the United States since 1963 – to recognize the critical contributions of America’s entrepreneurs and small business owners. In California alone there are more than 3.4 million small businesses. Half of all Californians working in the private sector are employed by small businesses and studies have shown that small businesses help drive economic growth and competition for the state of California.