A Game Changer For Minority-Owned Businesses
Council Passes New Wealth Building Law For County Businesses
The Prince George’s County Council unanimously approved CB-2-2020, the Local Purchasing Opportunities Act of 2020, which establishes a new preference for businesses owned by county residents (“County-resident owned business preference”) in all competitive public contracting. The new law, passed July 14, will give county-resident owned businesses a 5% bid bonus when competing for the hundreds of millions in annual county contracting. Prince George’s County is home to thousands of minority-owned businesses, especially African-American owned businesses.
Council Member At-Large Mel Franklin, the bill’s lead sponsor, released the following statement:
At-Large County Councilmember Mel Franklin
“The passage of the Local Purchasing Opportunities Act will lead to the investment of millions in public contracting dollars in small and minority businesses owned by Prince George’s County residents, growing our business tax base and creating generational wealth for our own residents. In light of the recent disparity study showing that we spent less than 14% of our public contracting dollars with African-American owned businesses during the past several years, this new law could be a game-changer for increasing economic opportunities for our diverse communities. This legislation is only the first of many steps we will take to address the racial and economic inequities in our county and our society.”
Prince George’s County’s residents are 64% African-American and 19% Latino. A recently released county disparity study showed that, despite the demographics of its population and availability of minority-owned businesses, between 2010 and 2018, Prince George's County only spent just under 14% of its over $2 billion in public contracting dollars with African-American owned businesses. The Local Purchasing Opportunities Act also enables county purchasing officers to reserve contracting opportunities solely for competition by small and minority-owned businesses based in Prince George’s County. CB-2-2020 now goes to County Executive Angela Alsobrooks for her signature. She has endorsed the legislation. A copy of the legislation can be found here: https://tinyurl.com/pgc-cb-2-2020.
