Public contracts: small business participation.

The Small Business Procurement and Contract Act requires the Director of General Services and the heads of other state agencies that enter into contracts for the provision of goods, services, and information technology and for the construction of state facilities to establish goals for the participation of small businesses in these contracts, to provide for small business preference in the award of these contracts, to give special consideration and special assistance to small businesses, and, whenever possible, to make awards to small businesses, as specified. This bill would require a state agency, as defined, to establish and achieve an annual goal that at least 25% of the procurement activities administered by that agency include a small business participant, to ensure that the agency's procurement practices are administered in a manner that supports the agency in meeting or exceeding the goal, and to report to the director statistics regarding small business participation in the agency's procurement activities. The bill would require the Department of General Services to monitor the progress of the agencies toward meeting the goal and to provide this information to the Office of Small Business Advocate. The bill would also require a state agency that has not achieved the goal by the close of the fiscal year to submit a corrective action plan to the department within 45 days. The bill would require the department, in collaboration with the Office of Small Business Advocate, to undertake reasonable means to assist agencies in improving small business participation in their contracting. The bill would also require the Office of Small Business Advocate to collaborate with the department to cooperatively enhance the state's small business program by helping small businesses access capital and other financial resources necessary to successfully fulfill state contracts. The bill would define "state agency" to mean all state public entities that receive state public funding, including the California State University, the University of California, and the California Community Colleges. In calculating the total amount of contracting covered by this bill, the California State University, the University of California, and the California Community Colleges would only be required to meet the 25% goal for state funding used in contracting.