This Article is intended to bolster the County’s economic growth and support the creation and retention of employment opportunities within the County by establishing a ten percent (10%) preference for the award of a County contract to a County-based business.

In this Article, the following words have the meanings indicated. Broker means a person that provides goods or services (other than real estate, investment, or insurance sales) on a pass-through basis as: (a) a supplier of goods who: (1) does not own, operate, or maintain a place of business in which goods of the general character required under the contract are kept in stock in the regular course of business; (2) does not regularly assume physical custody or possession of goods of comparable character to those offered to the County; or (3) exclusively acts as a middleman in the sale of goods to the County; or (b) a supplier of services who does not regularly maintain the capability, capacity, training, experience, and applicable regulatory licensing to directly perform the principal tasks of a contract with the County and must provide the principal tasks through a subcontract with a third party. Director means the Director of the Office of Procurement or the Director’s designee. Local Business means a business, other than a broker, that: (a) has its principal place of business in the County; (b) meets criteria established by method 2 regulations; and (c) is certified by the Director as a Local Business under the provisions of this Article.

This Article applies to all procurement purchases solicited under Sections 11B-9 or 11B-10.

(a) Eligibility. To be eligible for local business preference points, a business must affirm and provide supporting documentation to the Director to show that it is a local business as defined in Section 11B-93. The Director may investigate and verify the information provided on the application, as necessary, and must certify a business as a local business for the purposes of this Article. (b) Certification. Preference points must be applied only to a business: (1) that has a valid local business certification when the business submits a bid or proposal; or (2) who has applied for local business certification before the time to submit a bid or proposal has passed. (c) Notice. The Director must publicly notify businesses of prospective procurement opportunities. (d) Competitive sealed bids. The Director must adjust the bid of a Local Business who submits a bid in response to an Invitation for Bid issued under Section 11B-9: (1) by reducing the bid price(s) by a factor of 10%, but not to exceed $200,000, for the purposes of evaluation and award only; or (2) if a Local Business is eligible for a reciprocal preference pursuant to Section 11B-9(j), the bid of the Local Business must be adjusted by that reciprocal preference if it exceeds the 10% preference factor. The Local Business preference points authorized under this Article must not be combined with reciprocal preference points authorized under Section 11B-9(j). (e) Competitive sealed proposals. The Director must include an evaluation factor awarding additional points for a proposal from a Local Business worth 10% of the total available points in a Request for Proposals issued under Section 11B-10. (f) Waiver. The Director may waive a bid or proposal preference under this Section in a solicitation if the Director finds that a preference would result in the loss to the County of Federal or State funds.

The Executive must adopt regulations, by Method 2, to implement this Article. The regulations must include: (a) Certification requirements for a business to qualify as a Local Business; (b) Procedures to certify, re-certify, or decertify a Local Business; and (c) Procedures that will enable the Director to monitor compliance with the Local Business Preference Program.

By October 31st of each year, the Director must report to the Council on the Local Business Preference Program. This report must include the number, solicitation type and dollar amount of contracts that were awarded pursuant to the Program.

(a) A person must not: (1) fraudulently obtain or retain, attempt to obtain or retain, or aid another person in fraudulently obtaining or retaining, or attempting to obtain or retain, certification as a Local Business; (2) willfully make a false statement to a County official or employee for the purpose of influencing the certification of an entity as a Local Business; or (3) fraudulently obtain, attempt to obtain, or aid another person in fraudulently obtaining, or attempting to obtain, public monies to which the person is not entitled under this Article. (b) A violation of this Article: (1) is a class A violation; and (2) may disqualify the violator from doing business with the County for up to 2 years.