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The city should look to the Federal Programs for more guidance.  The SBA does a great job of working with Small Business's.

Mikecatworks

posted 3 years, 4 months ago
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Stephen,

I completely agree with your statements.  I have worked with the City of Portland and they of all agencies do a great job of reaching out to small business's.  The fact is the "low bid" process especially in the current economy is failure waiting to happen.  The federal government often uses the "Best Value" factor.  I know that the City of Portland uses this but only on much larger projects like the "Balch Conduit" project.  Why cant this be done for the small business's as well in this program?  The fact is that no matter what any person with a little luck and a little knowledge can get their contractors license in Or.  I think that there is a tremendous push to use minority or women owned business's.  In saying that just because of your gender or color of you skin doesn't make you qualified to be a contractor.  Proper training and education and life experience give you those things.  But like with anything else in life, it takes hard work and lots of effort with a good team to pull of a successful project.  Had there been more room in my post I would have loved to talk more about this subject.  I truly believe that many business's have succeeded through this program but just like in life there will always be those who fall short.  To those I say, learn from your mistakes and get back up and keep on trying.  There is always hope for those who don't give up.  

Mikecatworks

posted 3 years, 4 months ago
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We are 5 year old company that is minority owned in SW Washington.  We compete at the local as well as the federal level for government contracts.  2009 was our best year to date.  I don't feel that my race or sex plays much of a role in my success.  I get up every morning and hit the streets looking and working on building my business.  The program that the City of Portland has come under fire for we can not compete due to the size standards.  One thing that I have noticed is that when someone says minority owned it often brings up negative thoughts.  I have heard countless times where agencies were burned by MBE's.  This stereotype is hard to overcome and often makes our job tougher to convince our clients that we are qualified to do a quality job.  It our #1 goal to give our clients the best value for there money.  I understand the process of owning and managing a business is very difficult proposition.  It takes up most of all your time and energy.  You must be dedicated and steadfast in your efforts.  I applaud any agency that works to help small business's no matter what the race, creed, or color.  Lets face it our country was built with small business's.  I think that the city's responsibility is to help business's become successful by allowing them to compete for projects that they are capable of doing.  Just because you have a program that allows them to compete doesn't make it successful.  Often times firms are hired just to meet a so called goal.  What good is the goal if the firms fail in trying to reach them.  Any firm competing for public contracts right now better be willing to do it at a loss.  The projects cost what they cost.  People need to remember if you want to stay in business you must produce a quality product as well a quality profit.  I applaud the city for trying to help small business's but there needs to be some real change to this program.  I just think that the city could just do a better job at screening the contractors they use.  Have them produce proposals that showcase their talents.  A proper screening program would allow more good companies succeed and the companies that fail the process can work till they can pass the test.  Besides who wants to hire someone just because of there race or sex.  Isn't that discrimination???

posted 3 years, 4 months ago
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