Disabled veterans and small businesses in Chula Vista now have a way to compete with large contractors when vying for city contracts greater than $100,000. The decision to provide them an opportunity to participate was made by the City Council this month at the request of the Veterans Advisory Commission.\u00a0The council also created a rule that any contractor submitting bids on city contracts must make a good faith effort to use disabled veteran subcontractors and\/or small businesses for 3 percent of contracts.\u00a0It\u2019s through this program that the city is hoping to address some of the unique challenges these communities face and if possible level the playing field.\u00a0The Veterans Advisory Commission gives advice to the City Council on matters directly affecting veterans.<\/p>\n
The city\u2019s finance director, David Bilby, said the program would essentially require contractors seeking public bids larger than $100,000 to work with small businesses and disabled veteran businesses.\u00a0\u201cWe will have the administrative procedures in place for the selection of contractors that are doing business with those entities,\u201d he said.\u00a0City staff is expected to work with the commission to encourage continued business with the city on contracts under $100,000.<\/p>\n
The proposed disabled veterans and small business programs are modeled after many in the state, including those in San Diego County.\u00a0The policy creates a 3 percent participation goal for contractors submitting bids, and it applies to all major contractors, with certain exceptions, who intend to use subcontractors.\u00a0The efforts must be documented, reviewed and verified by the city. Bidders failing to make good faith efforts will be considered non-responsive and disqualified from an award.\u00a0\u201cI think this is a great opportunity for us to help disabled veterans,\u00bb Councilman John McCann said. \u201cThey have done so much for our country, for us, and we need to make sure that they have the opportunity to do business with the city.<\/p>\n
This former NFL player created a specialty gym for disabled veterans.<\/strong><\/p>\n