Pima County's breaks for small business may grow

Soon, small businesses based here, regardless of who owns them, could get the same preferences.

The move to develop a small- business-enterprise program came out of a study conducted earlier this year of the city's and the county's preference programs.

One of the study's recommendations, adopted by the county Board of Supervisors, was to develop a preference program that would benefit local small businesses.

The preference program doesn't guarantee that minority- or women-owned businesses will get contracts, but it does give qualifying firms some extra points when their bids are ranked by county officials.

And when certain types of contracts go to large firms, a certain percentage of the subcontractors have to be minority- or women-owned businesses.

The small-business-enterprise program would work much the same way.

Hope Sikora, division manager for vendor relations and the minority- and women-owned business program with the county, said she is using a program the city of Phoenix has been using since 1999 as a model.

She hopes to have the guidelines in place sometime next year. Tucson has received a similar recommendation, but the City Council hasn't taken up the issue yet.

Sikora said the county is waiting to see what the city will do because it makes sense to work together on one certification process for both entities.

To qualify for the preference, the business would have to have a net worth of less than $750,000 and have its primary location in Pima County.

Sikora said she does not believe an additional preference program will raise costs for the county by giving more business to small firms with fewer economies of scale. If anything, she said, it may lower costs by increasing the range of firms bidding for work and ranking high enough to get contracts.

While all businesses currently certified as minority- or women-owned will also be considered small businesses, Sikora stressed the program will not replace the existing program.

The disparity study conducted earlier this year found the county was doing a good job in some areas — for example, in construction work, Hispanic-owned firms actually got a larger share of contracts than the program goals indicated. But minority- and women-owned firms still lagged in many areas.

Clarence Boykins, president of the Tucson Black Chamber of Commerce and a member of the city's advisory committee on minority- and women-owned businesses, said he did not have a problem with developing a preference program that benefited small-business owners, regardless of race, provided neither the city nor the county stops striving to include more business owners from disadvantaged groups.

"Have we decided why we aren't succeeding in what we've done so far?" Boykins said. "Is it open and fair for everyone who wants to compete? There are a series of things we should ask before moving ahead."

Tucson Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce President Jack Camper said creating an incentive for small businesses is a good idea.

"Tucson businesses are struggling, like anywhere, and anything that helps them is a good idea," he said.