(Washington, DC) - Today, Mayor Muriel Bowser released the Fiscal Year 2023 Small Business Enterprise (SBE) Opportunity Guide, also known as the “Green Book,” and announced the District's most ambitious spending goal with SBEs to date — $1.16 billion.
“The Green Book is about leveraging the District’s procurement power to give more Washingtonians a fair shot,” said Mayor Bowser. “If we are intentional about working with local businesses, we keep DC dollars in DC. We also help those businesses expand; and when they expand, they train and hire more DC residents. And when they train and hire more DC residents, those residents can support their families and reinvest that money back into the District. All of that adds up to a fair shot for more DC residents, and that’s our real goal.”
In 2016, Mayor Bowser created the Green Book to support the District’s small and local businesses, and each year, has increased the spending goal. The FY23 goal is $60 million more than the FY22 goal set last December.
“We are a diverse city built on the strength of our businesses and the communities they serve,” said John Falcicchio, Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development. “As DC's economy continues to recover and revitalize, Mayor Bowser is creating new funding programs that help businesses succeed, which means more jobs and services for our residents.”
The Green Book is based on an in-depth analysis of waivers and special exceptions submitted by agencies. In addition, SBEs can use the book gain insight into potential business opportunities that align with their service offerings. Through the Green Book, SBEs can explore opportunities based on their industry and view agency-by-agency overviews of SBE spending availability. SBE is a certification category which is part of the District’s Certified Business Enterprise (CBE) Program administered by the Department of Small and Local Business Development (DSLBD). This program provides certified businesses preference points or percentage price reductions when bidding on District Government contracts. Currently, the District has over 1,800 SBEs certified by DSLBD.
For the third year in a row, SBEs can search for opportunities in real-time using the powerful engine of the interactive dashboard on the Green Book website – GreenBookDC.com. The site brings spending data from the Green Book to life with dynamic data that allows businesses to sort opportunities quickly by district agency and product.
“Under the leadership of Mayor Bowser, DSLBD has supported our Administration’s goal of spending more money with small businesses,” says DSLBD Director Kristi Whitfield. “In pursuit of equity, we ensure that members of our small business community have access to opportunities they might not otherwise have had available.”
To learn more about available procurement opportunities, and to view the FY23 Green Book and Interactive District Spend Data Dashboard, visit GreenBookDC.com.
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