BSO expands opportunities for local business owners

BSO expands opportunities for local business owners

By Dani Moschella/PIO

The Broward Sheriff’s Office has entered into an exciting new initiative in partnership with the Broward County Office of Economic and Small Business Development to increase local business participation in BSO’s solicitations by simply registering online. The new initiative encourages local businesses that are interested in working with BSO to obtain their County Business Enterprise (CBE) and Small Business Enterprise (SBE) certifications from Broward County and then register online with BSO as a vendor.

Sheriff Scott Israel held a meeting earlier this year with local, small business representatives who expressed concerns that it was difficult to become a BSO vendor. Those businesses can now be added to BSO’s vendor lists as a CBE or a SBE and receive electronic invitations to bid on any purchasing items that BSO requires and they can provide. This costs nothing to the county or BSO.

“My strong commitment to diversity at BSO includes doing business with local businesses. We want to buy local goods and services so long as those purchases are of high quality and are offered to us at competitive prices and terms,” Sheriff Israel said. It is absolutely on point that Sheriff Scott Israel is joining forces with the Broward County Commission to support the CBE and SBE programs by directing his staff to work with CBE and SBE firms to purchase products and services that his organization will use as an economic catalyst for the region,” said Sheryl Dickey, president of Dickey Consulting Services, Inc., in Fort Lauderdale. “He listened to us at a meeting called by Commissioner Dale Holness and implemented a plan to help small business.”

This is a step in the right direction to ensure that a greater number of local businesses have the opportunity to access and compete for Broward County contracts. This has been my focus since I was elected to the commission. In many cases, local businesses don’t know what’s available. There is tremendous economic opportunity in Broward County, and I want to make sure public dollars are spent wisely and locally,” Com-missioner Dale V.C. Holness said.

BSO encourages all vendors who meet the criteria for CBE and/or SBE designations to obtain their certifications from Broward County at https://bcegov3.broward.org/smallbusiness/ap-plicationstart.aspx and then register with BSO as a vendor at https://vendorapp.sheriff.org/. Current vendors can also up-date their profiles online. Contact Maritza Beckford at maritza_beckford@sheriff.org with any questions regarding BSO vendor registration.

When an on-line registration is complete, and once the businesses select the commodity codes of their choosing, anytime BSO has a request for bid, they will be sent the information and invited to participate.