Statehouse bill to permit Greensboro to operate SBE program under consideration

NC News - Published Apr 29, 2021

The North Carolina House of Representatives has approved a bill (HB 303) which would permit the City of Greensboro to establish a Small Business Enterprise (SBE) Program. The bill has been passed on to the State Senate, which has referred it to the Committee on Rules and Operations of the Senate.

The SBE Program is to be race- and gender-neutral. The eligibility criteria will be up to the City to decide, as long as the criteria are "appropriate and consistent with the City's contracting practices." Participation goals and procedures for determining good-faith efforts to comply with such goals on City contracts will be allowed.

Greensboro Assistant City Manager Kimberly Sowell has stated that any set-aside program for SBEs would come with a cap on the dollar value of any project entered into the set-aside program. The bill follows a 2018 disparity study for Greensboro.

Read the bill at https://www.ncleg.gov/BillLookUp/2021/H303.