Specific Requirements of the OCII SBE policy
1. Contract Size. Where appropriate, the Agency or Agency-Assisted Contractor will divide the
work in order to encourage maximum SBE participation or, alternatively, SBEs will be encouraged
to joint venture. Each responsible staff person, developer or prime contractor/consultant shall
identify specific items of each contract that may be performed by subcontractors and, if
necessary, provide a list of prospective SBEs for the bidder(s).

The work on Chase Center was divided to maximize SBE participation.
The team then held 10 SBE Matchmaking and Networking Sessions
with Prime Subs – far beyond what’s required – to encourage teaming,
joint venture and lower-tier relationships with SBEs. SBE Matchmaking
and Networking sessions are not required; however, they are an
effective method for building SBE participation, and it’s unprecedented
to hold that many SBE Matchmaking and Networking Sessions on a
single project.
We’ve held dozens of one-on-one meetings with SBEs and potential
Prime Subs to carve out SBE scopes and opportunities. And, of course,
lists of potential SBEs have not only been provided to all Prime
Subs/Bidders, but they are provided on our public website.
2. Advertise. For contracts procured using the Competitive Sealed Bids Public Contract Code
Procedure or the RFP/RFQ Procedure, unless there are special circumstances, the Agency or
Agency-Assisted Contractor will advertise for 30 days prior to the opening of bids or proposals in
media focused on small businesses including the Bid and Contract Opportunities website through
the City's Purchasing Department and the Procurement Opportunities section of local
publications.

We actually advertised for three months ahead of the the
proposal/bid due dates for each package – exceeding the 30-day
requirement – and we advertised our “Tip-Off Meetings” for potential
contractors in key publications like the Small Business Exchange, Daily
Pacific Builder, The Oakland Post, Tsing Tao, El Reportero, The Sun
Reporter, the SF Bayview, the Philippine News and Philippine Inquirer,
and provided early notice on the City’s Bid and Contract Opportunities
website
Moreover, we took the extra step of producing our own project
websites – ChaseCenter.com and GSWconstruction.com – to publicize
contract opportunties and events.
3. Prepare List of SBEs. Each responsible staff person, developer or prime contractor/consultant
shall request the Contract Compliance Office to assemble a list of all known SBEs in the pertinent

 field(s). This list will be made available to the public upon request. Compliance Staff will consult
with other redevelopment agencies and government agencies to identify small businesses,
particularly those in Project and Survey Areas, that have expertise in areas used by the Agency;
the Contract Compliance Office will continue its present practice of regularly updating a variety of
lists.

In addition to working with OCII staff, we developed our own SBE List
by culling relevant directories of certified SBEs/LBEs and
Disadvantaged Business Enterprises (DBEs) and identified potential
SBEs, by trade, from the city’s LBE Directory, the California
Department of General Services SBE Directory, Unified Certification
Program DBE Directory, Bart Directory and other appropriate souces.
Moreover, our project website included an SBE List where interested
businesses could up to be included – which goes far beyond what is
required.
4. Public Solicitation. The Agency or Agency-Assisted Contractor will mail Requests for
Qualifications (RFQs) or Requests for Proposals (RFPs) to SBEs. It will follow up initial
solicitations of interest by contacting SBEs to determine with certainty whether they are interested
in performing specific items in a project. The Agency will also make contacts with SBE contractor
associations or development centers, or any agencies that disseminate bid and contract
information and provide technical assistance to SBEs

Invitations were sent to potential SBE subs and follow-up phone calls
were made to more than 587 SBEs. In addition to the outreach, the
Chase team held SBE “Matchmaking” sessions, bringing potential
contractors together with Prime/First Tier Subs to ensure that they
carved out opportunities for SBEs. Some 504 Matchmaking
sessions with SBEs were scheduled.
Our team conducted extensive outreach efforts with the Minority
Business Development Agencies of San Francisco and San Jose, San
Francisco Contractors Assistance Center and the National Association
of Minority Contractors of Northern California.
Notices of our meetings were sent to these same agencies, along with
the Coalition of Economic Equity, Renaissance Bayview, Asian
American Contractors Association, Council of Asian American Business
Associations (CAABA), Build Bayview, San Francisco African American
Chamber of Commerce, San Francisco Hispanic Chamber of Commerce,
San Francisco Chinese Chamber of Commerce, and San Francisco
Filipino American Chamber of Commerce for their dissemination to
their network.
And again, our project website is a resource where interested SBEs can

 sign up to be included on our SBE List.
5. Convene Pre-Bid or Pre-Solicitation Meetings. On consulting contracts that are $5,000 or
more and construction contracts estimated to cost $5,000 or more, procured using the
Competitive Sealed Bids Public Contract Code Procedure or the RFP/RFQ Procedure, the
Agency or Agency-Assisted Contractor will send written invitations to potential SBE candidates to
attend pre-bid or pre-solicitation meetings for the purpose of answering questions about the
process and the specifications and requirements.

As noted, invitations were sent to potential SBE subs and follow-up
phone calls were made to more than 587 SBEs. So far, three PreBid/Proposal Meetings have been convened to provide as much
information as possible to SBEs.
6. Outreach and Other Assistance. The Agency or Agency-Assisted Contractor will a) provide
SBEs with plans, specifications and requirements for all or part of the project; b) make contacts
with SBE contractor associations or development centers, or any agencies that disseminate bid
and contract information and provide technical assistance to SBEs; and c) follow up initial
solicitations of interest by contacting SBE firms to determine with certainty whether they are
interested in performing specific items in a project.

In addition to the extensive outreach to the numerous organizations
listed above, and the hundreds of invitations and follow-up calls, and
website listing SBE opportunities and descriptions, we provided
certification assistance to SBEs that were eligible. We went further,
requesting that certification agencies such as the Contract Monitoring
Division and California Department of General Services to attend our
Matchmaking session to help increase the pool of potential SBEs.
We went still further: we established a 10-month long Small
Business Training program in San Francisco, called the
“Strategic Partnership Program,” for to help local SBEs build
their capacity. This will be helpful to participating SBEs going
forward, whether they work on our project or not.
We also worked with OCII and the Prime Subs to carve out
opportunities on large packages for SBEs and to identify joint
venture/teaming opportunities for SBEs. We continute to host one-onone meetings with SBEs to discuss the project and teaming
opportunities with other potential contractors.
7. Insurance and Bonding. Where lines of credit, insurance and bonding are potential problems
for small businesses, the Agency or Agency-Assisted contractor should contact staff to explain
the Agency's insurance and bonding requirements, answer questions about them, and be
prepared to suggest avenues of assistance.

 We worked with SBEs to understand insurance and bonding
requirements where they existed; in most cases, bonding was not
required. However, we helped connect those who requested bonding or
insurance assistance to the City’s Bonding Assistance Program
Administrator.
8. Focused Meetings. The Agency or Agency-Assisted contractor shall participate in meetings
convened by staff for SBEs focusing on opportunities for particular industries, e.g., a joint meeting
of housing sponsors and small architectural firms based in a Project Area.

Although no focused meetings were convened by OCII, we held
meetings with key local contractor organizations, as listed above, and
participated in membership meetings of the National Association of
Minority Contractors of Northern California to provide information
about upcoming opportunities.
As for professional SBEs, such as small architectural firms, Chase
Center has achieved 47.9% SBE participation on professional services.
(We have no housing as part of this project.)
9. Monitoring. The Agency or Agency-Assisted Contractor will keep track of the date that each
response, proposal or bid was received from SBEs, including the amount bid by and the amount
to be paid (if different) to the non-SBE contractor that was selected. If the responsible staff person
or bidder/proposer asserts that there were reasons other than the respective amounts bid for not
awarding the contract to or selecting an SBE, he or she must be prepared to provide valid
reasons(s) for any rejections.

Detailed records, called “Scope Sheets,” are maintained on the project
that track bid results and proposed SBE Participation. Throughout this
process, we have engaged in a collaborative effort with OCII to
maximize SBE participation on the project and we are in constant
communication.