The City of Tempe has made it a key business goal to ensure that historically under-utilized businesses (HUB) are given every opportunity to participate in and benefit from the City’s procurement program.  Although a goal based small/minority business program does not exist, the City strives to make every effort to involve HUB firms into the day to day procurement opportunities that become available. 

As defined by the City, HUB firms are made up of small businesses, minority owned businesses, women owned businesses and disabled owned businesses.  One way to seek out this valued group of suppliers is to ensure that our Procurement Officers and end-users throughout the City have access to a verifiable database from which these firms can be solicited for business opportunities.  To that end for requirements not already established under a term contract, a web site has been linked to the Procurement Division’s Intranet page where these firms can be identified and solicited for quotes.  This link is maintained by the Arizona Department of Transportation who also certifies the firms that are listed.  This link will allow an end-user to enter a general description such as “accounting, painting, custodial, landscaping, legal, etc.,” and quickly receive a list of certified firms who may be contacted for price quotes.

The City’s supplier registration data base is also a means to verify a company’s HUB status based on a self-reporting basis.  When companies register to receive bid and proposal opportunities, the registration requires the selection of the firm’s HUB status.  By reviewing this supplier data base, the City can gauge the involvement of HUB suppliers in Tempe’s procurement program.   The City actively participates with a number of supplier trade groups to recruit and inform members about Tempe’s business opportunities.  There are many business opportunities that are awarded through the City’s Procurement Card program.  We train and encourage our cardholders to review these HUB firm links that our linked to the Procurement home page to ensure HUB businesses are included in these types of delegated award decisions.      

The City recognizes the importance of involving local businesses in the procurement process. A number of outreach efforts are conducted annually to ensure that local businesses are included in Tempe's procurement processes.  

Procurement routinely meets with the Tempe Chamber of Commerce to ensure its membership is aware of and registered with the City and uses it's on-line membership list to augment the city's bid list when solicitations are published.

Although the City of Tempe does not have any specific requirements to solicit from local Arizona-based businesses, procurement officers make it a common practice to reach out to local businesses when soliciting quotes and bids.  Most small dollar requirements are awarded to local businesses based on the natural advantages they retain due to their local presence. 

When conducting procurements that exceed the formal limit of $100,000, it is not possible to limit opportunities to only Arizona businesses as the City of Tempe is required to notice any interested party for the particular commodity or service being solicited.

For procurements that are valued under the formal limit of $100,000, the City of Tempe has discretion in determining which vendors will be invited to participate.  As a matter of practice, procurement officers make it a point to reach out and solicit from Arizona based business when only three quotes are required.  If sufficient competition is not available within the Arizona market, additional firms can be contacted in order to satisfy the minimum quote requirements.

The City completed a geographic spend analysis to more clearly understand where city dollars are being spent.  The results of this study are shown below. 

The combined supplier spend shows that over 88 percent of Tempe's average annual spend is with businesses who are either located in or have a strong presence in Arizona.
 

The City of Tempe utilizes a self-registration system - simply select all applicable categories

You don't have to be registered to bid on a solicitation.  You can access the information from tempe.gov/procurement and submit an offer.

By registering, you will get e-mails from us about new solicitations available within the categories you are interested in so that you won't miss an opportunity to work with us.    

Please contact one of the Procurement Officers or Specialist that handle the area of business for which you have a question.

No.  The following will illustrate the various purchasing levels and the allowed purchase authority

Annual Spending Level Requirements

$0 to $4,999
No quotes are required and can be handled at the department level

$5,000 to $99,999
A minimum of three competitive quotes are required and can be handled at the department level or through Procurement

$100,000 and up
A formal bid is required and will be conducted through Procurement