THE STATE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT
The Detroit School District’s Department of Contracting and Procurement has created a special community outreach program which gives immediate notification to certified minority businesses when bids are posted. These bids are used to determine which businesses will provide construction or services for the Detroit School District. This program, known as the Detroit Public Schools Small Contractor Development Initiative Program, provides businesses notification when the Detroit School District’s Department of Contracting and Procurement bids are solicited. The Detroit School District has created DemandStar.com, bidding notification system. It informs businesses about, among other things, invitations to bid, Request for Proposal, Request for Qualification and Request for Information.
This could become a huge boon for minority businesses in the area because large some of money are spent each year by the Detroit School District’s Department of Contracting and Procurement. The District is reaching out to minority businesses in several other ways as well. It advertises regularly in the newspapers that target the minority communities including the Michigan Chronicle, El Central and the Arab-American News. The Detroit School District has fostered connections with various chambers of commerce or business groups that have large minority memberships, such as the Arab-American Chamber of Commerce, the Detroit Black Chamber and the Booker T. Washington Business Association. The Detroit School District’s Department of Contracting and Procurement also has plans to help minority own businesses make connections to major contractors and encourage them to use the minority businesses as sub-contractors.