Doing business with the City

Before the holiday, we had a meeting with staff from the City Departments of Environment, Planning and Development, and Procurement. The discussion included details about what the City is doing to use more green products and services in their own operations, as well as how businesses can successfully become vendors with City departments.

If you're investigating how to become a vendor for the City, here are a few key suggestions:

• Current contracts up for bid are posted weekly to the Procurement Department website: www.cityofchicago.org/procurement. Resources and other relevant information is also available.
  
• Visit http://greenbean.typepad.com for information about new green buildings in Chicago. Developers of these buildings may be interested in your product or services.
• Get your business on the preferred vendor list for specific departments, and take advantage of minority and women-owned business support and target market programs if possible.
• When a contract is up for bid, it is too late to for the contract to have a built preference for 'green' products. The Alliance will be investigating how to reach out to the departments earlier in the contract process to include moregreen specs.

The City's Department of Business Affairs and Licensing is sponsoring two workshops on January 31 to help you navigate this process. For more information, visit www.sustainablechicago.biz/events/workshops.php.

Have questions? As always, feel free to get in touch with us and we'll do our best to answer your questions or connect you to someone who can. The Alliance strives to be your knowledgebase for sustainable business resources and information in Chicago!