Small Business Economic Development Advocacy (SBEDA)

Since its inception, the SBEDA Ordinance has undergone various amendments following the completion of City-initiated disparity studies. The findings from disparity studies allow for amendments to be made to the SBEDA Ordinance, which help in ensuring fair participation of E/S/M/WBEs when applying for City contracts.

To provide information and gather feedback regarding the SBEDA Ordinance amendments, the Economic Development Department engaged with the San Antonio business community from October 2023 to May 2024.

The SBEDA Ordinance amendments were adopted by City Council on December 5, 2024. The updated SBEDA Ordinance will be implemented starting July 1, 2025.

To be able to take advantage of SBEDA Ordinance benefits, a company must first:

Meet All Eligibility Criteria

• Headquarters is located in the San Antonio metropolitan area.
• Certified as a Small Business Enterprise (SBE) from the South Central Texas Regional Certification Agency (SCTRCA).
• Personal net worth of the majority business owner(s) must not exceed $2.047 million.

Register Your Business

Become a vendor with the City of San Antonio or verify your current vendor status.

Find Bidding Opportunities

Take advantage of the City of San Antonio’s upcoming solicitations:

1. The Annual Procurement Forecast is a good place to begin to plan and prepare in advance.
2. Review the open bids for prime and subcontracting opportunities.
3. Attend pre-submittal meetings.
4. Complete the bidding proposal process by submitting online.

Points help SBEDA eligible Small Business Enterprises (SBE) and Emerging Small Business Enterprises (ESBE) Prime respondents to get an advantage on the evaluation criteria on City solicitations.

Discretionary Request for Proposal (RFP), Request for Competitive Sealed Proposals (RFCSP) and Request for Qualifications (RFQ) are scored on the evaluation criteria assigned at the time of solicitation. The Prime respondents that receive the most evaluation points are awarded contracts.

Up to 20 points may be awarded to ESBE/SBE primes in the scoring of their responses on certain City solicitations.

Goals help SBEDA eligible E/S/M/WBEs obtain subcontracting opportunities by leveraging their certifications to meet contracting goals set on City solicitations.

Prime Contractors are required to meet the contracting goals set on City solicitations creating opportunities for eligible E/S/M/WBE sub-contractors.

Currently, up to 40% Emerging Small Business Enterprises (ESBE), Small Business Enterprises (SBE) and Minority and Woman-Owned Business Enterprises (M/WBE) contracting goals are required on certain City contracts.