Shapiro Administration Executive Order Aims to Help More Small, Diverse Businesses

Business owners and elected officials met at The Enterprise Center in Philadelphia this week to discuss Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro’s new executive order mandating that state agencies award more government contracts to small and diverse businesses, writes Kristen Mosbrucker-Garza for WHYY.

The new executive order will use four strategies to increase the share of state contracts among small, minority, and women-owned businesses across the state, including in Montgomery County.

One of the new strategies is to awards more prime contracts to these businesses because when they are subcontractors, they earn less revenue.

There will also be a public dashboard set up to monitor the state’s progress every six months.

The state is also increasing the revenue cap for who qualifies as a small business from $38.5 million to $47 million.

Former Governor Tom Wolf’s administration had set a goal that 26.3% of all state contracts would be awarded to small diverse businesses, but that goal was never realized.

Shapiro hasn’t set a specific percentage of state contracts as a goal.

Read more about Governor Shapiro’s executive order and how small, diverse businesses in Montgomery County could benefit at WHYY.