Thursday, August 25, 2022

Join us for the City of Chicago’s 9^th Annual Procurement Vendor Fair to learn from subject-matter experts how to do business with government entities, find financial assistance and resources to help grow your business, and learn about new government contracting opportunities.

As you may know, this event is designed for the vendor community to garner the tools and resources needed to help them successfully bid for government contracting opportunities. This year’s Vendor Fair is a full-day in-person event of various activities, including a keynote address, educational workshops, an exhibit hall with over 100 exhibitors, and contracting networking opportunities. In addition, attendees can register for individual workshops to create a custom Vendor Fair experience that meets their needs. Workshops sessions are designed for businesses at all levels with suggested business stages. For instance, for a business just starting, a growing business, or a seasoned or well-established business, we have information for every stage of your business.

Event Highlights:

DPS participates in many outreach events around the Chicagoland area. Check out the upcoming events happening soon. For a full calendar of events, please visit www.chicago.gov/dpsevents

The Chicago Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection (BACP) announces the Small Business Expo held at Kennedy-King College, U Building 10001 S. Woodlawn Ave The BACP Small Business Expo provides Chicago’s business owners a forum to get expert advice, connect with industry experts, and government agencies, learn new business strategies and meet other business owners.

We are now offering our workshops virtually. View the full workshop schedule at www.chicago.gov/dpsevents. To request an accommodation, please contact DPS Public Affairs at dps.accommodations@cityofchicago.org.

Last year, Mayor Lightfoot issued Executive Order 2021-2 (EO), which requires all contractors with City agreements to submit an annual report about their company's Business Diversity Program. As a result, the Business Diversity Program and Utilization Report (BDPR) is due on July 1st of each calendar year from all contractors, with limited exceptions. Note: Reporting forms and FAQs can be found by clicking the link to our dedicated microsite http://www.chicago.gov/bdp.

The EO requires the BDPR to be submitted by July 1st of each calendar year. Therefore, if you have not already completed your report for this year, please do so today. 

***PLEASE NOTE*** - If you filed a BDP report last year, the credentials you used will not grant access to the microsite this year. Starting in 2022, contractor representatives are required to register in the Business Diversity Reporting system. This will allow each vendor the convenience of being able to leave and come back to Business Diversity Program reports in progress, find reports uploaded in previous years, and keep a historical record of the reports going forward. Click on the Vendor Registration link to register. Once registered, you can simply log in to get access to previously submitted reports, continue working on in-progress reports for the current year, and upload new reports.

Thank you for your attention to advancing the administration's leadership in ensuring that the private sector is an equal and accountable partner in building a more diverse Chicago.   

The City of Chicago has established Small Business Resource Navigators to provide 1:1 assistance to small businesses looking for support. For more information, click here.

Mayor Lightfoot released industry-specific guidelines for businesses, employees, and customers to follow as the city prepares to begin safely reopening. Industry-specific guidelines include details such as how businesses can engage in healthy interactions between workers and customers, maintain safe working spaces and conditions, and design and monitor workplace operations to create flexibility and maintain safety for employees and customers. Guidelines can be found at www.chicago.gov/reopening.

Our DPS website provides information to inform our vendor community of procurement news, outreach, initiative, and programs. Visit www.chicago.gov/dps to learn about the following: