Essex County Office of Small Business Development and Affirmative Action (SBDAA)

Essex County Office of Small Business Development and Affirmative Action (SBDAA) is located in Newark, United States on 465 Dr Martin Luther King Jr Blvd. Essex County Office of Small Business Development and Affirmative Action (SBDAA) is rated 3 out of 5 in the category political organization in United States. The Essex County Office of Small Business Development and Affirmative Action (SBDAA), which opened in 2005 and is located in Newark, New Jersey, strives to ensure equal opportunity and fair play in contracting, procurement, and employment. The SBDAA is designed to help Essex County make its public contracting, procurement policies, and procedures more accessible to small, woman, veteran, LGBTQ, and minority-owned businesses. Since its inception, the SBDAA has put funding behind its commitment to small and minority enterprises. In just eight years, from 2006 to 2014, the SBDAA increased the dollar amount of contracts from $15 million to nearly $60 million per year. Essex County unveiled the first Vendor Registration System of its kind in New Jersey and launched the first purchasing portal to enable vendors to receive email or telefax notifications of upcoming business opportunities. The portal can be accessed at http://www.essex-countynj.org/procure/. In November of 2009, the County became the first in the State to launch a Bonding Readiness Program offering vendors the opportunity to become bonded or increase their bonding limits. In July of 2011, Essex again made history by becoming the first and only County in the nation to sign a Memorandum of Understanding with the National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce. As a result, we recognize the certification issued by the Chamber and expand our outreach to include local LGBT affiliates. Since its opening, the SBDAA has hosted 45 outreach events. The events include the Essex County Procurement Expo, the “Women's Business Enterprise Procurement Expo”, “Reaching New Heights – Professional Services Procurement Expo”, "Demystifying the Request for Proposal Process,"​ and "Meet the General Contractors."​