Fort Worth City Council recently received an update on the Small Business Development Program (SBDP), which took effect on Sept. 1, 2025. A key component of the SBDP is to support small business participation in the City of Fort Worth’s procurement process.
Under the SBDP, eligible small businesses receive a 5% bid preference on contracts between $3,000 and $100,000. Additionally, the City has set a 30% small business utilization target for all contracts of $100,000 or more, although contracts are ultimately awarded based on the overall best value to the City.
Small business utilization participation can be achieved directly through contractors who self-perform or are SBE certified, or through the use of certified small business subcontractors within the five-county region of Tarrant, Parker, Denton, Johnson and Wise counties.
Below are a few highlights from the report, which examined data through June 30, 2026. The complete informal report is available online in section 1.3.8 of the Work Session Agenda.
- The City of Fort Worth has achieved an overall 43% small business participation on applicable bid solicitations during the reporting time period, exceeding the 30% goal set last year.
- Of the 53 contracts the City awarded for goods and services, 14% were awarded to small businesses.
- Of the 30 contracts the City awarded for public works projects, 46% were awarded to small businesses.
- In total, small businesses were awarded $77,030,348 across 83 City contracts during this time period.
- Additionally, nine business recruitment projects incentivized by the City of Fort Worth are expected to utilize small businesses for $177,545,000 in value as those projects build out in the near future.
- There are currently a total of 909 certified small businesses registered in Bonfire, the City’s procurement platform, of which 664 (73%) are located within Tarrant County and 167 (18%) in Denton County.
- To engage more small businesses in the City’s procurement process, the Economic Development Department is hosting quarterly Small Business Enterprise (SBE) workshops in English and Spanish and conducting outreach to firms registered in Bonfire. Both a Small Business Advisory Board and a Small Business Development Program webpage have been stood up, and the Small Contractor Development Program is launching soon in collaboration with Merriweather & Williams, a HUB International Business.
Next steps
City staff anticipates implementing an annual procurement plan moving forward to assist all vendors — especially small businesses — in preparing for bid opportunities coming in FY27. The City will also continue to unbundle larger solicitations into smaller projects to help increase opportunities for small businesses to bid on.
Additionally, the City and its partners will expand targeted outreach and training to strengthen small business readiness and increase participation in upcoming bid opportunities. Work will also begin soon on a small business performance dashboard to better track progress on a quarterly basis.
The City of Fort Worth continues to work with its small business partners at the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce, Fort Worth Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and Fort Worth Metropolitan Black Chamber of Commerce to implement program elements, solicit feedback and implement improvements to processes.
