Local small businesses may be able to gain an advantage when bidding for contracts with the city of Sacramento if a new proposal by City Councilwoman Lauren Hammond is eventually approved by the City Council.

Hammond is proposing a program in which local small businesses would be eligible for a 5 percent bid preference with the city. The purpose of the 5 percent discount would be to give local businesses a boost in the city's bidding process.

Hammond told The Sacramento Press she would like to create the program because "there aren't enough companies getting contracts with the city of Sacramento." The city's other efforts to bring in more local companies have not worked because city staffers have not reached out of their "comfort zone," she said.

City staffers usually choose the lowest bid for contracts, Hammond said. The 5 percent bid preference would lower a local company's bid, which would make the local company more likely to be selected by the city, she noted.

Under Hammond's proposal, the city would decrease by 5 percent a local company's quote when the company competes for a contract, according to Trevor Walton, a program manager with the city's Economic Development Department.

Right now, Walton is crafting Hammond's proposal. An idea being discussed right now is to use the 5 percent bid preference for bids under $100,000, according to Walton. He expects that the city's Law and Legislation Committee will weigh in on the proposal in September.

The plan will need to be approved by the City Council before it can be established. A date for the City Council to consider the proposal has not yet been selected, Walton said.

The city currently provides a 5 percent bid evaluation preference now to small businesses located in the state, Walton explained. A small business that is also a local business could possibly be eligible for a bid discount of up to 10 percent, but those details have not yet [been] decided, he said.

The city has had bid evaluation preferences for many years, Walton said, noting that the City Council is "very supportive of small businesses." Bid preferences are used in various cities, he noted.

Ingrid Foster, vice president of communications for the Sacramento Metro Chamber, said the chamber had no comment on Hammond's proposal at this point. The Chamber's chief executive Matthew Mahood, as well as a Chamber spokesperson, were not available for comment Wednesday afternoon, Foster said.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.