Fil-Am businesses get boost from CA agencies

SAN FRANCISCO - You’re a small business owner and want to sell your services to PG&E or AT&T but how do you get your foot in their door?

Approximately 60 Filipino business owners got the rundown straight from utility executives at the “Supplier Diversity and Matchmaking Workshop” in San Francisco recently.

Representatives from Comcast, Verizon and utilities state regulator, the California Pacific Utilities Commission (CPUC), met face to face with local entrepreneurs on certification and contracting opportunities.

All state agencies are required under Governor Schwarzenegger’s General Order 156 to contract 25 percent of their partnerships with small businesses and three percent with Disabled Veteran-Owned Businesses. A small business is defined as having 100 employees or less, and has average annual gross revenue of $12 million or less for the last three tax years.

The requirement goes hand in hand with utility company’s “Supplier Diversity Programs” which encourages its core contractors to partner with Women, Minority and Disabled Veteran Business Enterprise (WMDVBE) subcontractors. Eligibility requires at least 51 percent minority ownership by women and/or minorities, a sustainable ownership, and proof of capital or ownership.

“But where are the Filipino-owned businesses?” PG&E asked Jose Pecho, chair of National Federation of Filipino-American Association (NaFFA) – Region 8.

PG&E said: “There’s nobody coming to the table from your community. Help us so that we can help your community.’”

This is the reason why NaFFA and the San Francisco Filipino-American Chamber of Commerce presented the much needed event. The non-profit organizations noticed that many local Filipino-owned businesses were not aware of potential partnership and networking opportunities.

Restaurant owner Norris Tongson of La Salsa in Hayward met with PG&E representatives after speaking with AT&T and Comcast. He wanted to know how he can expand his business with them.

“It was very eye-opening. I learned that there’s a process in order to really do good business with them, in order to be on their database. That’s the key factor, to be on their database instead of knocking on several doors where you can just be an after thought,” said Tongson.

“Certification of a single entity simplifies the process for small business owners. Instead of registering with 15-20 different utilities, you get to use one for the business owner and the utility companies,” said Gary Ma, Verification Analyst for Supplier Clearinghouse, ASIAN Inc., a third party agency that provides free certification for the utility company’s “Supplier Diversity Program”.

The three-year certification is a key component to access. Benefits of being a certified business include information listing of minority owned businesses on the CPUC database which can also be used as an effective marketing tool.

“There are 3,000 active certified (minority- and women-owned) businesses statewide. We receive about 120 to 150 new applications a month. Ten percent are from start-up companies,” said Ma.

“I certainly encourage anybody to go to the clearinghouse or the commission and get their certification because that’s what the utilities look for. We can count those numbers in our overall spend that’s closely monitored by the utility companies and the state,” said Ileana Winterhalter, Associate Director of Constituency Relations at AT&T.

“It doesn’t hurt to be certified. It makes you different. And you don’t have to be directly providing utility related services such as construction work. For example, your company sells confetti. The utility company may sponsor parties and social events and may need to contract with party suppliers,” said Ma.

Certification with state agencies is through the state’s Department of General Services (DGS). According to CPUC’s presentation, certified small businesses are eligible for five percent bid preference on State contracts.

The overall process for getting a contract with the DGS, CPUC or utility companies:

• Research the company’s website if they buy products or services that you market.
• Examine how those products or services are procured.
• Study the company’s purchasing procedures.
• Register with the company’s database if applicable.
• Get certified.
• Meet company representatives at sponsored outreach events and workshops.

Pecho hopes this event will educate and encourage Filipino business owners to take advantage of the various free services that are within their reach.

“There’s a need to get this done. The bottom line is nobody is going to watch our backs. Not the Chinese, not the African Americans, not the Latinos. Filipinos need to watch their own backs. So much money is coming into the community from the public utilities, the financial institutions and the Fed government,” he said.

For more information about Supplier Clearinghouse certification, visit: www.asianinc.org
For DGS – www.getcertified.dgs.ca.gov
CPUC - www.cpuc.ca.gov
PGE - www.pge.com/purchasing
AT&T - www.attsupplierdiversity.com
Verizon – www.verizon.com/supplierdiversity
Comcast – www.comcast.com/diversity

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