CummingHome.com Local news, events, and business from Cumming, GA and Forsyth County

During their October 11 work session, the Forsyth County Board of Commissioners voted to extend the existing Local Business Initiative through December 31, 2012, and to make some revisions to the program's criteria. The revisions, which will go into effect January 1, 2012, remove the previous caps on annual gross receipts and number of full-time employees, and increased the local preference credit.

The ultimate goal of the program, which has been in place since April 2009 as the Local Small Business Initiative, is to return as much taxpayer money back into the local economy as possible by giving preference to local suppliers.

"The goal of the Local Business Initiative is to provide more opportunities for the businesses within Forsyth County to do business with the county government," Procurement Director Donna Kukarola said. "This program aims to return taxpayer funds back to the local economy in a relatively short amount of time."

The Local Business Initiative is applicable only to projects with a total cost of less than $500,000.

Under any applicable solicitation or bid issued by the county, vendors desiring to qualify for the program will be required to demonstrate they satisfy all of the requirements. This must be done each time a vendor submits a bid, quote or proposal and would like to be considered under the Local Business Initiative.

For solicitations less than $500,000, a qualified local business that submits a responsive and reasonable price receives a local preference credit of five percent. However, there are some exclusions under certain circumstances.

More information about doing business with Forsyth County government is available on the Forsyth County Procurement Department page at www.forsythco.com.