The Washington State Department of Commerce is seeking your help to strengthen businesses in rural communities.
Please take a few moments to assist your town’s local businesses by completing the WA Commerce Local Procurement Survey.
During the 2018 legislative session, the Washington State Legislature directed the Department of Commerce to “develop strategies to increase the competitiveness of rural businesses in securing local government contracts within their rural county.” The Legislature identified specific information to be collected from local jurisdictions about their contracting and procurement processes with the goal of strengthening the economic vitality of rural communities.
More specifically, this effort is intended to:
- Help local governments optimize the resources they use for contracted services;
- Identify the types of assistance local governments could benefit from when seeking contracted services; and
- Determine barriers that rural businesses may experience when seeking government contracts and design strategies to overcome them.
The results of the study will be used to identify types of resources, technical assistance, and regulatory reform that may be needed to create jobs and expand business activity in rural areas of the state.
For more information about this effort, please contact Austin Scharff, Department of Commerce, at austinscharff@commerce.wa.gov.