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Small & Disadvantaged Business Depot – October 2020 Newsletter

Eastridge to BART Regional Connector
(EBRC) Project Update

VTA’s 2.4-mile extension of the light rail system in East San Jose
continues in the planning stages. Individual meetings with prime
contractors to validate the proposed approach and innovative
ways to minimize environmental impacts (noise, dust, traffic
closures) have been very beneficial. VTA still anticipates the
solicitation to be issued in early 2021.

Stay tuned to the January newsletter for more details and
be sure to visit us at vta.org/business-center for additional
updates.

Letter from the Office of Business
Diversity Programs (OBDP)

Greetings from the VTA Office of Business Diversity Programs (OBDP)! My team manages the
Small Business Enterprise (SBE), Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE), Minority and
Woman-owned Business Enterprise (MWBE) and the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender
Business Enterprise (LGBT) Programs. In addition, OBDP also generates the quarterly
newsletter, establishes DBE and SBE goals for VTA’s contracts and performs the subsequent contract monitoring,
trains and certifies SBE’s and DBE’s, coordinates community outreach, and generates reports to various agencies
on a semi-annual basis. OBDP is currently focused on enhancing VTA’s Business Diversity Programs and sharing
new business opportunities designed to help us achieve our 30% SBE and 25% DBE aspirational goals.

Since our last newsletter, VTA helped design and present an on-line DBE Certification Training Program which
can be viewed on our site at vta.org/obdp in the Disadvantaged Business Enterprise Program accordion. Expect
additional training programs to be designed and loaded onto our website in the near future.

John Wesley White, VTA’s Chief Procurement Officer, and I recently presented an overview of VTA and highlighted
upcoming VTA business opportunities to the Silicon Valley Chapter of the National Association of Women Business
Owners (NAWBO). If your organization is interested in a similar presentation, please feel free to contact me.

OBDP has a new online certification application system. All SBE and DBE certification applications joined our
established Minority Women Owned Business Enterprise (MWBE) application protocol on B2GNow. VTA does
not require firms to apply for a DBE certification if they are already certified with the California Unified Certification
Program (CUCP), as our agency is part of the statewide program, a one-stop shop program.

I am excited about the changes VTA has been making and especially the new Net 15 Payment Policy for SBE
Prime Contractors. Innovations like this will continue to keep VTA at the forefront of public sector agencies working
to maximize diversity and inclusion across all our contracts! As always, if you have any questions or concerns,
please feel free to contact us at obdp@vta.org.

Olga Medina, Business Diversity Program Manager

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