Explanation
BACKGROUND: This legislation authorizes the Director of the Department of Development to waive the request for proposal requirements of Columbus City Code Chapter 329 and to enter into a contract with EcoMap Technologies, Inc. in an amount up to $77,500.00 for the purpose of designing, creating, and maintaining a comprehensive web-based, single-stop internet platform (portal) that aggregates information assets from websites relevant to Columbus’ small business ecosystems and to market the portal to the public.
In 2018, the department facilitated the Columbus Small Business Ecosystem Assessment that was commissioned by Mayor Ginther and Columbus City Council. The assessment identified the following gaps/opportunities: ?
1. ?Limited awareness in the small business community of available resources.
2. Need for support for businesses in the post-launch phase.
3. Limited coordination across entrepreneur support organizations.
4. No center of gravity for Main Street businesses.
5. Limited peer networking opportunities.
6. Need for an advocate for immigrant business owners.
Via a contract for services with EcoMap, the City of Columbus is proposing to develop a small business portal that will serve to meet all needs except need number 6 as identified in the assessment and subsequently detailed in the Columbus Small Business Agenda that was released to the public in December 2019. By streamlining access to resources, small businesses will benefit from this services in a number of ways including: 1) access to relevant resources across the entire business lifecycle, 2) having real-time access to stakeholders and service providers, and 3) have the ability to provide the public with up-to-date self-sourced and self-maintained profiles of local businesses at no cost the small businesses. These all major shortfalls of the current ecosystem, pre and post pandemic.
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In short, the portal will serve as another key component along with the Architect/Builder Frame...
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