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Jacksonville says JSEB outreach, website and staffing increases boosted certified firms and contract dollars
Summary
City staff reported upgrades to the JSEB website, new marketing and CRM tools, additional staff, a transparency dashboard and growth in certified firms to 466; officials said $107 million in contract dollars were paid to JSEBs, a 30% increase from prior years.
Jacksonville officials reported measurable gains in the city's Jacksonville Small and Emerging Business (JSEB) program on March 24, saying a website upgrade, expanded marketing and added staff have increased certified firms and contract dollars paid to JSEBs.
The report came during a meeting of the J Sub 2 Special Committee, where Gregory Grant, JSEB administrator, summarized progress since the committee's last special meeting. "Our website was very outdated, not user friendly," Grant said. "Since then, that has been upgraded. It has been improved majorly. As a result, we've received a lot of great feedback from the business community."
Grant said the department now publishes a transparency dashboard, updates it daily and shows where certified JSEBs are located across Duval County's 14 districts. He told the committee the program had grown to 466 certified JSEBs and that, for the first time, contract dollars paid to JSEBs reached nine figures: "$107,000,000," which he characterized as a roughly 30% increase over previous fiscal years.
Why it matters: committee members said the metrics show capacity-building within the city's small-business set-aside program and give procurement and corporate stakeholders a clearer way to find certified firms. Grant credited multiple factors for the change: a redesigned website, a marketing push with the mayor's public affairs office, adoption of Salesforce for customer-relationship management and DocuSign for faster application processing. He also said adding roughly 1.5 to 2 staff members allowed the department to process more applications and increase contract awards to JSEBs.
Supporting details: Grant told the panel the JSEB program increased registrations substantially after the staffing additions, with about 120 new certifications in a period that moved the total to 353, and that the number later rose to 466 within six months of the fiscal year. Grant also said the team has broken larger contracts into smaller scopes to create more opportunities for JSEBs to perform.
Committee members and staff also highlighted an expansion of program rules that lengthened the period a certified contractor may remain in the program. Under the earlier policy, a JSEB contractor would leave the program after nine years; Grant said the allowable participation was increased to 15 years and that a new "JSEB prime" mentoring pathway was created for firms that exit the set-aside program but can still mentor active JSEBs.
What's next: committee members praised the progress but pressed several operational questions'including continued outreach to districts with low registrations and whether the city should standardize certification processes with independent authorities and regional agencies. The committee placed further policy proposals and implementation details on the agenda for upcoming meetings.
Ending: Grant closed the summary by reaffirming continued marketing and district outreach. "You can go to our website and you can see testimonials from each district," he said, noting the dashboard is updated every 24 hours.
