Letter From the Director
Welcome to the City Of Columbus’ Equal Business Opportunity Office (EBO) website. The mission of the EBO is to promote the inclusiveness of minority and women owned businesses within the city’s procurement process and to facilitate the equitable awarding of contracts to minority and women owned business enterprises via race and gender neutral tools.
These tools include the implementation of a comprehensive internal and external outreach program, monitoring of the departmental procurement processes, providing technical assistance to businesses upon request, and providing guidance to city leadership on industry trends and best practices.
In addition, EBO is required to monitor, track, and report Minority and Female Business utilization for all city departments and to ensure the City’s compliance with state and federal affirmative action regulations.
Under the leadership of Mayor Michael Coleman, EBO continually strives to live up to the goals of Columbus Covenant. Our principle goal is to provide access to opportunities for small, minority and women owned businesses. The rationale for that goal is the acknowledgement that minority and women owned businesses are an important economic engine creating jobs or opportunities for many of our residents.
Our website will help to provide you with information on a wide range of topics, including resources pertaining to minority business participation on City contracts and on becoming certified to do business with the City of Columbus. We invite you to visit regularly to learn more about EBO and the new strategies we will implement in the coming months.
I encourage the entire business community to take of advantage EBO’s advocacy and expertise and welcome your comments and suggestions.
Melinda Carter
Director, EBOCO