On October 25, 2007, the Department of General Services hosted the 8th Annual State Agency Recognition Awards (SARA).

SARA honors State Departments for outstanding achievements in advocating for and contracting with Small Business (SB) and Disabled Veteran Business Enterprises (DVBE).

A panel of judges, representing small and DVBE businesses and the State of California selected winners for their best practices and creativity.

SARA awards highlight (montage)

SARA Speakers

1. SARA awards
   Will Bush, Director, Department of General Services
   Welcome to SARA guests
   
   
2. SARA awards
   Tom Johnson, Secretary, California Department of Veterans Affairs
   
   
3. SARA awards
   Eric Mandell, Chief, Office of Outreach and SB/DVBE Services, Department of General Services
   Introduction of Small Businesses who have had success with state contracting...
   
   
4. SARA awards
   Ava Williams, Crisara Creative Therapy
   Tom Crawford, Empire Safety & Supply

Award Presentations

5. SARA awards
   Eric Mandell
   Most Notable Improve Awards for Small Business and DVBE Contracting
   
   
6. SARA awards
   Eric Mandell
   SARA Awards Winners
   
   
7. SARA awards
   Betty Jo Toccoli, California Small Business Association and Richard Dryden, California DVBE Alliance
   CA SG Assocation and DVBE Alliance Leadership Award
   
   
8. SARA awards
   Marty Keller, Director, Office of the Governor's Business Advocate
   Advocate of the Year Awards
   
   
9. SARA awards
   Eric Mandell
   SARA Judges

The CDVA developed an aggressive corrective action plan which increased the Agency's DVBE participation from an initial rate of 0.80% in July 2006 to 3.93% by the end of the fiscal year. This effort is more than double the previous year's DVBE participation rate of 1.68%. These improvements are even more significant when the real dollar impact is analyzed; the actual dollar amount of DVBE participation increased from $367,138 in 2005/06 to $1,089,897 in 2006/07, an increase of $722,759 or 197%.

The Military Department adopted a "DVBE/Small Business First" policy and, as a result, significantly improved its DVBE and Small Business percentages during fiscal year 2006/07.

CDCR has enhanced the growth of the SB community by awarding over $6.8 billion to SB throughout the state. CDCR also awarded over $115 million to DVBE's. CDCR achieved 38.26 percent SB participation and 3.19 percent DVBE participation, awarding over $1.5 billion to SB's and $41.5 million to DVBE's

Under the direction of Chief Kurtz, Cal FIRE developed a "SB/DVBE roadmap" in an effort to increase SB/DVBE participation throughout the department. They created a brochure which featured purchasing officials throughout the state that assisted SB/DVBE vendors in establishing contacts within the department.