City Historically Underutilized Business Outreach

As part of our efforts to ensure applicable laws and regulations are followed, it is a priority for the City and the State of North Carolina to contract with HUB vendors by encouraging their participation in our competitive bidding processes. Per NC General Statute 143-128.4, these vendors are defined as being at least 51% owned by one or more persons who are members of at least one of the groups listed below.

  • Black
  • Hispanic
  • Asian American
  • American Indian
  • Female
  • Disabled
  • Disadvantaged

Below are the steps we take to encourage these vendors to participate in our bidding processes. More information about these steps can be found in the City’s Formal Bid Process Workflow.

  • The City sends notifications about new formal bids to department-selected NC HUB-registered vendors selected from both the NC HUB vendor database and our internal service list.
  • The City posts a free advertisement in the State of North Carolina’s HUB Bid Opportunity Page.
  • The City posts paid advertisements in the following 3 diversity newspaper outlets.
    1. Greater Diversity News
    2. The Charlotte Post
    3. The Triangle Tribune

The breadth of reach to our HUB vendor community from posting on the NC HUB Opportunity Page is substantial. Beyond that, the newspaper outlets also enable widespread HUB community outreach via the advertisements. Below are the numbers.

  • Greater Diversity News
    • 34,000 readership
    • 10,000 online subscribers
    • 18,136 average monthly unique website visitors
    • 789,450 average monthly website hits
  • The Charlotte Post
    • 14,900 print subscribers
    • 35,352 average monthly digital users
    • 40,272 average monthly page views
    • 29,169 average monthly unique page views
  • The Triangle Tribune
    • 7,100 print subscribers
    • 28,013 average monthly digital users
    • 33,753 average monthly page views
    • 23,369 average monthly unique page views