Los Angeles is making it easier for small businesses to compete for lucrative government contracts without having to front the cash themselves. On October 1, Mayor Karen Bass announced an expansion of the city’s Contract Financing program during a fireside chat with Magic Johnson at the third annual Sports and Entertainment Procurement Summit downtown, an event that drew more than 2,000 registered participants.
The program, a public-private partnership between the city and Banc of California, offers small businesses competitive loans to cover the materials, equipment, and other upfront costs that come with fulfilling a government contract. Under the expansion, the financing now extends beyond standard city contracts to cover any government entity, including contracts tied to upcoming sports and entertainment events happening through the county — a category that’s about to get a lot busier.
That timing isn’t an accident. City officials are pointing to the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games, projected to generate roughly $40 billion in economic activity for the region, as a once-in-a-generation opportunity for local vendors, contractors, and suppliers. The catch for many small operators has always been cash flow: winning a government bid is one thing, but covering payroll and materials while waiting on payment is another. That’s the gap this program is meant to close.
“Small businesses should not miss out on major economic opportunities because they lack the upfront capital to fulfill a contract,” Banc of California CEO Jared Wolff said at the summit.
For LA-area business owners, the practical upshot is this: if your business has ever been boxed out of a city, county, or event-related contract because you couldn’t float the costs before getting paid, this program is worth a look. The annual procurement summit, launched in 2024, also connects business owners with guidance on how to actually land these contracts in the first place, not just finance them. With the Olympics on the horizon, the window to get positioned as a vendor for stadiums, transit, hospitality, and event services is open now, not in 2028.
Whether or not your business ends up chasing an Olympics-adjacent contract, the broader signal is encouraging: the city is actively trying to remove financial barriers that have historically kept smaller, often minority- and women-owned businesses out of the public contracting world.
Source: MyNewsLA
Are you a local business owner? Add your business listing on Los Angeles Business Web today.