LABC President Mary Leslie was joined by a variety of public and private sector leaders, including Los Angeles Councilmembers Paul Krekorian and Curren Price, on June 21st, 2022, as USC and LABC commemorated the official launch of Compete4LA.

A project that LABC has spearheaded for many years, Compete4LA is an online database of over 31,000 publicly accessible, verified business profiles for Los Angeles County businesses. It aims to help level the playing field for local businesses seeking to support the region’s major sports, entertainment, and cultural events, as well as major public infrastructure projects. The Compete4LA database was developed with the intent to move small businesses onto the City of Los Angeles’ recently launched regional procurement system, the Regional Alliance Marketplace for Procurement (RAMP), a portal that centralizes both public and private procurement opportunities for the region—opening up billions of dollars for small and local businesses to take advantage of.

Roughly 200 viewers tuned in live to the launch event on the 21st, where speakers highlighted how powerful Compete4LA is in terms of delivering more equitable access to business opportunities no matter the zip code.

“The Compete4LA database, and our LA RAMP Procurement System, will be the tools that give everyone the opportunity to more fairly compete to have an opportunity to be married to prime contractors who may have access to some of those larger contracts, and that will open up countless doors of opportunity for our local businesses,” said Councilmember Krekorian.