Fact Check: A Paperwork Burial

Statement: “We’ve reduced the paperwork from literally, probably an inch thick to three or four pages so a small business can actually do it,” Mayor Jerry Sanders said Nov. 17.

Determination: True

Analysis: At a luncheon hosted by the San Diego County Taxpayer’s Association, Sanders touted the city’s efforts in recent years to slash red tape facing small businesses.

Until this summer, small, local businesses faced much of the same regulatory hurdles as big companies vying for the city’s construction contracts. So the city created a tiered system.

Companies competing for projects larger than $1 million still must complete a 20-page questionnaire and submit financial statements, which, depending on the level of detail, can push the paperwork over an inch thick, city purchasing officials said.

To qualify for construction projects costing under $1 million, small businesses can now complete a three-page registration form. They no longer have to complete the detailed questionnaires and submit financial statements still required for big contracts.

Through the tiered system, city officials argue that small, local companies will have a better chance of winning for contracts within their means. They’ll be competing against companies of the same size.

Since it’s possible a small business could have faced inch-thick piles of paperwork, and now they won’t for smaller contracts, we’ve called Sanders’ statement true.

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Please contact Keegan Kyle directly at keegan.kyle@voiceofsandiego.org or 619.550.5668 and follow him on Twitter: twitter.com/keegankyle.