CBSI has tried to make this as easy, inexpensive, efficient and complete as possible for you to perform the basic Good Faith Effort. Please remember, any affirmative action requirement is ultimately to spread contract work to as many businesses as is feasible in order to complete a project; therefore, it is wise to negotiate whenever possible with responses to your advertising and solicitations.

Please use the links provided to work your way effortlessly through the process. Don’t worry, you won’t get lost. Simply use the “back” button, on your browser.

There are usually 5 basic requirements to a simple DVBE good faith effort for most California State contracts:

(1)  Contact the awarding department either by telephone, fax, email and attend pre-bid conferences/walk-thru’s - as specified in Good Faith Requirements, which should be included with every bid package that requires same.

(2)  Advertise – Make sure you publish your advertisement within the stipulated time limits, or in plenty of time before the bid date.

You can place your Trade and Focus ad right on the CBSI Web site quickly and easily. The cost is only $35, and you can use a credit card on the secure site. You are essentially publishing your own ad which can be printed immediately right off the web site. (This is an excellent feature for those on a short time-frame.) Include it with your bid package.

When filling out your Good Faith forms, stipulate that your Trade advertisement as going in “Construction Bid Source” (which is seen by members of Construction Bid Source linked with the project in the CBSI database) and your Focus ad as being published in “Construction Bid Source Interactive” (which is seen at no charge by the whole world on the CBSI web site at www.constructionbidsource.com).

Sometimes, requirements will stipulate that you must also advertise in more places, such as a local newspaper of general circulation. If you don't know the name of a newspaper publication in the project area, use an on-line resource such as www.switchboard.com or www.sbcyellowpages.com to find one. You may also perform a web search for newspapers by going to www.google.com or another suitable search engine.