Small businesses in Northwest Pasadena will get a roadmap on Tuesday, Aug. 11, for landing supplier contracts tied to the 2028 Olympic Games, with sourcing in some categories expected to open this year.

Deputy City Manager Alexander Souto is scheduled to brief the Northwest Commission at 6:30 p.m. at the Jackie Robinson Community Center, 1020 North Fair Oaks Ave. The presentation, previewed in city slides obtained by Pasadena Now, lays out eight service categories where local firms can compete for LA28 work and a timeline showing when bidding begins.

The Rose Bowl will host Olympic events for the third time in 2028, putting Pasadena at the center of the Games' economic footprint. LA28's procurement plan pledges that 75% of its addressable spending will go to businesses in the five-county Greater Los Angeles region and 25% to small businesses specifically.

What's up for bid

The eight procurement categories span cleaning and laundry services, construction and event commodities, food and beverage, health and safety, interior design, textiles and apparel, security guard services, and translation and interpretation.

Sourcing is expected to begin in 2026 for catering, concessions, food commodities, plumbing, event delivery and physical security. Janitorial services, laundry, interior design and in-person interpretation contracts are forecast to open in 2027.

How to register

LA28 posts every competitive sourcing event through the Regional Alliance Marketplace for Procurement at RAMPLA.org. The organizing committee recommends businesses register on the portal and check it at least every two weeks for new Requests for Information and Expressions of Interest.

LA28 launched the procurement framework on April 8 in partnership with Intuit, creating the Intuit & LA28 Small Business Supplier Program to offer mentorship and resources. LA28 chief executive officer Reynold Hoover said April 8 that the plan "marks the foundation of our work to give clarity to local and small businesses so they can seize this moment."

To keep smaller firms competitive, LA28 says it will unbundle large contracts into smaller pieces, right-size requirements so they don't favor large incumbents, and create pre-qualified vendor pools.

What's next

The meeting is open to the public. Residents and business owners can call (626) 744-4124 for more information. The overall LA28 Games budget stands at $7.149 billion, according to the organizing committee's most recent annual report to the City of Los Angeles, though the share classified as "addressable" procurement has not been publicly specified.