The Governor’s Marketplace — Oregon’s premier event focused on public contracting and business resources — is coming to the Four Rivers Cultural Center in Ontario on June 10, 2026, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. This conference brings together state agencies, businesses, and community resource partners from across Oregon to strengthen connections and expand opportunities in public contracting.
This year’s theme, “Pathways to Partnerships,” highlights the importance of building shared success across the state by increasing collaboration between businesses, communities, and public agencies. Through direct engagement with agency procurement teams, prime contractors, and technical assistance organizations, attendees will gain valuable insights into how to participate in state contracting opportunities.
This event will feature exhibitor booths, networking opportunities, and multiple training sessions designed to help businesses better understand government procurement processes. Contractors licensed through the Oregon Construction Contractors Board may also earn continuing education units (CEU) for training sessions attended.
Attendance is free, and participants will receive light morning refreshments and lunch. The Governor’s Marketplace continues to serve as a key platform for building relationships that support equitable participation and strengthen Oregon’s public contracting ecosystem.
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DAS has been made aware of a US Department of Justice Interim Final Rule that indicates an extention of the compliance deadline for implimenting the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 AA for governments with populations over 50,000. The deadline has been moved from April 24, 2026 to April 26, 2027.
DAS is not changing direction and will continue to make all documents WCAG compliant. The extention allows extra time for fixing non urgent, internal only files, with the goal of having all public facing documents accessible in 2026.
More information about the WCAG 2.1 standards can be found at the W3C Recommendation website.
The Office of Procurement Equity is concluding a yearlong effort to engage Oregon’s business community in advancing the recommendations from the 2023 State of Oregon Disparity Study. Through work groups and listening sessions, we collaborated with the community and state agency representatives to review all 29 recommendations. Each session provided valuable insights to support more equitable participation in state procurement. As we develop the final report, we want to thank all our partners for lending their expertise to drive meaningful, lasting changes for businesses across the state.
The report will be published on the Office of Procurement Equity’s website this spring.
The Advisory Committee on Proposed Rule Changes for HB 2337 (2025) convened in March to guide the implementation of the new preference for Oregon Small Business Enterprises (OSBE).
Business Oregon has set eligibility standards and will certify businesses as OSBE, while DAS will develop the preference program itself. The Rules Advisory Committee reviewed the draft rule language, provided feedback, and supported DAS in refining the buy-decision process to advance small business equity in Oregon procurement.
The meeting recording is available on the Office of Procurement Equity’s website under “Outreach and Upcoming Events” section or can be accessed with the QR code above.
The public comment part of the rulemaking process has concluded and the preference program is anticipated to launch on July 1, 2026. Information is available on DAS’ website, the Rulemaking page.
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The version 26.1 release deployed to OregonBuys on Thursday, April 23. Many of the updates in the release were related to federal accessibility requirements, however other notable updates include:
- Addition of an Advanced Search bar at the top of the homepage for logged in vendors
- Ability to press 'Enter' key when using Multi-factor Authentication (MFA) tokens
- The "No Bid" checkbox is no longer checked by default for vendors when entering Quotes
- Vendor attachments on Quotes are marked confidential by default
- Participating vendors will receive emailed reminders 3 days prior to the Opening Date for Bids
- Improvements to searching and sorting functionality
- Improvements to optimize system performance
The OPE team would like to thank the interim Procurement Equity Manager, Alexandria Straub, for her steady leadship over the last several months. Alexandria did an excellent job stepping in as manager, navigating the team through many changes, and keeping the work moving forward through the transition.
The new Procurement Impact Manager, Edina Hailslip, will start on May 1, 2026. Edina was previously the COBID manager and brings great experience with advancing equity in public contracting and utilizing policy to make meaningful, measurable outcomes for agencies and communities. |
