Stephanie Tang appointed as Director of SF Contract Monitoring Division to oversee city’s contracting process

(SAN FRANCISCO) Stephanie Tang, an experienced city contract administrator and former labor activist, was appointed as the Director of San Francisco’s Contract Monitoring Division (CMD).

San Francisco City Administrator Carmen Chu announced the appointment of Tang to the CMD on January 31. CMD is one of the city departments under the supervision of Chu.

In her new role as the head of the city's contracting department, Tang would oversee the City’s contracting process and strengthen the City’s Local Business Enterprise (LBE) program, which helps local small businesses compete for City contracts.

“Throughout her career Stephanie has placed equity at the forefront of her work,” said Chu. “She started her career with the City and County of San Francisco at the Contract Monitoring Division (CMD) and was later promoted to the Port of San Francisco where she has worked tirelessly to open and daylight procurement opportunities for local businesses. I am thrilled to welcome Stephanie back to lead CMD and even more excited to work with her to strengthen the local business program.”

Chu said Tang would bring extensive experience in soliciting contracts and managing programs to support small businesses as the Director of CMD.

Tang first joined the City and County of San Francisco in 2016 as a Contracts Compliance Officer at the CMD, where she led the Local Business Enterprise (LBE) certification unit for over three years.

In 2020, Tang began working as the Contracts and Procurement Manager at the Port of San Francisco. Tang oversaw $118 million in contracts and the competitive solicitations for real estate development at Piers 30-32 and Piers 38-40, with an expected project value of over $1 billion.

"I’m looking forward to returning to CMD to advance economic opportunity for San Francisco’s micro and small businesses and promote fairness and inclusion in City contracting,” said Tang. “San Francisco offers incredible opportunities for local businesses to work on dynamic projects that enhance our City and provide services that San Franciscans depend on. I look forward to working with the LBE community and local business stakeholders to ensure that our local micro and small businesses have access to these rich opportunities.”

Under her new position, Tang is committed to strengthening the Local Business Enterprise (LBE) program to support the local small businesses to compete for city contracts.

Up to the present, CMD has certified 1170 businesses as Local Business Enterprises (LBEs) that would help them to be more competitive in the City’s bidding process, including by providing “bid discounts” and “rating bonus points” when bidding as Primes, setting aside certain contracts for bidding by micro-certified firms, and providing free resources and technical help.

Any mall businesses interested in becoming certified as LBEs can find more information at the webpage:

https://sf.gov/14b-local-business-enterprise-lbe-program

CMD also oversees the Contractor’s Accelerated Payment Program (CAPP), which provides capital loans up to $250,000 to help LBE-certified contractors win and complete construction contracts with the City.

Tang was born in San Jose and raised outside of New York City. "I became active in the labor movement as a student at Johns Hopkins University. I graduated from college and started work as a full-time organizer. This was rewarding work as I saw how democracy could be used as a tool of advocacy in the workplace," said Tang.

Prior to joining the City and County of San Francisco, Tang led organizing, change management, and strategic planning efforts as the Director of Organizing for Workers United (SEIU) and the United Auto Workers. She has worked on labor campaigns in the United States, Canada, and China.

Tang also earned a Master Degree of Public Policy from the University of California, Berkeley. Tang resides in San Francisco and was one of the first “librarians” in the City to maintain a little free library for neighborhood book exchange.