The purchase of supplies and services from Ohio companies promotes economic development and stability within the State by stimulating trade and industry growth while providing jobs to Ohioans. The State is committed to making purchases from Ohio companies when opportunities arise and are appropriate based on the State’s needs.                                                                                

The "Think Ohio First" Procurement Scorecard measures the purchases of supplies and services that state governmental agencies make with Ohio businesses. This scorecard represents purchases for personal services, supplies, other services, maintenance, etc. The scorecard does not include purchases related to construction.                                                                                       

The scorecard shows the total spend for the supplies and services. From the total spend the scorecard approximates the purchases made under the Buy Ohio policy (ORC 125.09 and 125.11) by sorting purchases with companies that have a location in Ohio, purchases with companies that have a location in a state qualifying as a bordering state, and purchases with companies that do not have an Ohio or qualifying bordering state location. Due to the complexity of determining Buy Ohio preference, this scorecard may not be an exact reflection of Buy Ohio qualifying purchases.                                                                                                                                          
Dollars represented in the Ohio spend include approximately $13 million in purchases using the State’s payment card. Since the payments for this type of purchase go through the payment card bank, purchases with non-Ohio companies could be included in this amount.                                                                                                                                          
Dollars represented in the Other State spend include purchases made with companies awarded a contract through a competitive bid by the Department of Administrative Services (DAS). During the evaluation process of these competitive bids, DAS applies the Buy Ohio policy when determining the awarded companies. Agencies are required to use the companies awarded on the DAS competitive contracts regardless of the companies’ location.