The Los Angeles Business Council Institute (LABCi) has expanded its Compete4LA procurement platform in partnership with LA28 Olympic and Paralympic Games sponsors JPMorgan Chase, AECOM, Cisco, and CDW. This initiative aims to help local small businesses win contracts for the 2028 Summer Olympics, Super Bowl LXI, and the Los Angeles Convention Center expansion by connecting them directly with prime contractors and government agencies. The campaign addresses the significant economic opportunity presented by these events, which are projected to generate around $17 billion in economic activity, while supporting LA28’s target of awarding 25% of addressable procurement spending to regional small businesses.

Platform Expansion and Features

Compete4LA serves as a mappable and searchable database containing 40,000 diverse local small suppliers across L.A. County, each with annual revenue of up to $5 million. Developed in partnership with the USC Dornsife Spatial Sciences Institute, the directory maps businesses by their NAICS code and overlays sites for Olympic and Paralympic Games venues. The expanded capabilities include in-person "Meet the Primes" events where entrepreneurs can engage with procurement professionals from key industries including construction, hospitality, manufacturing, transportation, and professional services.

To further support supplier integration, the campaign includes a mentorship program pairing local businesses with experienced larger prime contractors. Prime contractors can download information on up to 200 small businesses from the platform free of charge to widen their supplier pools. These enhancements are designed to provide practical guidance on becoming an approved vendor and gaining insight into upcoming contracting opportunities.

Strategic Partnerships

Sarah Bowles Carter, Vice President and Program Officer for Global Philanthropy at JPMorgan Chase, noted that the bank has supported Compete4LA since its inception. As Official Bank of Team USA and a Founding Partner of the LA28 Games, JPMorgan Chase aims to leverage critical resources to strengthen Los Angeles small businesses before, during, and after the games. Ken Billups, Vice President for Community and Industry Engagement at AECOM, emphasized the firm’s commitment as LA28’s Official Venue Infrastructure Partner to providing local small businesses opportunities to participate in major projects.

Professor John Wilson, founding director of the Spatial Sciences Institute at USC, highlighted that Compete4LA brings science and technology to empowering small businesses. The platform complements the City of Los Angeles’s RAMP LA site, where active LA28 procurement announcements and bid opportunities are posted. LABCi Chair Bob Graziano stated that global events like the Super Bowl and Olympics create long-term economic benefits, and Compete4LA will enable local small businesses to be part of that legacy.

What the Numbers Show

The concentration of procurement targets reveals a strategic shift toward inclusive economic distribution for major events. With LA28 targeting 25% of addressable spending for small businesses, the availability of a verified database of 40,000 suppliers reduces the friction typically associated with vendor onboarding for large-scale infrastructure projects. The free access to supplier data for prime contractors suggests an intent to accelerate the bidding process, potentially increasing the velocity at which capital flows to smaller entities within the region.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. CEO Jamie Dimon is actively rallying corporate leaders to join the Alliance for Critical Infrastructure (ACI), a U.S.-focused industry group designed to mitigate the growing security risks associated with artificial intelligence adoption. As businesses rapidly integrate AI technologies, Dimon has personally contacted CEOs of major banks, regional lenders, and IT companies to expand the initiative’s reach, signaling a coordinated private-sector response to potential cyber vulnerabilities in critical infrastructure.

The ACI, backed by JPMorgan Chase & Co., aims to improve understanding of AI uses, risks, and safeguards while collaborating with the Trump administration. Recent cyberattacks on U.S. water systems have underscored the urgent need for greater information sharing across industries. Dimon stated that the ACI recognized the importance of prioritizing AI years ago and brought critical infrastructure companies together to address these challenges proactively.

Expansion and Membership

The initiative’s expansion efforts began in July, with calls planned for August to discuss cybersecurity collaboration. According to Reuters, the ACI and Dimon have reached out to more than 40 companies across critical infrastructure sectors. While the outreach is ongoing, the ACI has not yet disclosed any formal results from these discussions.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. serves as a founding member of the ACI alongside Mastercard Inc. and Berkshire Hathaway Energy, a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. These entities are helping expand the group’s AI efforts to strengthen coordination and resilience against cyber, physical, and geopolitical threats.

Regulatory and Geopolitical Context

The push for industry collaboration coincides with increased government oversight. The U.S. government launched the Gold Eagle initiative in July to help AI developers, critical infrastructure operators, and federal agencies share information on vulnerabilities and coordinate responses. President Donald Trump indicated that his administration is considering new safeguards for artificial intelligence following a breach incident disclosed by OpenAI involving its Hugging Face platform.

Trump emphasized that any regulations must not slow U.S. innovation or allow China to gain an edge in the global AI race, balancing safety concerns with the goal of maintaining American leadership. Meanwhile, concerns over Chinese open-weight AI models have intensified after Beijing-based Moonshot AI launched its Kimi K3 model, which matched leading OpenAI and Anthropic systems on some benchmarks. This development prompted the Trump administration to renew efforts to restrict foreign open-source AI models amid allegations that Moonshot AI violated U.S. intellectual property rights.

What the Numbers Show

The scale of the outreach—targeting more than 40 companies—highlights the breadth of perceived risk across multiple critical sectors, including finance, energy, and technology. By engaging both financial institutions like JPMorgan Chase & Co. and infrastructure operators, the ACI attempts to bridge the gap between digital asset protection and physical system security. This cross-sector approach suggests that AI-related threats are no longer viewed as isolated IT issues but as systemic risks requiring unified defense strategies among key economic players.