The legislative intent of this chapter is declared to be as follows: The most important element of the American economic system of private enterprise is free and vigorous competition. Only through the existence of free and vigorous competition can free entry into business and opportunities for personal initiative and individual achievement be assured. The preservation and expansion of such competition is essential for our economic well-being. In order to insure such competition, small business concerns must be encouraged and developed, and it is the declared policy of the state to aid, counsel, and assist, in every practical manner, the interests of small business concerns in order to preserve free competitive enterprise and to insure that a fair proportion of the total purchases and contracts or subcontracts for property, commodities, and services for the state be placed with small businesses.