How do I take advantage of the HUBZone contracting benefits?
In order to be able to take advantage of the HUBZone contracting benefits, you will have to apply for the HUBZone certification. During the process SBA needs to certify that your business meets these four criteria:
- Your company is a small business as specified by the SBA size standards
- Your company is exclusively owned and controlled by U.S. citizens
- Your company’s headquarters (principal office) is located in a HUBZone
- At least 35% of your company’s full-time employees live in a HUBZone.
As a small business located in a designated HUBZone, your company is eligible for HUBZone contracting benefits, including sole source, price evaluation preference, and set-asides.
- Sole source – the contracting officer may award contracts to qualified HUBZone small business on a sole source basis without considering small business set-asides.
- Price evaluation preferences - awards to qualified HUBZone companies through full and open competition after a price evaluation preference in favor of a qualified HUBZone company.
- Set-asides awards are based on competition restricted to qualified HUBZone businesses.
To learn more about the eligibility criteria of these contracting benefits, visit Acquisition Central website.
In addition, under the HUBZone certification program your business can qualify for higher SBA-guaranteed surety bonds on construction and service contract bids.
Also, please keep in mind that if you are participating in the 8(a) Business Development Program and you are a HUBZone certified business as well, then you are eligible to reap the benefits available under both programs.
How do I know if my company is located in a HUBZone or not?
You can easily verify if your company is located in a HUBZone by visiting http://www.sba.gov/hubzone and by clicking on the Are you in a HUBZone link. You can search by address, town, or county. In Brevard County there are 3 HUBZones. They are located in Titusville, Cocoa, and Melbourne.
What are the next steps?
- 1. If your business is located within a HUBZone and your business meets SBA’s requirements certification you may want to apply for the HUBZone Certification. The HUBZone application can be found on SBA’s website.
- 2. Once you become HUBZone certified, every three years you will need to certify to SBA that your business continues to remain a qualified HUBZone Small Business Concern. Otherwise SBA may start the decertification process.
- 3. You also need to immediately notify SBA of any changes in your business that might disqualify you as a HUBZone Small Business Concern, for example, if you move your principal office out of the HUBZone, the ownership of the company changes or your company no longer employs at least 35% of HUBZone residents.
While compliance requirements may sound discouraging at times, the HUBZone Program continues to provide small businesses with additional revenue opportunities that otherwise may be really difficult to obtain. So if you can, I encourage you to talk to other business owners who are HUBZone certified, learn from their experience, and take advantage of the program.