HUBZone

HUBZONE: HISTORICALLY UNDERUTILIZED BUSINESS ZONE

SD Technology is very proud to be a HUBZone-certified small business and participate in the HUBZone Empowerment Contracting Program. The program was created through an act of congress in 1997 to help increase employment opportunities and stimulate economic development and capital investment in distressed communities across the United States. It provides preferences for Federal contracting awards to qualified small businesses owned by U.S. Citizens whose primary office and at least 35% of its employee pool is located in a HUBZone.

The concept of using government incentives to encourage business development in depressed areas has been in the public domain since the 1970s. Government initiatives in cities and states across the country provided tax incentives to companies that located in designated enterprise zones, harnessing change and continuous attention to technical excellence.

Prior programs of this type mainly focused on providing advantages related to cost savings. Companies were incented to locate in an enterprise zone in order to gain competitive advantage through tax savings. The HUBZone program takes a new approach and instead provides an opportunity for participating companies to increase their revenues by preferential treatment in their pursuit of federal government contracts.

HUBZone-certified companies have three contract vehicles that provide them with an advantage in the federal procurement process:

COMPETITIVE SET ASIDE If two or more HUBZone concerns are qualified to compete at a reasonable price for any specific requirement between $2,500 and $100,000, a procurement official must offer it as a HUBZone set-aside, taking precedence over consideration of the small business set-aside. (FAR Part 19.1305).

SOLE SOURCE CONTRACT If only one responsible Hubzone small business concern can satisfy a non-manufacturing requirement of between $100,000 and $3,000,000, a participating agency contracting officer may award contracts to HUBZone small business concerns on a sole source basis without considering small business set-aside.

10% PRICE ADVANTAGE A preferential factor of 10 percent shall be applied on a line item basis to bids by HUBZone companies. A full and open competition contract can be awarded with this price evaluation preference. The offer of the HUBZone small business will be considered lower than the offer of a non-HUBZone/non-small business-providing that the offer of the HUBZone small business is not more than 10 percent higher.

In addition, all subcontracting plans for large-business federal contractors must include a negotiated HUBZone contracting goal.

THE HUBZONE PROGRAM IS A WIN-WIN-WIN INITIATIVE:

• Distressed areas win by an infusion of jobs, investment and economic development.
• Participating Small Businesses win by increased opportunities to do business with the Federal government.
• Federal agencies win by receiving excellent goods and services from small businesses, and contributing to their growth as future partners.

SD Technology is an enthusiastic supporter of the HUBZone program and encourages both Federal agencies and other small businesses to become more familiar with how they can take advantage of its benefits while helping to contribute to the program's worthwhile aims.