To promote job development and growth, SBA is hosting a series of HUBZone Initiative education and training events. SBA’s Historically Underutilized Business Zone (HUBZone) Initiative is designed to introduce your small business to the program, help determine whether your business is eligible, and support your business' efforts to participate.
In Fiscal Year 2010, HUBZone firms were awarded approximately $12 billion in prime contracting, including approximately $3 billion in HUBZone set-asides. Between April and May, SBA will be conducting 68 HUBZone Outreach Initiatives, hosted by each of its District Offices around the country.
When are the HUBZone events? Click here for a list of HUBZone events coming to an area near you.
What is a HUBZone?
HUBZones are SBA-designated geographic regions that have been historically underutilized. A HUBZone may be: a qualified census tract, a qualified nonmetropolitan county, or a qualified base closure area.
What are the benefits of the HUBZone program?
The HUBZone program helps small businesses in urban and rural communities gain preferential access to federal procurement opportunities. HUBZone businesses receive the following advantages:
- Access to competitive and sole source contracting;
- A ten percent (10%) price evaluation preference in full and open contract competitions; and,
- Subcontracting opportunities.
The federal government has a goal of awarding three percent (3%) of all federal prime contracting dollars to HUBZone-certified small businesses.
Is my business eligible to apply for the HUBZone program?
Before your small business can apply for the HUBZone program, you must be eligible. To qualify for the program, a business (except tribally-owned concerns) must meet the following criteria:
- It must be a small business by SBA standards;
- It must be owned and controlled at least 51% by U.S. citizens, or a Community Development Corporation, or an agricultural cooperative, or an Indian tribe;
- Its principal office must be located within a ' Historically Underutilized Business Zone,' (HUBZone finder here) which includes lands considered Indian Country and military facilities closed by the Base Realignment and Closure Act; and,
- At least 35% of its employees must reside in a HUBZone. Reside means to live in a primary residence at a place for at least 180 days, or as a currently registered voter, and with intent to live there indefinitely.
Existing businesses that choose to move to qualified areas are eligible for HUBZone certification. To fulfill the requirement that 35% of a HUBZone firm's employees reside in the HUBZone, employees must live in a primary residence within that area for at least 180 days or be a currently registered voter in that area.
The HUBZone Outreach Initiative is designed to encourage and educate small businesses in ways they can take advantage of the opportunities afforded to them by the federal government. HUBZone promotes economic development in geographic regions that have been historically underutilized as business zones and helps to create jobs where they are needed most.
For more information, visit www.sba.gov/content/applying-hubzone-program.
