TexAmericas Center has announced the extension of its Small Business Administration (SBA) Historically Underutilized Business Zone (HUBZone) designation until June 30, 2023. The designation was first awarded to the 12,000-acre industrial park in 2017 and has since played a significant role in attracting business to the region.
Serving as a leading economic development driver in the Texarkana area, TexAmericas Center has long considered the HUBZone Program to be an important tool in the company’s economic development toolbox, offering an added incentive for firms to consider establishing operations in the region. The Program has attracted HUBZone-certified businesses like Braswell Services – which provides labor, services, procurement, and logistics support to commercial, government, and the military – to expand in the region.
“TexAmericas Center is pleased to continue providing our tenants and business prospects the opportunity to become certified participants in the U.S. SBA HUBZone Program,” said Scott Norton, CEO and Executive Director of TexAmericas Center. “This extension will be vital for us to continue to attract more new businesses and encourage quality job growth in the region as demand for both continues to increase as we look forward to a post-pandemic future.”
As the region recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic and TexAmericas Center works to stimulate further regional growth with the addition of a 150,000 square foot spec building expected to be completed in summer 2021, this designation will be key to continue providing new employment opportunities to area residents, encouraging new employees to relocate to the region, and has the potential to promote mutually beneficial partnerships among industry, workforce centers, and educational institutions.
The HUBZone Program helps small businesses gain access to federal set-aside contracts and sole source contracts, as well as a price evaluation preference in full and open contract competitions. HUBZone businesses represent any-and-all industries that can do business with the federal government. In FY2019, the Federal Government awarded $11.5 billion to HUBZone-certified businesses.
The HUBZone Program establishes preference for award of federal contracts to small businesses in designated areas. To qualify for the program, a business must meet the following criteria (different rules apply for businesses owned by an Indian Tribal Government, an Alaska Native Corporation, a Community Development Corporation, a Native Hawaiian Organization, or a small agricultural cooperative):
§ The firm must be a small business based on the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) size standards.
§ The business must be at least 51% owned and controlled by U.S. citizens, or a Community Development Corporation, an agricultural cooperative, or an Indian tribe (including Alaska Native Corporations).
§ The firm’s principal office (the location where the greatest number of employees perform their work, excluding contract sites) must be in a HUBZone.
§ 35% of the firm’s total workforce must reside in a HUBZone.
The SBA oversees, regulates, and implements the HUBZone Program. SBA conducts the following:
Determines which businesses are eligible to receive HUBZone contracts
Maintains a listing of qualified HUBZone small businesses that federal agencies can use to locate vendors
Monitors continuing eligibility of HUBZone firms
Adjudicates protests of eligibility in connection with HUBZone contract awards
The program’s benefits for HUBZone-certified companies include:
§ Competitive (i.e., HUBZone set-asides) and sole source contracting
§ 10% price evaluation preference in full and open contract competitions
§ Subcontracting opportunities
Each year, the Federal Government has an annual goal of awarding 3% of all federal prime contracts to HUBZone-certified small business concerns. As a 20-year member of the Greater Texarkana region’s small business community, TexAmericas Center’s HUBZone extension will allow its tenants to continue participating in the program and play a key role in cultivating the region’s growing small business community.
To learn more about the HUBZone Program at TexAmericas Center and how it will be leveraged to aid in continued development in the region, visit www.texamericascenter.com.
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