Glossary / Business
Historically Underutilized Business ZoneHUBZone
The HUBZone program is a Small Business Administration program that encourages economic development in Historically Underutilized Business Zones by providing preferential access to federal procurement opportunities. To qualify, a small business must be owned and controlled at least 51% by U.S. citizens, have its principal office in a HUBZone, and have at least 35% of employees residing in a HUBZone. Certified firms are eligible for HUBZone set-asides, HUBZone sole-source awards up to $5.5 million ($8.5 million for manufacturing), and a 10% price-evaluation preference on full-and-open competitions.
Why it matters to your pipeline
The governmentwide goal is to award 3% of federal prime contract dollars to HUBZone firms, and certified firms can compete in HUBZone set-asides closed to everyone else. The 35% residency requirement is both the qualification and the ongoing compliance challenge, since the firm must maintain it continuously. For firms in qualifying geographies (rural areas, distressed urban tracts, Native American lands), HUBZone certification opens set-aside, sole-source and price-preference opportunities the firm would not otherwise have.
When this term shows up in an opening GovSmith finds for you, your vCM explains what it means for that pursuit and does whatever it calls for. You decide; we do the work.
Example
A 12-person IT services firm in a qualifying rural HUBZone wins a $4.2M HUBZone sole-source award from the Army for cybersecurity assessments. Without HUBZone status, the same work would have been competed open-market.
Find out what applies to you
Some terms will matter to your business right away and some won’t for years. A vCM can tell you which are which.