The other day, I received and e-mail from someone looking for TPPA Members who are “Hub Certified”. Frankly, I had no idea what that meant, so I asked the writer and she explained it was short for “Historically Underutilized Business” (HUB).
After doing a little reading, I learned that this program may be great for many of our TPPA Members. I also assumed most of you know about as much the program as I do, so that is why I wanted to share this with you.
This program is designed to connect state agencies and universities in Texas with businesses that are certified as Historically Underutilized Businesses. This program is administered by the Texas State Comptroller’s office which shares the following on the texas.gov website:
Who qualifies to be a Historically Underutilized Business?
• a for-profit entity that has not exceeded the size standard prescribed by 34 TAC §20.23, and has its principal place of business in Texas, and
• is at least 51 percent owned by an Asian Pacific American, Black American, Hispanic American, Native American, American woman and/or Service Disabled Veteran, who reside in Texas and actively participate in the control, operations and management of the entity’s affairs.
The state provides agencies and universities with a directory of HUB certified businesses that make it easy for them to find vendors for their projects and needs.
HUB certification is free and only has to be renewed every 4 years.
This program has the potential of bringing a lot of new business to our TPPA membership and we are excited to share details about this program. To learn more and to sign up, click here to go directly to the State Comptroller’s website.
Steve Kozak
TPPA Executive Director
