Northern New Mexico small businesses can be certified for HUB zone eligibility through Laboratory

Contact: Steve Sandoval, steves@lanl.gov, (505) 665-9206 (01-120)

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LOS ALAMOS, N.M., Nov. 27, 2001 -- Small businesses in Northern New Mexico interested in becoming certified as a Historically Underutilized Business (HUB) are encouraged to contact the Small Business Program Office at the Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory.

A business that becomes HUB zone certified has additional opportunities to be eligible to provide goods and services to Los Alamos and other federal agencies, explained Carlos Chacon of the Small Business Program Office.

“Local businesses that are not certified are missing out on potentially large volumes of business,” Chacon said. “The [federal] government imposed substantial HUB zone contract award goals on all federal agencies. However, the only way that a company is eligible to be considered for HUB zone related contracting opportunities is to be certified,” he said.

Los Alamos’ Small Business Program Office, the state Procurement Assistance Program and the Regional Development Corp. recently partnered to expand the HUB zone program in Northern New Mexico.

The Small Business Program Office last summer began certifying businesses in designated HUB zones in a six-county region of Northern New Mexico. “Our concern is that local firms are not aware of the importance of obtaining their certifications,” said Chacon. “For this reason we are urging all small business firms in the Northern New Mexico counties of Rio Arriba, Taos, Mora, San Miguel, Santa Fe and Sandoval and all surrounding pueblos interested in this opportunity to contact us immediately,” he said.

Small business owners in this six-county region interested in becoming HUB zone certified should contact Los Alamos’ Small Business Program Office at 667-4410 or write to sbo@lanl.gov by electronic mail.

“The HUB zones contracting program is designed to stimulate economic development in urban and rural areas by creating federal contracting opportunities for small businesses,” Chacon said.

Small businesses in so-called HUB zones must, among other things, have 35 percent of their workforce residing in the area where the business is located; be located in a historically underutilized business zone where unemployment is high and family median income is below federal guidelines; must be considered a small business under traditional federal Small Business Administration guidelines; and must be locally owned by at least one U.S. citizen. The businesses also must maintain their principal business offices in the designated HUB zone area.

Chacon said once a business has been HUB zone certified they are eligible to participate in HUB zone procurements with the Laboratory and other federal agencies.

“The HUB zone program provides local businesses an opportunity to compete for federal procurements on an equal footing with other parts of the country,” Chacon said.

Additional information is available at the Small Business Program Office’s Buy Northern Web page at http://buynorthern.lanl.gov/Main_Pages/HubZone_Opportunities.htm online. The Web page also has a link to a map that shows locations of HUB zones in New Mexico, including Native American pueblos.

Los Alamos National Laboratory is operated by the University of California for the U.S. Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration.