HUBZone Program
The HUBZone program, created by the HUBZone Act of 1997 and run by SBA, steers federal contracts to small businesses that keep their principal office in a historically underutilized business zone and draw at least 35 percent of employees from HUBZone residents.
Certification runs through SBA under 13 CFR Part 126. A firm must be at least 51 percent owned and controlled by U.S. citizens (separate paths exist for tribal, ANC, CDC, and NHO ownership), keep its principal office in a HUBZone, and count HUBZone residents as at least 35 percent of its employees.
FAR subpart 19.13 gives contracting officers three tools: a set-aside when two or more certified HUBZone concerns are expected to offer at a fair market price, sole-source awards up to $8.5 million for manufacturing NAICS codes and $5.5 million for all others, and a 10 percent price evaluation preference in full and open competition. The statute's sole-source figures are lower; the FAR numbers carry the inflation adjustments.
Compliance does not end at award. During performance a firm need only attempt to maintain the 35 percent floor, and at recertification 20 percent with documented restoration efforts can suffice — but map redesignations and ordinary turnover still push firms out of the program between contracts.
Regulatory Reference
15 U.S.C. 657a; 13 CFR Part 126; FAR Subpart 19.13
RFO Status
The Part 19 model deviation folds HUBZone presolicitation rules into its lifecycle structure while keeping the set-aside, sole-source, and price-preference mechanics intact; Part 19 is not in the June 2026 first-batch proposed rules, so published subpart 19.13 remains the operative citation absent an agency deviation.
Category
Programs & Pathways
How AcqBot Helps
AcqBot surfaces certified HUBZone concerns during market research, documents the two-offer expectation behind a set-aside decision, and applies the 10 percent price evaluation preference correctly at evaluation.
Related glossary entries
SBIR/STTR (Small Business Innovation Research)
SBIR and STTR are congressionally mandated programs requiring federal agencies with large R&D budgets to fund small business innovation through phased awards — feasibility (Phase I), development (Phase II), and commercialization (Phase III), which carries sole-source follow-on authority.
8(a) Business Development Program
The 8(a) Business Development Program, authorized by Section 8(a) of the Small Business Act, gives SBA-certified firms owned by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals a nine-year term of access to sole-source and competitive set-aside federal contracts under 13 CFR Part 124.
Women-Owned Small Business Program (WOSB/EDWOSB)
The Women-Owned Small Business (WOSB) program, created by section 8(m) of the Small Business Act, lets contracting officers set aside contracts, and make limited sole-source awards, to SBA-certified women-owned small businesses in NAICS codes where SBA finds women-owned firms underrepresented.
Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB)
A service-disabled veteran-owned small business (SDVOSB) is a small business at least 51 percent owned and controlled by one or more service-disabled veterans and certified by SBA under 13 CFR Part 128, making it eligible for set-asides and sole-source awards government-wide.