Currently a HUBZone small business contractor must be compliant at the time of award and at the time of bid. If a HUBZone small business has 2 of 3 of its employees living in a HUBZone and they submit a bid but then, before the award is made, one of its HUBZone-residing employees takes a job elsewhere. At the time of the bid, 66% of its employees lived in a HUBZone; at the time of the award, only 33% did. Through no fault of its own, the company would not be eligible for the award.
The proposed change to the program would help resolve the dilemma of eligibility requirements for awards at the time of bid and award. SBA has proposed that a company only needs to be certified or recertified once a year and will not need to prove compliance at the date of bid or at the time of award.
This change will be welcomed by all HUBZone companies that are faced with the possibility of losing a contract award based on employees moving out of a HUBZone area.