Company Certifications:

 

MDOT DBE - Mississippi Department of Transportation Disadvantaged Business Enterprise
 

The 8(a) Business Development Program is a business assistance program for small disadvantaged businesses. The 8(a) Program offers a broad scope of assistance to firms that are owned and controlled at least 51% by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals. The 8(a) Program is an essential instrument for helping socially and economically disadvantaged entrepreneurs gain access to the economic markets that are not difficult to enter. The program helps thousands of aspiring entrepreneurs gain a foothold in government contracting. Participation in the program is divided into two phases over nine years: a four-year developmental stage and a five-year transition stage and has established guidelines to ensure procurement are professionally executed, fair, effective and compliant.

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• Federal Contract Advantages and Benefits:

• Sole-Source Procurement:

• A significant benefit from the 8(a) program is that HERITAGE CONSTRUCTION  is eligible to receive sole-source contracts.

• Set-Aside Procurement:

• HERITAGE CONSTRUCTION is eligible for those set-aside procurement competitions that limit the field of eligible participants to other 8(a) concerns.

• Full and Open Procurement Adjustments:

• Heritage Construction is eligible for price evaluation adjustments when bidding on Full and Open procurement's for federal contracts. When submitting a bid, the contracting officer adds a weighted factor determined annually by the Department of Commerce to all other offers.

• Contracting Officer’s Advantage:

• The 8(a) program is the only procurement method that gives Program Managers sole discretion in choosing a contractor team. There are no delays for sole-source selections. There is no requirement for time consuming detailed evaluation of bidders and there is minimal pre-award documentation. An 8(a) contract can be awarded to Heritage Construction in 30-60 days, compared to 6-9 months required in the baseline procurement cycle and can help the Program Manager achieve the federally mandated Small Disadvantaged Business goals.

• Trusted Partners and Subcontractors:

• SBA program rules and regulations recognize that a small business may not possess the entire breadth of skills required by the Program Manager. To that end, 8(a) companies are authorized to subcontract work to other firms; in this way, Heritage Construction can tailor contracting teams for a precise match with the requirement. This represents a substantial opportunity for our trusted partners to pursue and develop business lines in areas previously considered beyond their marketing reach because of the SDB set-aside requirements.

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Mississippi Development Authority

The Minority and Small Business Development Division administers a Minority Business Certification Program for economically and socially disadvantaged minority- and women-owned businesses to help them grow. Certification can be a valuable resource to new businesses, providing help with marketing and identifying public procurement opportunities with schools and government agencies.

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HUBZone 

The Historically Underutilized Business Zones (HUBZone) program helps small businesses in urban and rural communities gain preferential access to federal procurement opportunities. These preferences go to small businesses that obtain HUBZone certification in part by employing staff who live in a HUBZone. The company must also maintain a "principal office" in one of these specially designated areas.

 

Contract Benefits:

There are three types of HUBZone contracts:

 

Competitive

HUBZone contracts can be awarded if the contracting officer has a reasonable expectation that at least two qualified HUBZone small business concerns (SBCs) will submit offers and that the contract will be awarded at a fair market price.

 

Sole-source

HUBZone contracts can be awarded if the contracting officer determines that: one qualified HUBZone SBC is responsible to perform the contract, two or more qualified HUBZone SBCs are not likely to submit offers and the anticipated award price of the proposed contract, including options, will not exceed: $5,000,000 for a requirement within the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code for manufacturing or $4,000,000 for a requirement within all other NAICS codes

 

Full and open

Competitive contracts can be awarded with a price evaluation preference. The offer of the HUBZone small business must not be 10 percent higher than the offer of a non-small business.

 

Other Benefits

Eligible HUBZone firms can qualify for higher SBA-guaranteed surety bonds on construction and service contract bids.

Firms in Empowerment Zones and Enterprise Communities (EZ/EC) can also benefit from employer tax credits, tax-free facility bonds, and investment tax deductions.

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