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Maine’s small businesses are the economic stalwart
of communities across the state. They provide jobs
and financial stability to thousands of individuals
in Maine and add greatly to our economy. I am deeply
committed to ensuring that they succeed, not only
because I am Chair of the Senate Committee on Small
Business and Entrepreneurship, but because I truly
believe in the power of small businesses to make
positive economic change. To this end, I recently
held a series of forums across the state that were
designed to help businesses learn about the
opportunities available to them.
The focus of these forums was on the Historically
Underutilized Business Zone, or HUBZone program.
This program is a unique economic development
initiative under the jurisdiction of my committee.
Its purpose is to develop new small businesses and
create jobs in low-income or high-unemployment
communities through the financial leverage of
government contracts and subcontracts. The HUBZone
program is designed to stimulate economic
development and create jobs in urban and rural
communities by providing Federal contracting
preference to small businesses.
In the past, the Federal government has
been criticized for spending significant sums of
money on development programs that provided jobs
training but failed to attract jobs to the
economically depressed or underdeveloped areas. The
HUBZone approach is to direct government contracts
and subcontracts to small businesses which operate
and hire in these areas. This gives the private
sector the incentive to do the actual jobs creation,
training, and hiring. To be certified, a company
must locate its principal office in a HUBZone and
employ not less than 35 percent of its employees
there.
In Maine, the HUBZone areas are: Franklin, Oxford,
Somerset, Piscataquis, Washington and Aroostook
Counties, six Indian Reservations, and 23 other
areas in 5 counties. Communities and small
businesses in these areas need every single HUBZone
contracting dollar available. But it concerns me
that Maine businesses are not taking full advantage
of this vital program. Currently, only 120 Maine
firms are certified as HUBZone firms out of
approximately 142,000 small businesses which exist
in Maine. In 2004, Maine received less than 1
percent of the $4.8 billion in Federal HUBZone
contracts.
Because so few firms take advantage of this program,
the forums that I held were a chance for Maine small
business owners located in HUBZones to learn how
they can take advantage of federal government
contracts. At these forums, which were held in South
Paris, Farmington, Skowhegan, Dover-Foxcroft,
Presque Isle, Houlton, and Machias, my staff
presented educational programs to encourage small
business owners located in these zones to seek
certification and utilize the Federal program.
Participants also heard from representatives of the
Small Business Administration about how to get
certified as a HUBZone business and from
representatives of the Maine Procurement Technical
Assistance Center about finding and pursuing
government contracts through the HUBZone Program
Since its creation in the Senate Small
Business Committee in 1997, the HUBZone program has
directed millions in government contracts to
distressed areas of Maine and it has the potential
to be even more profitable. For instance, in Fiscal
Year 2004, Federal civilian and defense HUBZone
prime contracts performed in Maine topped $3.4
million. And in Fiscal Year 2005, Federal civilian
agencies received 17 HUBZone contracts totaling
$2.25 million. Such numbers do not even include
HUBZone subcontracts or contracts for Maine HUBZone
firms which are performed in other states and even
overseas in support of our troops.
As I travel across Maine and hear of
towns that are thinking of turning their charters
back to the state because they no longer have a
sufficient tax base to support town operations, I am
reminded that the HUBZone program is a perfect fit
for many communities. I strongly encourage small
businesses throughout the state to look into the
program and see if it could help them. I want to
ensure that our businesses are given every
opportunity possible to succeed and contribute to
Maine’s economy because when small businesses are
thriving, everyone benefits.
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