The Historically Underutilized Business Zone (HUBZone) Act (15 U.S.C. § 675a) sets forth three ways in which contracting agencies may provide contracting assistance to HUBZone contractors. The contracting agency may award contracts to HUBZone contractors on a sole source basis or they may restrict competition to just HUBZone contractors. In addition, on contracts to be awarded under full and open competition, contracting officers are to give a price preference to the prices offered by HUBZone contractors.
The HUBZone Act states that: “the price offered by a qualified HUBZone small business concern shall be deemed as being lower than the price offered by another offeror (other than another small business concern), if the price offered by the qualified HUBZone small business concern is not more than 10 percent higher than the price offered by the otherwise lowest, responsive, and responsible offeror.” In practice, how the price preference impacts award of contracts depends on the circumstances of the bids.
Keep reading this article at: http://pilieromazza.com/blog/the-hubzone-price-preference-provides-a-benefit-to-contractors-but-at-a-price
