ONAWAY, MI: On January 2, 2019, Moran Iron Works announced that it has been awarded the Historically Underutilized Business Zone (HUBZone) certification by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) on Wednesday, January 9, 2019. The program, passed into law as part of the Small Business Reauthorization Act of 1997, was established to provide qualified small businesses in historically underutilized business zones with assistance when pursuing federal contracts. This provides MIW with increased opportunity when pursuing specified Federal contracts.
“This designation better positions us to provide valuable metal solutions on a Federal level, expand our business, and increase our commitment of promoting local economic employment growth,” noted Tom Moran, CEO & Founder of MIW.
To achieve HUBZone Certification, MIW had to meet a range of criteria that included things such as its principal office being located in a Federally-mapped HUBZone area and 35% or more of its employees residing within HUBZone regions. Additionally, MIW had to submit a comprehensive application process that confirmed these and other stringent requirements as set forth by the program.
As a part of this and other SBA contracting programs, Federal agencies have an annual goal of awarding 3% of all federal prime contracts to HUBZone-certified small business concerns. In 2017 alone, this 3% amounted to over 80,000 contracts and a dollar amount topping $7.5 billion.