Together in Business -- Building A Stronger Texas
The Texas Association of HUBs (Historically Underutilized Businesses) is where HUBs from across the state, representing all industries, join together to promote HUB utilization and maintain a voice with both the Texas Legislature and Texas Building and Procurement Commission (TBPC) on issues affecting HUBs. TAH is a Texas-based not-for-profit association established in the Fall of 2003 by an all-volunteer group of HUB owners and employees who share a vision of creating such an organization. Information on the HUB program is available at http://www.tbpc.state.tx.us/hub.
Through an innovative partnership established in 2006, the Department of Information Resources (DIR) and TAH are now collaborating on ways to increase HUB business opportunities as a result of House Bill 1516 and are forming a DIR HUB Advisory Board to include representatives from diverse small and minority-owned businesses. In January, DIR and TAH co-sponsored a networking session which brought prime vendors together with potential HUB subcontractors (pictured below).
TAH volunteers promote the association throughout the year at tradeshows, HUB Forums and other events such as the Government Technology Conference (GTC) Southwest held in Austin.
Visitors are encouraged to view the Events page to learn about upcoming networking and business development opportunities and to volunteer with other members to promote TAH. Additional activities and membership benefits are being planned and we encourage you to visit this site often. We also invite you to view the Useful Links page, which provides you with active web links. Here you will find a link to state government websites and a link to one of our partners, ACCION Texas, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit loan fund whose mission is to provide loans to small business owners lacking access to commercial credit. ACCION Texas makes business loans that help micro entrepreneurs strengthen their businesses, stabilize their incomes, create additional employment, and contribute to the economic revitalization of their communities.
The TAH Procurement Portal is one of the most valuable benefit of TAH membership -- it is where TAH members receive Business Opportunities distributed by Members for Members. The TAH Procurement Policy is provided below.
Full (HUB ) and Associate (Prime Vendors ) TAH members may post business opportunities on this site for other members to review and which target HUB vendors which have the products and services required for fulfilling a particular solicitation.
The use of this service assists members in identifying potential HUB businesses for subcontracting opportunities and is a partial fulfillment of the good faith effort prescribed in Texas Government Code, 2161.181 and 2161.182. It is the member's responsibility to factor in the solicitation processing time described below when meeting critical State-prescribed subcontractor solicitation requirements.
Members using the TAH portal to post opportunities will log in and submit an online RFP form describing the opportunity and target vendor audience and may provide links, contact points, deadlines, and so forth. Once the form is posted, it is picked up and processed electronically by TAH Staff resulting in its immediate distribution to the target audience within the TAH membership database. TAH does not provide administrative support beyond this point; interested vendors communicate directly with the company which posted the RFP. RFP forms received by 12:00 noon one business day are routinely processed by 5:00p.m. the next business day.
TAH Full ($100 HUB) and Associate ($200 non-HUB) members have unlimited access to services offered at this site.
Photographs taken in January 2006 at the networking forum co-sponsored by DIR and TAH are posted below. The last photo was taken July 11, 2006 at the DIR Hub Advisory Board (HAB) kickoff.
