The University of Houston HUB Operations Department: Dedicated to the University’s Mission to Help Small Businesses.
Houston is one of the largest and most diverse cities in the nation. This city also has countless Historically Underutilized Businesses (HUBs) just looking for opportunities to expand their company in this competitive business world. The University of Houston HUB Operations Department (HOD) is dedicated to the University’s mission to help open doors for the small business community. Under the leadership of Director Maya P. Thornton and HUB Specialists Maira Artola and Tanya Douglas, the HOD is making a positive impact in the small and minority business community, while helping our local economy.
The HOD is very successful in what they do, reaching their HUB procurement utilization goals because of Mrs. Thornton’s approach as leader of this department. She does not take her position lightly, committed to the development of meaningful and beneficial business relationships with diverse suppliers and recognizing the value that the relationships add to any business, and the HUB Specialists have the same mindset. “I prefer a hands-on approach, which includes direct company oversight; specific direction and making sure suppliers have what they need to succeed. I believe companies that decide they will not let supplier relationships fail will be in a good position to maximize the business relationship,” says Mrs. Thornton.
Mrs. Thornton and the dedicated HOD team understand the challenges that small business face, and they understand that it can be competitive. This is why they have processes and programs in place to give these businesses the best chance possible to do business with the University of Houston and open doors for them to grow their business. Mrs. Thornton expresses, “We highly believe in a ‘culture of inclusion.’ Just as our University and the City of Houston reflect a diverse population, our HUB Program mirrors these efforts.”
The HUB Operations Department Utilization Goals:
| Heavy Construction | 0% |
| Building Construction | 21.10% |
| Special Trade | 32.90% |
| Professional Services | 23.70% |
| Other Services | 26.00% |
| Commodities | 21.10% |
Q&A with Maya P. Thornton, Director of the University of Houston HUB Operations Department
Talk about your HUB Certification Process.
While the University of Houston is not a certifying agency, we provide an informational pamphlet that outlines the State certification process. We also encourage vendors to directly contact certifying agencies such as the UH Small Business Development Center, the City of Houston Office of Business Opportunity and the State Comptroller’s Office in order to get additional information on the HUB certification process.
Please talk about your Mentor Protégé Program and its success.
The Mentor Protégé Program was re-vamped and re-launched in March 2015. The HOD created a web page for the Mentor Protégé Program that explains the requirements for participation as either a mentor or protégé: https://www.uh.edu/administration-finance/hub/Mentor/. HOD also created and posted a Protégé Application and a Mentor Application on its website to help match HUB protégés with mentors.
Many small/minority businesses worry about not receiving information properly for opportunities. Please talk about your outreach efforts to help ensure that the information is received to the community as a whole.
In addition to posting all formal bid notices to the Electronic State Business Daily (ESBD), the UH Purchasing Department will notify local minority, women and veteran’s organizations of the solicitation opportunity. Further, when attending various HUB outreach events, we provide a listing of current and forecasted solicitation opportunities, along with handouts on How to do Business with the University of Houston. Our HOD website also has a link to current solicitation opportunities, at www.uh.edu/hub under the “Current Bid Opportunities” link.
Many small/minority businesses worry about the processes being fair to receive contracts. Talk about the processes that you have implemented giving all subs/HUBs an opportunity to have the best chance to do business with UH.
We understand the perception of unfair treatment that many HUB vendors feel. In order to offset these perceptions, we have made it one of our top priorities to educate the HUB vendor community on the procurement process at the University of Houston. We have hosted various workshops on How to Do Business with UH and have also created a pamphlet that explains the process in detail. We also encourage vendors to request a debriefing when the vendor has not been awarded a contract.
