The UH HUB Operations Department: Always Evolving to Successfully Serve the Small Business Community

By Subcontractors USA News Provider

Where colleges and universities open doors for the Historically Underutilized Business (HUB) community through their separate programs, the University of Houston (UH) HUB Operations Department (HOD) uses the “continuous improvement” approach, proving successful in connecting HUBs with this Tier One university for lucrative opportunities.  Under the leadership of the Director of HUB Operations Dr. Linelle Clark, she and her team work strategically, diligently, and intentionally to identify and implement ever-changing strategies that have proven effective in increasing procurement opportunities for HUBs.

As HOD enters a new year and adjusts to the impact of COVID-19; working remotely, social distancing, staying masked up; the HOD team remains ready, willing, and able to promote the inclusion of HUB vendors in university procurements.  “This unforeseen pandemic has definitely forced a change in the structure in how our department operates.  But I am proud of how my team and I have stepped up, above and beyond to meet the challenge, so we continue to provide HUBs access to procurement opportunities.  An example is our Building and Special Trade categories providing large opportunities for HUBs.  HOD is also laser focused on the smaller spend areas such as commodities,” said Dr. Clark.  

Being focused on the smaller spend areas has proven beneficial in exceeding UH’s HUB commodity purchasing goal.  HOD revamping its annual HUB vendor fair, taking a more targeted approach has been vital to surge contracting opportunities for HUB exhibitors.  For the April 2020 HUB Vendor Fair, fiscal year expenditure data was used by the HOD staff to determine the types of HUB vendors to invite as exhibitors and targeted UH staff with purchasing authority to attend the event.  This event included 34 exhibitors and 250 UH staff resulting in $28,859.00 being spent with HUBs.  “This was a great effort with predicted outstanding results if we were to move forward, but unfortunately, shortly after hosting this fair, COVID-19 impacted budgets and procurements.  HOD however, saw this as an opportunity not to be stagnant, but adapt, still being instrumental as a department to extend procurement opportunities for HUBs,” Dr. Clark expressed. 

HOD implemented the following new and improved activities to help increase HUB contracting opportunities that began FY2020:

• Elevating the assistance to UH departments in the identification of HUB vendors by:
  • Providing each college and division with a monthly HUB use report
  • Holding bi-annual HUB meetings with each college and division to jointly review expenditures to show missed HUB contracting opportunities and provide examples of HUBs that offer those services or commodities 
  • Assisting college and division business offices in finding HUB vendors in needed categories
  • Providing all colleges with an annual HUB goal designed to stretch their prior spend rates
• HOD and Information Technology developed a HUB Vendor database used by colleges and divisions for spot bid and informal bid procurements.
• HOD held a Purchasing Cooperative Workshop to help HUBs become aware of the benefits of being a part of a cooperative and how to become a cooperative member.
• HOD created the Did You Know? quarterly newsletter containing information about contracting opportunities, answer frequently asked questions, and share tips to help facilitate access and contracting opportunities.
• HOD implemented targeted HUB Vendor Fairs consisting of exhibitors that provide commodities and/or services that colleges/departments can identify a possible need for during the applicable fiscal year.
• HOD in partnership with the UH Construction Management Department and National Association of Minority Contractors created a Construction Management Talent Pipeline program to increase the construction industry talent pool and provide HUBs with knowledge to help them to be more competitive as prime contractors for construction work, including UH construction projects.
• HOD will host B2G trainings for contractors (primes and subcontractors) to highlight best practices and illustrate how to successfully utilize the B2GNow system. 
• HOD hosts kick-off events held for major construction projects organized to not only share information, but to facilitate 2-way communication between panelists and attendees.
• HOD continues its HUB outreach via participation in community events.

Dr. Clark highlights some of the HOD’s recently implemented activities:

Construction Talent Pipeline Program – HUB Operations uses data to identify gaps in services and innovative responses to help increase HUB participation. For example, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), there are nearly 256,000 construction job vacancies (https://www.bls.gov/news.release/jolts.t01.htm) as of April 2020—ranking as one of the business categories most in need of labor within the private sector.  The labor shortage within the construction field impacts both HUBs and non-HUBs of all sizes. HUB Operations also recognizes there is a big difference between a $1M contract and a $30M contract, and there are HUB firms interested in transitioning from being a subcontractor to a prime contractor on UH construction projects. In response, the HUB Operations staff in partnership with the UH Construction Management (CM) Department and National Association of Minority Contractors (NAMC) created the Construction Management Talent Pipeline program.  The program offers internships for UH students majoring in Construction Management and classes to provide HUB subcontractors with knowledge to help them to be more competitive as prime contractors for construction work, including UH construction projects. Program graduates receive 32-hours CEU’s and opportunities for mentor-protégé arrangements.

HUB Vendor Database – UH has internally developed this user-friendly database that allows HUBs to self-register into the system so the UH business office staff who initiate purchases can find the HUB vendors conveniently.  The database also allows the HUB Operations Department to extract applicable HUB vendor information as needed. 

Cooperative Purchasing Workshop – HOD hosted this workshop to increase the small business community’s knowledge about purchasing cooperatives to potentially increase their customer base and show how UH campuses utilizing cooperatives allow staff to select vendors without additional competitive bidding.

HOD deserves to boast of its expansion that is effective, even in the midst of COVID-19, connecting HUBs to UH procurement opportunities.  “Though COVID-19 has definitely brought its share of challenges, our team’s thinking outside of the box and adopting new actions have kept us ahead of the curve so the small business community is able to remain competitive in their respective areas,” Dr. Clark said.    

HOD’s ability to pivot is largely credited to it being more dependent on the department’s virtual platform, as they host vendor forums, workshops, meetings, and all other services virtually.  The revamping of the HUB website was a part of HOD’s improvements on the virtual end, where visitors can find detailed information about the HUB Program and additional information that will benefit both the HUB vendor and prime contractor.  The website is updated on a regular basis with news of events, updates on HUB regulations as provided by the state, and instructions on how to complete required HUB documentation.  

One of the many successes to their results-driven continuous improvement application is the department presenting strategies to increase HUB spending in each specific college and division based on their needs.  Dr. Clark emphasizes, “This is an internal effort to increase HUB purchases within the organization by providing necessary guidelines and tools.  The benefits of this strategy are illustrated from the annual HUB Contest—For FY20, The Honors College was the first-place winner with 35.7% of expenditures made with HUB vendors, exceeding the assigned FY20 HUB goal of 8.80% by 26.93%.”  

In addition to HOD’s traditional support and services, other resources and initiatives are available to provide a wealth of knowledge on how to do business with UH.  HOD as always, will seek to identify and respond to gaps in services to increase contracting opportunities for HUBs.  For more information on how you can do business with UH, please contact Dr. Linelle Clark, the Director of HUB Operations at 713-743-8603 or flclark-brown@uh.edu.