Small Business Today Magazine OCT 2014 THE EFFORT COMPANIES

EDITORIALFEATURE City of Houston’s Hire Houston First Program By Annise Parker, Mayor of the City of Houston T he city of Houston spends billions of dollars to maintain and improve the city’s infrastructure and provide vital public services. Ensuring that local companies (the life blood of our economy) have the opportunity to compete for city contracts has been a priority of my administration. In the fall of 2011, my administration implemented Hire Houston First, a local preference program that provides contracting opportunities for homegrown businesses. There is a domino impact on the local economy that far exceeds the direct benefits experienced by the companies that are winning city contracts. It keeps your tax dollars working locally to generate jobs and pay for the purchase of goods and services. There are currently more than 1,300 Hire Houston First designated companies. This is your opportunity to get answers to some of your questions about the program. What does Hire Houston First mean? In order to qualify, companies must meet at least one of two requirements: 1. The company must be headquartered within Houston’s corporate city limits or within one of the 10 local counties of Harris, Brazoria, Chambers, Fort Bend, Galveston, Liberty, Montgomery, Waller, Austin, and San Jacinto. 2. The company must have 20 percent or more of its workforce and a substantial part of its operations within the city limits or one of the 10 counties. How is Hire Houston First implemented in the city of Houston’s procurement process? Generally, Hire Houston First allows the award of contracts under $100,000 to a local firm if the local firm’s price is within five percent of the lowest bid from a non-Hire Houston First designated company. For contracts exceeding $100,000, there can be no more than a three percent difference between the non-Hire Houston First designated company’s bid and the next highest offer from a Hire Houston First vendor. Has the program been successful? Last month, the city of Houston’s Office of Business Opportunity released the “Hire Houston First Progress Report” which details the program’s success during the reporting period of October 2011 through December 2013. 14 SMALL BUSINESS TODAY MAGAZINE [ OCTOBER 2014 ] There are currently more than 1,300 Hire Houston First designated companies. This is your opportunity to get answers to some of your questions about the program. It was assumed that the designation would be necessary to give local companies a fair opportunity during the procurement process but we have found that Houston companies are competitive without using their Hire Houston First designation. Highlights from the report include: • More than $1 billion dollars of the city of Houston’s business has been awarded to Hire Houston First firms • More than 1,300 companies have been designated as Hire Houston First, of which 424 have won city contracts • Hire Houston First companie

Small Business Today Magazine OCT 2014 THE EFFORT COMPANIES | Page 16