SBA 8(a) Certified

About

Hilo is SBA 8(a) certified and Native Hawaiian Organization-owned. As a Native 8(a) company, Hilo is a minority-owned, small disadvantaged business.

Hilo strives to operate its business with the highest standards of professional conduct and has adopted and published the following Code of Conduct. Hilo also recognizes its environmental stewardship and actively tracks and measures its carbon footprint on an annual basis on June 30th of each year. For the most recent twelve months, Hilo achieved its goal of carbon neutrality with net-zero emissions.

Hilo Enterprises LLC is a portfolio company of Poepoe Foundation, a Native Hawaiian Organization (NHO). 100% of Poepoe Foundation’s investment returns are used to assist economically disadvantaged Native Hawaiians, primarily in initiatives related to early childhood education.

Sole Source Contracting with NHO 8(a) entities

The flexibility and agility of the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Small Disadvantaged Business (SDB) 8(a) program provides the federal government acquisition community, program managers, and operators with acquisition options in addition to traditional vendor/contractor procurement processes. Within the SBA 8(a) program, Small Disadvantaged Businesses qualifying for 8(a) status who are owned by a Native Hawaiian Organization entity are entitled to unique privileges and benefits.

Under the FAR, NHOs provide government customers a timely, FAR‐compliant alternative to securing solutions through direct, sole‐sourced contracts that can be processed quickly, efficiently and in many cases, within days of requirement identification.

These contracts may be negotiated to ensure the procuring agency meets its program needs while ensuring the government gets best value for the agency and taxpayers. The specific legal authorities providing these advantages are:

  • $22M Direct Awards. Hilo may receive direct awards up to $22M that exceed normal SBA thresholds per 13 CFR 124.506(b)(2)
  • $100M Direct Awards. Effective March 17th 2020, Hilo may receive direct awards up to $100M per the following class deviation
  • Awards cannot be protested. Awards to Hilo cannot be protested per 13 CFR 124.517(a)
  • No procurement competition. There is no requirement to compete procurements to Hilo before a sole source award per 13 CFR 124.506(b)(3)
  • Follow-on to competitive awards can be sole sourced. As an NHO, Hilo may receive sole source awards after a contract was competitively awarded in the 8(a) program
  • Faster procurements via Alpha Contracting. Hilo can work jointly with the Government to reduce procurement time, develop the statement of work, and provide a better solution via “Alpha Contracting”
  • 3 CFR 124.110(c) – Economically Disadvantaged: An NHO that meets the requirements set forth in paragraph (c)(1) & (c)(2) of this section is deemed economically disadvantaged.
  • DFARS 252.226-7001 – 5% Subcontracting Bonus: A DoD contractor who subcontracts with a firm that is 51% Native Hawaiian owned and recognized Native Hawaiian as defined by 25 USC 422(9) is entitled to receive an incentive payment equal to 5% of the amount of the subcontract award.