UH HOSTS HUB OPPORTUNITIES EVENT FOR CONSTRUCTION VENDORS


UH brought Historically Underutilized Business (HUB) vendors and general contractors together to provide opportunities to collaborate on upcoming large construction projects on campus. Facilities Planning and Construction along with Purchasing hosted the HUB Opportunities Event at Rockwell Pavilion in the MD Anderson Library on Friday, January 6 from 1:30-4:30 p.m.

The university participates in the statewide HUB program by supporting and making a good faith effort to achieve procurement goals for the State of Texas with Historically Underutilized Businesses. The university strives to meet a goal of 21.1% participation by HUB vendors in building construction projects on campus. The HUB event gave the university�s prime general contractors a forum to notify and engage HUB subcontractors about existing opportunities during building construction.

�This HUB Opportunity event demonstrates a commitment by the UH FPC, HUB program and university leadership to performing outreach and assistance to HUBs by identifying opportunities on our campus and providing information to allow them to participate in the bidding process,� said Christopher Burton, UH Purchasing Director and HUB Coordinator.

During the event, presentations were made by three of the general contractors in charge of upcoming major building projects on campus: Austin Commercial (Cougar Village II), SpawGlass (Sophomore Housing to replace Cougar Place), and Tellepsen (University Center Transformation). Each company�s representatives were given a chance to discuss the details of their project as well as subcontracting opportunities to an audience of HUB vendors and other attendees.

�This event should lead to new relationships and downstream project awards to HUB vendors. We appreciate UH hosting it to coincide with our bid schedules of our projects,� said T.C. Selman, of Austin Commercial.

All certified State of Texas Historically Underutilized Businesses (HUBs) within the construction trades were invited to the event and around 100 vendors were in attendance. Following the presentations, vendors were given the opportunity to visit table stations with representatives from the three presenting companies along with Job Order Contract (JOC) contractors, Vaughn Construction and Horizon Group International, which are contracted to handle minor repair and renovation projects on campus and also utilize HUB subcontractors.

�I thought it was well assembled and that the meeting place was perfect. I walked away from the event with a couple of great contacts and look forward to following up with them. It�s a luxury to have some dedicated time to simply meet new contractors and expand our contacts,� said Michael Putegnat of SpawGlass.

For more information on the university�s construction projects, visit the Facilities Planning and Construction website. For more information on the HUB program, contact Christopher Burton at ceburton@uh.edu or 713-743-5671.