HOUSTON, June 22, 2006 (PRIMEZONE) -- The Port of Houston Authority (PHA) celebrated the fourth anniversary of the Small Business Development Program (SBDP) with a reception on Wednesday, June 21. The celebration at the Gus S. Wortham Theater was attended by more than 450 invited guests including participating SBDP vendors, representatives of the City of Houston, METRO, Houston Minority Business Council, U.S. Small Business Administration and the Women's Business Enterprise Alliance as well as several political and civic leaders. KTRK-13 anchor Melanie Lawson served as Mistress of Ceremonies.
Photos accompanying this release are available at http://media.primezone.com/poha/pages/business.html
The PHA saluted Orion Construction as the Small Business Advocate of the Year. During 2005, the PHA commission awarded a $40.4 million contract to Orion for work at the Bayport terminal, which had 26 percent small business participation. MB Western Industrial Contracting of Pasadena and Atlas Industrial of Houston were recognized as the PHA's Small Businesses of the Year.
Two PHA employees -- Community Relations Manager Grace Moolchan and Training and Development Manager Carolyn Ashley -- were honored as PHA's Procurement Champions of the Year.
"As the sixth largest port in the world, the Port of Houston operates like a large, well-oiled machine. But that large machine wouldn't operate at all without a great number of small parts," PHA Chairman Jim Edmonds said. "Since its creation four years ago, the Small Business Development Program has not only helped the Port of Houston Authority meet its goal of being a contributing member of the community but has helped us be more diverse and cost-effective as well."
About SBDP
The SBDP is designed to help PHA contractors make good faith efforts to include small business participation in eligible contracts. Most PHA contracts valued at more than $25,000 are considered SBDP eligible. The exceptions include contracts for sole-source items, federally funded contracts, contracts with other governmental entities and certain contracts that are otherwise prohibited by applicable law from inclusion in the SBDP. Professional service contracts are SBDP eligible contracts to the extent permitted by law and/or PHA commission policies.
As a race- and gender-neutral program, the SBDP is open to all certified small businesses located in greater Houston and the surrounding areas including Harris, Galveston, Fort Bend, Montgomery, Waller, Liberty, Chambers and Brazoria counties. An individual small business owner's personal net worth must not exceed $750,000 (excluding the business and homestead). Eligible small businesses must complete and submit an application and vendor information form. The application must be accompanied by a copy of the firm's small business certification. A company can be certified as a small business by the City of Houston, Houston Minority Business Council, METRO, U.S. Small Business Administration 8(a) and the Women's Business Enterprise Alliance. Upon PHA staff review and approval of a company's application and small business certification, a company becomes eligible to participate in the program.
In 2005, members of the Small Business Development Program received $47.52 million in PHA contracts worth more than $25,000. For items costing less than $25,000, program members received nearly half of the PHA's business, which totaled nearly $3.2 million. Members of the program received 39 percent of PHA business in the first quarter of 2006, exceeding the authority's stated objective of 35 percent small business involvement.
"These totals mean that millions of dollars a year in economic benefits will be staying right here in the Houston area," PHA Managing Director Wade Battles said. "The opportunities are there for a small business looking for a chance to move forward, and I encourage any of you who have not registered with the Small Business Development program to do so."
Photo Captions
Photo 01: From left -- PHA Chairman Jim Edmonds, Gustavo Garza, owner of Atlas Construction and PHA Commissioner Janiece Longoria.
Photo 02: PHA Chairman Jim Edmonds and Mistress of Ceremonies Melanie Lawson.
The Port of Houston Authority owns and operates the public facilities located along the Port of Houston, the 25-mile long complex of diversified public and private facilities designed for handling general cargo, containers, grain and other dry bulk materials, project and heavy lift cargo, and other types of cargo. Each year, more than 6,600 vessels call at the port, which ranks first in the U.S. in foreign waterborne tonnage, second in overall total tonnage, and tenth largest in the world. The Port Authority plays a vital role in ensuring navigational safety along the Houston Ship Channel, which has been instrumental in Houston's development as a center of international trade. The Barbours Cut Container Terminal and Central Maintenance Facility are the first of any U.S. port facilities to develop and implement an innovative Environmental Management System that meets the rigorous standards of ISO 14001. Additionally, the port is an approved delivery point for Coffee "C" futures contracts traded on the New York Board of Trade's Coffee, Sugar & Cocoa Exchange. For more information, please visit www.portofhouston.com
The PHA has a website photo gallery featuring images of port commissioners, executives, facilities, business activities, community outreach events and activities, environmental projects, and logos. Users can download the gallery's high-resolution images at no charge after registering as a member. The port website's simple online member registration procedure requires users to submit their name, company, telephone number, and e-mail address, personal password, and description of the intended use of the downloaded images.
To access the photo gallery, please visit http://www.portofhouston.com/publicrelations/publicrelations.html and click the link for PHA Photo Gallery.
The Port of Houston Authority logo is available at http://media.primezone.com/prs/single/?pkgid=720
