HUBZone (HUBZone)

Federal contracts reserved for firms located in Historically Underutilized Business Zones (HUBZones) — designed to stimulate investment and job creation in distressed communities.

$2.3B

TTM Obligated

0.10%

% of Federal (TTM)

706

Awards ≥$100K

DoD

Top Agency

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What is HUBZone?

Federal contracts reserved for firms located in Historically Underutilized Business Zones (HUBZones) — designed to stimulate investment and job creation in distressed communities.

Certification Process

Locate principal office in a qualified HUBZone census tract, employ at least 35% of staff who live in a HUBZone, register in SAM.gov, and apply for HUBZone certification through SBA (online, typically 60–90 days). Recertification required every three years.

Business Development Strategy

HUBZone is the smallest major set-aside by dollar volume but offers price evaluation preferences and sole-source opportunities up to $4.5M. Geographic certification requirement creates a durable moat for qualified firms in eligible census tracts.

Top Agencies Buying HUBZone

Rank	Agency	SCOUT TTM
#1	Department of Defense	$926M
#2	Department of Homeland Security	$379M
#3	Department of Labor	$303M
#4	Department of Health and Human Services	$171M

Designated HUBZone set-aside obligations · Jul 2025 – Jun 2026

Market Opportunity

Current designated market (SCOUT TTM)

$2.3B

0.10% of federal TTM · 706 awards ≥$100K

Momentum inside the window

CY2025 $870M → CY2026 (partial) $1.5B

Calendar buckets from the same TTM extract — not full fiscal years

Official annual picture (SBA)

$12B · ~3% CAGR →

FY2024 Procurement Scorecard

Frequently Asked Questions

What is HUBZone certification?

HUBZone certification confirms your business is located in a Historically Underutilized Business Zone and meets SBA employee-residency requirements. Certified firms compete for HUBZone set-asides and receive a 10% price evaluation preference in full-and-open competition.

How much federal contracting goes to HUBZone firms?

In FY2024, HUBZone small businesses received approximately $12 billion — about 1.9% of total federal contract spending. The statutory goal is 3%; agencies continue targeted outreach to increase HUBZone participation. Source: SBA FY2024 Procurement Scorecard.

SCOUT figures mark designated HUBZone set-aside obligations from USASpending (≥ $100,000 · obligations_only) for Jul 2025 – Jun 2026. Share of federal uses the same TTM denominator ($2.29T). Distinct from the SBA scorecard annual context above.

Data & Methodology

Federal contract and award data sourced from government procurement systems — including FPDS-NG, SAM.gov, and related federal data repositories. PrimeRFP SCOUT ingests, normalizes, and continuously updates records as agencies publish them. Reporting timelines vary by agency; some components (particularly DoD) carry a 60–90 day lag relative to award execution.

Dataset coverage — ≥ $100K floor

All intelligence on this page and within SCOUT is filtered to federal contract awards whose current total award value is $100K or more. PrimeRFP applies this floor at the award level (on current_total_value_award), not per-transaction, so large awards split across many mid-size obligation lines are retained in full. PrimeRFP's own empirical sampling against the raw USASpending dataset shows this threshold captures 98%+ of total federal contract dollars while excluding a long tail of micro-purchases, small modifications, and administrative actions — the trade-off that makes market intelligence tractable without distorting the dollar picture. Coverage: 560,000+ active contract awards and 2.5M+ unique awardees, including small-business set-asides, task orders, and mid-market opportunities.

Award identification: Each record is keyed by federal Award ID (PIID). Task orders recorded as independent awards appear as separate rows. IDIQs and their task orders are tracked distinctly.

Why SCOUT dollar figures differ from published annual totals: Per-agency dollar figures on SCOUT intelligence pages aggregate all USASpending transaction records — including base contract awards, task orders, delivery orders, and modifications to existing contracts. Annual federal contract obligation figures cited in industry reports (e.g., FY2025: $833.8B per Bloomberg Government) count only new prime award actions in the fiscal year, excluding mods. An IDIQ vehicle (like OASIS+) carries no obligation at award — only task orders issued against it are counted. SCOUT's transaction-level aggregates are larger because they capture the full activity picture across a contract's lifecycle, making them useful for competitive analysis and pipeline sizing rather than year-over-year spending comparison.

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