Never, Never, Never Give Up

Jose Jimenez, METRO's new director of small business compliance, likes to quote Winston Churchill to small businesses that might be overwhelmed by the way this huge agency does business: Never, never, never quit.

Jimenez speaks from experience. A former small business owner who ran a construction firm, Jimenez did work for Housing and Urban Development and the Houston Independent School District.

"For me, my inability to get into places like METRO was that I quit trying. I went to what was easiest. It is perceived to be hard," says Jimenez, who nevertheless, built a successful company.

Now that Jimenez is on the inside, he wants to encourage small businesses to get on board and learn how to do business with METRO.

First, sign up for bid alerts.  This is a bid alert system that notifies you of the day-to-day requirements of the organization. Anyone can sign up. You don't have to be a certified small business, a minority-owned or woman-owned business.

Second, if you qualify, get involved with METRO's Small Business Program.  "Any small business, regardless of the owner's race or gender, is eligible to participate," says Jimenez.

To be eligible, an owner must own 51 percent of the company; have a personal net worth less than $750,000, excluding his or her home; and not have gross revenue sales above the maximum allowed by the Small Business Administration for three consecutive years. The maximum gross revenues vary, depending on the industry.

For example, general construction or heavy construction cannot have more than $28.5 million in sales per year, while accounting/bookkeeping cannot have more than $6 million in sales.

"Being in the Small Business Program gives you a competitive advantage," explains Jimenez. "Being a certified small business creates a limited competition when contracts have a small business goal, and the prime contractors are looking for small businesses."

Click here for an application to apply for certification as a small business.

In addition, we have internal advocates within our Small Business Program who will train and guide small businesses on how to maneuver within METRO.

There are two ways to get certified as a small business:

1. METRO's own small business certification which we are certified to offer
2. Certification through the City of Houston or Small Business Administration.

If your business qualifies as a Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE), you can become certified through the City of Houston or the Texas Unified Certification Program.

Third, register for the METRO Solutions Snapshot bid alert program. This is separate from METRO's regular bid alert system. "METRO Solutions is a unique, independent program of engineering and construction services directly focused on light-rail projects," says Jimenez.

Click here for a Snapshot application. If you are already certified through the METRO  Small Business Program, you will be automatically registered in Snapshot.

Jimenez admits that skepticism among small businesses is alive and well when it comes to doing business with METRO. "Our department is an advocate for the small business, but we can only do as much as the small business owner is willing to do," says Jimenez. "How can your services make our life - the government agency - easier? Sell the benefit of contracting with your services. Be special, make yourself different from the pack."

Best tip? Learn to play by the rules.

"We have many requirements - local, state and federal - that dictate the way we do business. If a company is willing to understand what rules we have to live by and able to adapt to our rules, it will succeed in our procurement process," says Jimenez.