Ulu HI-Tech, a Native Hawaiian-owned tech company, announced recently that it was accepted into the Small Business Administration 8(a) program on Sept. 7.
“Getting certified as an 8(a) company was well worth the time and effort,” Halia Hester, CEO of Ulu HI-Tech, said in a statement. “Now we have a competitive edge in federal contracting that will not only benefit us, but the companies and people we work with. Part of our kuleana, [or] responsibility, with our federal contracts is to prioritize hiring local talent and teaming up with local companies to get the job done.”
The SBA 8(a) program supports socially and economically disadvantaged small businesses, including Native Hawaiian Organization businesses. The nine-year program will allow the company to receive set-aside award and sole-source award contracts from the federal government, in turn creating more job opportunities and company teaming opportunities, according to Ulu HI-Tech.
"Ulu HI-Tech is designated as a native 8(a) company," Hester told Pacific Business News. "The process for that is they do an extensive background check. ... You have to provide all your financials, both personally and for the business. At that point, we had been in business for a little over a year-and-a-half, so we had to provide our lines of credit that we had established, the contracts we had worked on, and invoices."
Ulu HI-Tech was founded in 2019, and is an IT services and consulting company that primarily focuses on DevSecOps, which is a combination of development, security and operations. The company also does IT programs and project management, and provides cybersecurity services as well as cybersecurity maturity model certification remediation services. Ke Kumu Ulu is the parent company of Ulu HI-Tech, and is a Native Hawaiian Organization non-profit that Hester founded in 2021.
"It was a process from when we first started to apply to when we got our certification — it was almost a full year — 11 months," she said. "And apparently that was kind of fast-tracking it. For some companies, I've heard it can take up to two years."
For businesses interested in becoming a part of the SBA 8(a) program, Hester says, "do your research to make sure this is right for you."
"Federal contracting isn't the right model for everyone, and really that is what the 8(a) program is geared toward," Hester told PBN. "Additionally, make sure to do a quick check to make sure that you qualify ... [to] participate in the program."
