Not eligible concept.
Illustration depicting a sign with a "not eligible" concept.
By Ed Avis
Are you part of a repro firm owned by a woman, a minority, a veteran or a person with some kind of disability? If so, going through the process to earn the formal designation for those characteristics may be worthwhile.
APDSP recently added the ability for members to note their designations on the online member profiles, so prospective customers searching the member database can identify them easily. We decided to ask two members, Elmer Rhodes and Paul Fridrich, about their designations.
“Losing work right and left”
Elmer Rhodes was shocked when some of his clients told him they couldn’t use his
Elmer Rhodes photo
Elmer Rhodes
reprographic firm, CrossRhodes Print & Technologies, because he didn’t have the proper certifications, such as Minority Business Enterprise or Disadvantaged Business Enterprise.
“It was basically all for government work, and when federal money is involved, there is going to be (MBE or DBE) goals on it,” says Rhodes, whose company has branches in St. Louis and suburban Chicago. “I was losing work left and right.”
But Rhodes, who is African-American and a combat Army veteran, was initially reluctant to pursue the designations for his own company.
“It’s good for minority firms, but not others. It’s not fair. I’m on the fence with it. I’m good with competing man-to-man,” he says. “I don’t believe in hand outs.”
Eventually, though, he realized that it didn’t make sense to be losing work to other minority-owned firms, so he jumped into the application process. It was not easy. He discovered that each municipality has its own process for making the designations, and the applications vary.
“Take Chicago for instance, where I’m certified with three agencies. I’m a minority-owned business and a veteran-owned business with the City of Chicago, because I’m a resident of Chicago. I’m also an MBE and veteran with Cook County. And I’m an MBE and veteran with Central Management Services, which is the State of Illinois.”
Each of those designations required a separate application, with a lot of backup documentation. For the MBE designations he had to supply several years’ tax returns and other financial documents to verify that his firm was not a front company for a white-owned business. For the veteran designations he had to provide his discharge paperwork and other documentation.
“They want stacks of paperwork,” he says. “They want to know everything about you.”
Even after submitting his applications and backup paperwork, he had to work to get the designations in some cases. For example, another minority-owned firm in St. Louis objected when he submitted his designation application, which slowed down the process. He eventually secured his designations in 2010, about a year after applying.
The work to get the designations has paid off – he has secured some work, such as a recent major project with the Army Corps of Engineers, that he would not have without the designations.
However, he notes that even non-minority or veteran firms can benefit from the set-asides. They just need to include a designated firm on the team.
“What non-MBE firms need to understand is that they can add a certified firm to their bid, and they’ll win those bids,” he explains.
“Agencies earmark a huge amount”
Paul Fridrich, owner of CyberCopy in Southern California, is not a minority nor a U.S.
Paul Fridrich
armed forces veteran (though he did serve briefly in a British army unit after fleeing his homeland of Czechoslovakia in 1967). But circumstances allowed him to gain the Disadvantaged Business Enterprise designation, though it was a two-and-a-half-year journey.
“When you apply for the designation you have to present a narrative in which you give examples of why you should be considered a disadvantaged business,” Fridrich says. “And you need evidence to corroborate those things.”
Just like Rhodes, Fridrich had to apply for his designation at several levels. His first two were Metro LA, which handles transportation projects in Los Angeles County, and Los Angeles World Airport, which handles work at LAX.
Among the rules for gaining the designation are that the person not have a net worth exceeding $1.32 million (excluding their business and residence) and the company must be controlled by the owner who is disadvantaged.
“It should not take more than a year to get the designation, but in our case it took two and a half years, because Metro LA turned us down and we appealed,” Fridrich says. “The appeal went to the U.S. Department of Transportation, and they reversed the designation. We got the designation a little over a year and a half ago, and ever since then we’ve been busy registering, making sure all the contractors are aware that we have it.”
Fridrich notes that having the designation doesn’t mean the work flows in – it just means a firm is eligible for that specific portion of a project. “You still need to have your sales department pursue it, making sure it’s not just registered, but that you actually get the work.”
But he’s confident the effort to get the DBE will eventually pay off: “Those agencies earmark a huge amount of work to be spent with general contractors who subcontract certain percentages for different designations, such ad DBE, small business enterprise, local business enterprise, and others.”
Specifics About the Designations
As Rhodes and Fridrich noted above, many municipalities and agencies require companies to apply for designations directly with them, so if you want to pursue a designation, check with your city, state and other governmental organizations.
There are also numerous private organizations that peddle designations and/or help companies get designations. Beware that you’re dealing with a legitimate organization before paying anyone.
The most common designations, and those that APDSP lists on our membership directory, are Certified Woman Owned Business Enterprise (WBE), Certified Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE), Certified Minority Owned Business Enterprise (CME), Certified Veteran Owned Business Enterprise (VBE), and Certified Service Disabled Veteran Owned Business Enterprise (SDVBE).
If you have any of these designations and would like to add them to your member profile, click here to log into the Member Center.