Frequently Asked Questions — About METRO

During the solicitation process the following METRO SBE program requirements are in place for primes responding to solicitations with small business goals. To be deemed responsive:

• All certified and non-certified primes must self-perform a minimum of 30% of the contract value, regardless of the small business participation goal percentage.
• A certified or non-certified prime cannot self-perform 100% of their bid/proposal value.
• All certified and non-certified primes must, at a minimum, meet the small business participation goal percentage.
• All certified primes must subcontract, at a minimum, 50% of the small business participation goal to one or more certified firms.
• The prime cannot submit a Good Faith Effort (GFE) response. All subcontractors and suppliers, which are being used to satisfy the scope of work for the project, must be included on the Contractor Utilization Plan form.

On projects with a small business goal, certified subcontractors can be on up to 4 bids/proposals for the same solicitation.

Certified firms can respond as a prime and a subcontractor on one other team for the same solicitation.

Only the participation of METRO SBE certification and DBE certifications (which include SBA-8a) count towards the small business goal.

After the award of a contract, the prime must (but not limited to):

• Adhere to all compliance requirements of the METRO Small Business Enterprise (SBE) and Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) programs.
• Get pre-approval from the Office of Economic Business Opportunity (OEBO) prior to removing or adding certified and non-certified subcontractors to the team.
• Must utilize the current SBE/DBE compliance tracking and reporting system, B2Gnow.
• Replace the removal of a certified firm with another certified firm (determined on a case-by-case basis)
• Involve OEBO in the dispute resolution process on SB-related matters.
• Adhere to the Prompt Payment Policy on contracts with small business goals: prime must make payments to subcontractors within five business days of receipt of funds from METRO.
• Meet their Small Business Goal Commitment or risk a negative OEBO evaluation on a new solicitation.

METRO’s payment terms for contracts with a small business goal is 15 business days.

The OEBO Contract Compliance staff monitor all SBE and DBE activity on all METRO contracts with small business goals and ensures compliance with all local and federal regulations.

If you need assistance, please call OEBO at 713-739-4844 or send an email to small.business@ridemetro.org. 

Access our compliance system to search, renew, or apply to join our database of certified vendors.