The trouble is that there are a lot steps the county would have to take to participate in the program. At it's regular meeting on Oct. 14, the Torrance County Commission jumped through the first of many hoops by forming a committee to get the ball rolling in helping to designate parts of the county as a HUBZone, or historically underutilized business zone.

"Torrance County needs to do some internal homework," Myra Pancrazio, executive director of the Estancia Valley Economic Development Association said. "We're losing out on a lot of business because there are no HUBZones."

The HUBZone program was set up in 1997 to help stimulate economic development and creates jobs in low-income communities by providing federal contracting preference to small businesses that are located in a HUBZone, and that hire employees who live in a HUBZone.

The problem is, none of Torrance County is designated a HUBZone, according to Pancrazio. In order to make that happen, the county needs to have a housing authority to provide data, and there is one in Mountainair. Housing authorities assist low and moderate income individuals and families find affordable housing.

However, the numbers from Torrance County haven't been recognized individually by the U.S. government in the past, Pancrazio said. She said the numbers of qualifying people have been lumped into the Region Three Housing Authority that also represents Albuquerque.

A second problem is the county's single housing authority doesn't cover the whole county. Offers have been made for the county to become part of a tri-county regional authority, lumping Torrance in with Valencia and Socorro counties. Mountainair Mayor Velta Gilley said she opposes regionalization and said she was advocating a lone Torrance County housing authority.

"If we're going to lose our housing authority, I'd rather lose it to Torrance County than a tri-county housing authority," Gilley said.

To help the county be individually recognized, and to potentially be eligible for HUBZone tracts, the county commission voted unanimously to set up a committee to investigate setting up a county housing authority. That way, when the next census numbers come out, Torrance County will be able to apply individually for HUBZone tracks based on its population of low to moderate income individuals.

The committee includes Pancrazio, Gilley, County Manager Joy Ansley, Steve Anaya, EVEDA executive board member, Commissioner Venessa Chavez-Gutierrez, and Pat Lincoln, executive director of the Torrance County Project Office.

Businesses within HUBZones are eligible for limited competition for set-aside contracting funds within participating agencies. They also could receive preferential consideration for other types of Federal procurement contracts.

The kind of contract Torrance County businesses would go after is a sole source contract, Pancrazio said.

A sole source contract can be awarded if there is a reasonable expectation that only a single qualified small business will submit an offer and the agency determines that the qualified small business is responsible, and that the contract can be awarded at a fair price.