[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 65 (Tuesday, May 23, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Page S4292]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            THE MATCHMAKERS

 Mr. BOND. Mr. President, when journalists and political 
scientists write about the activities here, they often prepare articles 
about how a bill becomes a law. That is an interesting study, but it is 
only half of the story. In fact, it is equally interesting to see how a 
law becomes a program--how words on the law books are transformed into 
a working program that delivers services to our constituents.
  The key to that process is people. Ultimately, someone has to take 
responsibility for carrying out the laws we craft here. Today I want to 
recognize a group of people who are aggressively working to give life 
to the HUBZone program we passed in 1997.
  The HUBZone program seeks to use the Government's purchasing power to 
encourage economic growth and job creation in the Nation's most 
intransigent areas of poverty and unemployment. These areas often 
present the greatest challenge because they lack a strong customer 
base.
  As a result, small businesses tend not to locate in these areas, 
preferring to set up their operations in more prosperous areas that 
have an established stream of customer traffic. The HUBZone program 
seeks to offset this imbalance by making the Government a customer to 
firms willing to invest in these hard-to-reach communities.
  Over two years have passed since the HUBZone program was signed into 
law, but progress has been very slow. Recently the Small Business 
Administration certified the 1,000th HUBZone small business concern, a 
major milestone. However, the need is much greater. Without a large 
base of certified firms, the Government will not have enough 
participating companies to do business on the scale we envisioned in 
writing the program.
  Because of this lack of certified companies, some agencies are 
throwing up their hands and opting not to carry out the HUBZone law. 
Without enough vendors to bid on contracts, some agencies are letting 
this tremendous new resource sit idle.
  Defense Department agencies in the New England States have proved an 
exception to that rule. The Northeast Regional Council, which comprises 
small business officers from Defense agencies and Procurement Technical 
Assistance Centers, along with defense contractors large and small, 
created a special High Performance Team dubbed ``The Matchmakers'' to 
identify problems in implementing the HUBZone program and to work 
aggressively to solve them.
  The Matchmakers found six components that were mismatched (``the 
hexa-mismatch problem''): contract requirements, suppliers, 
commodities, agency databases, education and benefits under the 
program, and the HUBZones themselves. For example, commodities to be 
purchased were not matched with suppliers who could provide them, and 
those suppliers were not necessarily matched to HUBZone areas that 
would make them eligible to participate.
  Having distilled the problem to its most basic elements, the 
Matchmakers are now setting out to track down suppliers who could fill 
the agencies' procurement needs, identify those that are located in 
HUBZones, educate them about the program benefits, and get them to 
apply for certification.
  Mr. President, this kind of aggressive action is exactly what is 
necessary to transform the HUBZone Act from mere words on a page into a 
program that helps real people and communities. Someday, when the 
HUBZone program is delivering benefits and creating jobs for people who 
currently do not have them, it will be essential to remember the people 
who made it possible. So that their names are not forgotten, I ask to 
include in the Record a list of the members of the Matchmakers High 
Performance Team, and I call the attention of my colleagues to their 
leadership and hard work.

       Richard S. Alexander, Market Development Center, Bangor, ME
       Ronald R. Belden, Kollsman Inc., Merrimack, NH
       Deborah Bode, Kaman Aerospace Corporation, Bloomfield, CT
       Ira M. Brand, Sanders-Lockheed Martin, Nashua, NH
       Cynthia Busch, Market Development Center, Bangor, ME
       Sean Crean, Small Business Administration, Augusta, ME
       Carl E. Cromer, Defense Contact Management Command, 
     Hartford, CT
       Janette Fasano, Small Business Administration, Boston, MA
       Joseph M. Flynn, New Hampshire Office of Business and 
     Industrial Development, Concord, NH
       John Forcucci, BBN Corporation, Cambridge, MA
       Benita Fortner, Raytheon Company, Lexington, MA
       Len Green, Massachusetts Small Business Development Center, 
     Salem, MA
       Keith Hubbard, Small Business Administration, Bedford, MA
       Maridee N. Kirwin, GEO-Centers, Inc., Newton Center, MA
       Gregory Lawson, State of Vermont Department of Economic 
     Development, Montpelier, VT
       Ken Lewis, Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation, 
     Providence, RI
       John H. McMullen, General Dynamics Government Services 
     Corporation, Needham Heights, MA
       David J. Rego, Naval Undersea Warfare Center Division 
     Newport, Newport, RI
       Barbara A. Riley, Textron Systems, Wilmington, MA
       Michael Robinson, Massachusetts Procurement Technical 
     Assistance Center, Amherst, MA
       Philip R. Varney, Defense Contract Management Command, 
     Boston, MA
       Arlene M. Vogel, Connecticut Procurement Technical 
     Assistance Center, New London, CT

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