SOUTHWESTERN NEWS ZONE......

The Texas Department of Insurance will host a Historically Underutilized Business (HUB) Forum from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. on July 20, at the William P. Hobby Jr. Building, Commissioners Hearing Room 100, 333 Guadalupe St., in Austin. TDI hosts a HUB Forum annually, at no cost to participants, to encourage minority- and women-owned businesses to conduct business with the agency.

The focus of the 2009 HUB Forum will be on businesses interested in contracting or subcontracting opportunities within the Special Deputy Receiver (SDR) program. This would include professionals in the areas of Claims, Legal Services, Reinsurance, Accounting, ITS, Asset Management, and Audit Services. A HUB is defined as a for-profit business which is at least 51 percent owned, operated and controlled by one or more American women, Black Americans, Hispanic Americans, Asian Pacific Americans, or Native Americans that has been historically underutilized because its identification with members of these groups.

The SDR program is unique to the Texas Department of Insurance who are prime contractors which administer the operations of insolvent insurance companies. These functions involve marshalling and liquidating the insolvent company’s assets, as well as managing the liquidation process. The SDR program is a specialized field of work which requires its participants to have the necessary accounting and financial expertise to maintain the estate at an effective level. The SDR contractors are granted the authority to employ subcontractors who demonstrate the necessary experience and skill to assist in the operations of insolvent insurance companies.

Another unique business opportunity for interested HUB vendors is the Mentor-Protégé program. This program is implemented as an agency wide effort involving a cross section of the agency’s programmatic resources including but not limited to, Central Purchasing, HUB State Program, vendor relations and others as identified the HUB Coordinator. TDI sponsored Mentors assist selected protégés in developing implementation plans which identify needs, actions, and results required for the protégé to be a successful business person and contractor.

There is no fee to participate in the 2009 HUB Forum. Online registration is available on the TDI Web site.