A recently released report highlights Lamar University’s continued commitment to working with minority, woman, and service-disabled veteran-owned businesses.
Released by the Texas Comptroller’s Office, the Fiscal 2021 Semi-Annual HUB Report shows that 18.31% of all Lamar University expenses went to Historically Underutilized Businesses, placing the college in the top 50 agencies in the state using HUBs.
“It’s our job as state purchasers to be the best stewards that we can with the state’s and the university’s money,” explained Amberr Melo, director of procurement and payment services.
During the first half of fiscal 2021, 15,380 firms were registered as Texas-certified HUBs and 3,032 of these firms received more than $1.35 billion of all statewide expenditures.
LU spent an estimated $3.42 million with HUBs on a variety of projects, including construction, renovation, products and services.
“It’s always good to have representation of HUB vendors on campus because it shows that we value a wide variety of businesses, including our local vendors,” Melo said.
The HUB program is part of the Statewide Procurement Division of the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. Texas Government Code Section 2161.121 requires the program to submit this report which summarizes and analyzes expenditures made to certified HUBs by state agencies and institutions of higher education from September 1, 2020 through February 28, 2021. Lamar University has placed in the top 50 public agencies using HUBs for the past two years. The report can be found online at
https://comptroller.texas.gov/data/purchasing/hub/fy21s/.