HCWA Targets Local Companies for Business

 
(McDonough, GA – Oct. 31, 2025) The HCWA Fall Supplier Conference earlier this month welcomed a group of locally-owned, minority-owned, women-owned, and veteran-owned businesses who are seeking to do business with the utility.

The conference featured a roundtable discussion format, where these potential vendors were able to talk directly to HCWA staff concerning their respective department’s needs, while reviewing the Authority’s upcoming capital projects and procurement programs.

The HCWA utilizes Bidnet Direct as a third-party service to collect and process bids on its behalf for Authority projects, as well as specified office products and services. Potential vendors can register to do business with the HCWA by joining the Georgia Purchasing Group, which provides local businesses and professionals with access to bids and work with local governments throughout Georgia, in addition to the Henry County Water Authority.

Since 2019, the HCWA Board has implemented initiatives to encourage local business owners and operators to participate in Authority bids. Those policies include the Local Business Preference Policy, the Local Sheltered Market Program, and the Supplier Inclusion Policy.

“Since we have implemented our new policies, we have seen a dramatic increase in the number and types of companies wanting to do business with us,” says Tony Carnell, HCWA General Manager. “Because we are smaller than most county or state governmental entities, we see our supplier conferences as opportunities to better educate our community about how they can help us by providing their products and skills for ongoing and long-term capital projects.”

The Authority’s Local Business Preference Policy awards certain contracts, with a value of $100,000 or less, to locally owned businesses or organizations located in Henry County if their bid is within 5 percent of the lowest bid from a non-Henry County business.

The HCWA Local Sheltered Market Program identifies and reserves supply and service contract opportunities with an annual estimated value of $100,000 or less, for locally owned and operated businesses.

Finally, the Authority’s Supplier Inclusion Policy aims to identify, attract, promote, and build relationships with a competitively diverse population of qualified businesses with which to contract for goods, labor, materials, services, or supplies. Those qualified businesses who are prioritized for HCWA bids include registered Local and Small Business Enterprises (LSE), Minority-Owned Business Enterprises (MBE), Veteran-Owned Business Enterprises (VBE), and Women-Owned Business Enterprises (WBE).

“Henry County is home to many businesses who provide many great services and products that can benefit the Authority,” adds Carnell. “With the support of our Board, we’ve been intentional about expanding the reach of our procurement policies, to ensure that local businesses are aware of the many opportunities there are to do business with the Henry County Water Authority.”

            For more information on how to do business with the HCWA through its procurement process, local businesses can visit the Authority’s website at https://bit.ly/4iQ32CE, and register with Bidnet Direct at https://www.bidnetdirect.com/georgia/henrycountywaterauthority.



Brock Biles (foreground, right), HCWA Director of Distribution and Conveyance, and Cliff Hardin (foreground, left), HCWA Sewer Maintenance Manager, discuss bids and capital projects at the Water Authority with potential vendors attending the HCWA Fall Supplier Conference.