Thrare › For agencies and municipalities
Public buyers get told a lot of things about certifications. Here is exactly what we hold, what we are pursuing, and where the difference matters.
What we hold
The distinction between held and pursuing is the one most capability statements blur. We keep them separate.
Certified through the Georgia Unified Certification Program, for GDOT and MARTA work. Current through 2 May 2027.
Minority Business Enterprise certified.
Registered in SAM with a CAGE code and assigned NAICS. Capability statement and vendor packet available on request.
Rare Earth Ltd does not hold HUBZone or 8(a) status. We will not represent them as current, on a form or in a meeting.
Certification and credit
Certification status and contract credit are not the same thing, and conflating them is how a prime ends up with a participation problem late in a job.
Whether our participation counts toward a goal on a specific solicitation depends on that solicitation and the agency rules that apply to it. The federal rules changed in 2025, and goal counting is being reevaluated in ways that are still working through. We confirm against the actual solicitation before representing anything to a prime or an agency.
If the answer is that we would not count on your contract, you will hear that from us rather than discover it at award. The certification is real. What it earns on a given job is a question we answer per job.
How we take public work
The role is stated in every proposal, and we do not describe ourselves as a general contractor on scopes requiring a license we have not verified for that jurisdiction.
Straight answers
Where a scope requires bonding we take it as a subcontractor or teaming partner rather than as prime. We would rather tell you that up front than find out at execution.
It depends on the solicitation and the agency rules that apply to it, and the federal rules changed in 2025. We confirm against the specific solicitation before either of us represents it.
We do not use that description without verified license and contract authority for that scope and jurisdiction. We are a managed contracting firm that self-performs some scopes and places others under our management.
Recycled aggregate supply to Fulton County Public Works exceeding $198,000, alongside commercial and multifamily work documented on our past performance page.
Yes, with the vendor packet, references and certification documentation. Ask through the form and it comes back the same day where possible.
The exposure
This is the difference between a private client and a public one, and most exterior cleaning quotes are written as though it does not exist.
Wash water from exterior cleaning is a non-stormwater discharge. Under the Clean Water Act and the NPDES stormwater regulations at 40 CFR Part 122.26, it must not enter a municipal separate storm sewer system unless the discharge is authorized by an NPDES permit. For a private property owner that is a rule about their contractor. For a municipality it is a rule about their own permit, because the MS4 is the thing the agency holds the permit for.
So a vendor who lets wash water run to the nearest inlet on a city lot has not merely done sloppy work. They have produced an illicit discharge into the system the agency is obligated to protect, documented by whoever happened to be watching. The cost of that is not the cleaning contract.
We price containment into the scope rather than as an add. Inlets in the work zone are blocked or bermed, water is recovered, and disposal follows what the water is carrying. Where the agency has specific conditions in its own permit or its illicit discharge ordinance, send them and we work to those rather than to a general standard.
Accessibility
A restripe of a public lot that reproduces a non-compliant layout in fresh paint is a documented decision to leave it non-compliant.
Section 208.2 of the ADA Standards for Accessible Design sets the minimum accessible spaces by the size of the facility. A lot of 1 to 25 spaces requires 1 accessible space and it must be van accessible. 26 to 50 requires 2. A facility of 501 to 1000 requires 2 percent of the total, and above 1000 the requirement is 20 plus 1 for each 100 or fraction over 1000. At least 1 of every 6 accessible spaces must be van sized, and every accessible space needs an access aisle at least 60 inches wide and as long as the space.
The failure mode on public lots is not usually indifference. It is a restripe scoped as maintenance and executed by matching the lines already on the ground. Where the existing layout was short, or where the lot was extended since it was last striped, matching it faithfully carries the deficiency forward with a fresh date on it.
We measure before marking and raise a count or aisle-width discrepancy before any paint goes down, because paint is expensive to argue with once it is applied. Removing it means grinding or resurfacing and leaves a visible ghost.
Procurement
Stated plainly and conservatively, because an agency that relies on a vendor certification and finds out late has a real problem.
Rare Earth Ltd, doing business as Thrare Contracting, is registered and active in SAM.gov with CAGE code 9JAV8 and UEI Z4WKS4UE8NJ6. The firm is a certified Disadvantaged Business Enterprise through the Georgia Unified Certification Program, a certified Minority Business Enterprise, and self-represents as a Small Disadvantaged Business. Each of those is verifiable against its issuing registry rather than against this page, and that is where we would rather you check it.
We do not hold HUBZone certification, 8(a) certification, or SOC 2 attestation, and we will not be represented as holding them on any submission. Where a solicitation requires one of those, we are the wrong vendor for that line and would rather say so at the pre-bid than at award.
On participation goals, confirm the current treatment for your specific procurement. How DBE or MBE participation is credited differs between a federally assisted contract, a state contract and a local one, and federal DBE goal treatment has been subject to rulemaking. The certification is a fact you can verify today. Whether it counts toward a particular goal on a particular contract is a question for the contracting officer, and we will supply whatever documentation your compliance staff need to answer it.
Working publicly
A civic building, a transit facility or a park does not empty out because a contractor arrived.
Work on public property is sequenced in sections against posted notice, with each section handed back before the next begins, so a resident or a visitor always has a route and never has to ask where to go. Pedestrian routing is planned rather than improvised, and an accessible route stays accessible throughout: a barricade that forces a wheelchair user into a drive lane is a worse outcome than the dirt was.
Hours are set by the facility rather than by our convenience. Some sites are only workable before opening or after closing, and that is priced at quote rather than discovered at scheduling. Where a facility has a security orientation, a badging process or an escort requirement, tell us at award: those are straightforward when planned and disruptive when they surface on the first morning.
Documentation follows the same logic as the work. Before and after photographs from consistent positions, the dates performed, and any condition found that was not in the scope, recorded as a finding rather than an improvised extra.
Questions
The questions that come up between the solicitation and the award.
Yes. Rare Earth Ltd is registered and active in SAM.gov with CAGE code 9JAV8 and UEI Z4WKS4UE8NJ6. Verify it in SAM rather than here. If a registration lapse would affect an award you are considering, check the entity record directly, because that record is the authority and this page is not.
DBE through the Georgia Unified Certification Program, MBE, and Small Disadvantaged Business self-representation. We do not hold HUBZone, 8(a) or SOC 2, and we will not be represented as holding them. If your solicitation requires one of those, we are the wrong vendor for that line.
Confirm that with your contracting officer for the specific procurement. Goal treatment differs between federally assisted, state and local contracts, and federal DBE goal counting has been subject to rulemaking. The certification is verifiable today; how it credits against a particular goal is a determination for the agency, and we will provide whatever documentation is needed to make it.
We do not pursue work as prime where a performance bond is required. As a subcontractor under a bonded prime, bonding sits with the prime, which is the normal arrangement for packages of this size. If a solicitation requires a bond from us directly, we would rather decline at the pre-bid than withdraw at award.
Not into your storm sewer. Wash water is a non-stormwater discharge under 40 CFR Part 122.26, and on public property the MS4 it would enter is the system your agency holds the permit for. We contain it in the work zone, recover it, and dispose of it according to what it carries. Send your illicit discharge ordinance or permit conditions and we work to those.
Yes, in sections with posted notice and each section handed back before the next starts. Accessible routes stay accessible for the duration, which occasionally means a slower sequence than the fastest possible one. Where a facility can only be worked outside opening hours, tell us at quote so it is in the price rather than in a change order.
Sources
Both rules above are quoted from the regulator, and the registrations are verifiable in the federal system rather than here.
Wash water discharge: United States Environmental Protection Agency, NPDES Stormwater Program, and 40 CFR Part 122.26. Read 2026-08-31.
Accessible parking counts, van ratio and access aisle width: United States Access Board, ADA Standards for Accessible Design, chapter 5, Parking Spaces, section 208.2 of the 2010 Standards. Read 2026-08-31.
Federal registration: SAM.gov entity record for Rare Earth Ltd, UEI Z4WKS4UE8NJ6, CAGE code 9JAV8.
Page maintained by Thrare Contracting, Rare Earth Ltd, 8735 Dunwoody Pl, Ste R, Atlanta, GA 30350.
Tell us the property, the scopes, the timing, and the role you need us in. If it fits, we walk the property and come back with a written scope, a schedule and a number, at no cost to you for the walk. If it does not fit, we will tell you that instead of quoting it.
We aim to reply to every submission within one business day, from a person. Prefer to talk first? Call 678-748-3578.