It probably doesn’t need to be said that all of us have been chafing under inflation lately, and federal contractors are certainly no exception. Rises in costs for goods and labor have exerted serious pressure on businesses and households worldwide. However, not all inflation is bad. SBA recently released a final rule taking into account the inflation of the past few years when it comes to the various receipts-based size-standards and economic disadvantage limits, as well as finally adjusting the 8(a) Business Development Program sole source limits. These changes are crucially important for those businesses that have just barely exceeded the applicable size standards, or that were getting close to the maximum. In this post, we’re going to explore this rule…
It is worth noting that this adjustment is somewhat unusual as the agency had just completed an adjustment in 2019. As SBA notes, it “is required to assess the impact of inflation on its monetary-based size standards at least once every five years,” so the next planned adjustment was supposed to be 2024. But the key phrase there is “at least.” SBA can certainly make adjustments before another five years passed…
The size standard change is good news for businesses getting near the size standards. But that’s not the only change the rule made. The SBA also looked at the standards for what makes an individual “economically disadvantaged” in the 8(a) Business Development Program as well as the Economically-Disadvantaged Women-Owned Small Business (EDWOSB) Program. 13 C.F.R. 124.104 requires that individuals claiming “economically disadvantaged status” for the 8(a) program have a net worth under $750,000, an aggregate gross income (averaged over the past three years) under $350,000, and less than $6 million in total assets. Those standards are the same for the EDWOSB Program under 13 C.F.R. 127.203. These figures were implemented in May 2020… Read the full article here.
