There are several pending regulatory changes previously designated by the SBA for release this year, including a rule that will clarify the agency’s suspension, revocation and debarment procedures for contracting agents, and another that will ease eligibility requirements for the Historically Underutilized Business Zones Program, which covers businesses located in certain “historically underutilized business” areas.
But the upcoming change that has prompted the most interest for many contractors is a pending final rule expanding the SBA’s Mentor-Protege Program, first floated in a February 2015 proposed rule.
The program allows small businesses to partner in a joint venture with a larger mentor business that can provide advice and assistance, for instance to help win or implement larger or more complex deals that the small businesses lack the resources to win on their own, while still maintaining eligibility for federal small-business set-aside contracts.
Currently, the program is limited to businesses that participate in the SBA’s 8(a) Business Development Program, which provides assistance for small businesses majority-owned and -operated by “socially and economically disadvantaged” individuals, but is expected to be extended to all businesses otherwise eligible for set-aside contracts under SBA rules.
While the exact shape of the program expansion has yet to be announced, SBA officials have most recently hinted that the rule should be finalized at some point in July, and have indicated that the program’s terms should be effectively identical to the current 8(a) Mentor-Protege Program.
If those prescriptions hold, then the program’s expansion will be overwhelmingly welcomed throughout the small-business contractor community.
Martin Milita 