SBA’s recently proposed rule seeks to officially broaden the reach of its “Rule of Two”–a government contracting requirement fundamental to supporting our nation’s small business infrastructure, policies, and goals. I emphasize “officially” because, even though this is technically a proposed change to SBA’s rules, it is really more of a “regulatory implementation” of judicial law than anything (don’t worry, we will go into more detail on this point later). Specially, SBA’s proposed rule would require the Rule of Two’s application to task orders and delivery orders under most standard multiple award contracts (MAC). This Part I blog will briefly explain what the Rule of Two is and detail SBA’s proposed update to it. But keep your eyes out for the soon-to-follow Part II blog on this topic. There, we will dig in deeper to the relevant history of (including the court case linked above), the sources and policies behind, and the potential implications for SBA’s proposed Rule of Two update.