Category Archives: SBA OHA Decisions

Includes decisions of the SBA Office of Hearings and Appeals, including size appeal decisions, service-disabled veteran-owned small business appeal decisions, NAICS code appeal decisions, and women-owned small business appeal decisions.

SBA OHA: 21.2% Minority Owner Controlled Contractor

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A minority owner with a mere 21.2% stake in a government contractor controlled that contractor for SBA size and affiliation purposes, according to a recent SBA Office of Hearings and Appeals decision.

SBA OHA’s decision in Size Appeal of Civitas Group, LLC, SBA No. SIZ-5424 (2012) is an important reminder that a contractor’s single largest minority shareholder may be deemed to control the company under the SBA size and affiliation rules–even if the contractor’s governing documents do not grant that shareholder actual legal control.

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SBA OHA: Northrop Grumman Entity Was An Ostensible Subcontractor

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You would think a company as large as Northrop Grumman would know how to avoid ostensible subcontractor affiliation with a small prime, wouldn’t you?

You’d be wrong.  In a recent SBA Office of Hearings and Appeals decision, a Northrop Grumman entity entered into a teaming arrangement with a small prime, in which all three key employees identified in the proposal were employed by the large subcontractor.  The result: ostensible subcontractor affiliation.

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Don’t Subcontract to Mom? SBA OHA Finds Mother-Son Companies Affiliated

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Affiliation based on family relationships is perhaps one of the least understood SBA affiliation rules, and continues to trip up many small government contractors.  Case in point: a recent SBA Office of Hearings and Appeals decision finding a small business affiliated with a company controlled by the mother of the small business’s owner, based on the family relationship and subcontracts between the companies.

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SBA Size Appeals: New Evidence Often Not Allowed

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The SBA Office of Hearings and Appeals will reject a contractor’s attempt to submit new evidence in a SBA size appeal unless the contractor shows “good cause” to admit the new evidence.

And, as demonstrated by a recent SBA OHA size appeal decision, when the evidence was publicly available at the time the size protest was filed, but was not submitted with the size protest, it will be very difficult to convince SBA OHA to review the new evidence.

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SBA OHA Confirms Broad Affiliation Exception for Tribal Companies

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The SBA Office of Hearings and Appeals has held that the SBA Area Office did not err by refusing to find affiliation between a tribally-owned company and its sister companies.

SBA OHA’s recent decision in Size Appeal of Bosco Contractors, Inc., SBA No. SIZ-5412 (2012), follows on the heels of Size Appeal of Roundhouse PBN, LLC, SBA No. SIZ-5383 (2012), in which SBA OHA found that the SBA had erred by adopting a too-narrow view of the tribal exception from affiliation.

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SBA OHA: Small Business Affiliated With Four Ostensible Subcontractors

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Dividing key contract work among several subcontractors will not necessarily allow a small business to avoid affiliation under the SBA’s ostensible subcontractor rule, according to a recent decision issued by the SBA Office of Hearings and Appeals.  In that case, the prime contractor divided the primary and vital contract work among four subcontractors–and according to SBA OHA, was affiliated under the ostensible subcontractor rule with all four subs.

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Non-Manufacturer Rule: SBA OHA OK’s Drop Shipments

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The SBA’s non-manufacturer rule allows a drop shipper to qualify as a small business, so long as the drop shipper takes legal ownership of the items in question, according to the SBA Office of Hearings and Appeals.  In an important decision interpreting recent amendments to the non-manufacturer rule, SBA OHA rejected the argument that a company must take physical possession of the items in question in order to qualify as a non-manufacturer–which would have essentially prohibited drop shipments.

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