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.

Applying for 8(a) Certification? Address Potential SBA Affiliation Problems First

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Affiliation under the SBA’s rules typically becomes a problem when a small business submits an offer on a set-aside procurement, and a competitor files an SBA size protest, challenging eligibility.  But the SBA will examine affiliation issues in other contexts, including when a small business submits an application for the SBA’s 8(a) Business Development Program.

As one unfortunate contractor recently learned, if you do not solve any affiliation problems before you submit your 8(a) application, the SBA may not only reject your 8(a) Program application, but deem you a large business, ineligible to obtain small business set-aside contracts in your primary NAICS code.

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No Sick Notes at the SBA: Illness Doesn’t Extend SBA Filing Deadlines

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Like many others who went to school in the 1980s, Ferris Bueller was one of my personal heroes.  Ferris took the idea of faking sick from school and turned it into an art form, complete with a moving mannequin in the bed, canned messages playing when the doorbell rang, and even a before-its-time hacking of the school computers to change his attendance records.  And of course, Ferris spent his day off tooling around in a Ferrari, attending a Chicago Cubs game (nice taste, Ferris!), and bringing The Beatles back into style.  What kid wouldn’t want to skip school for that?

Sick days–whether real or not–are a time-honored part of school.  Unfortunately, as one contractor learned the hard way, sick notes may not work at the SBA.

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SBA OHA: Ostensible Subcontractor Rule Shouldn’t “Close the Door” to New Businesses

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A small business’s relative inexperience should not be the primary basis for a determination that the small business is affiliated with its subcontractor under the “ostensible subcontractor” rule, according to the SBA’s Office of Hearings and Appeals.  SBA OHA’s decision in Size Appeal of Fischer Business Solutions, LLC, SBA No. SIZ-5075 (2009), held that the SBA’s Area Office improperly relied upon a small business’s lack of experience in a particular field to find it affiliated with its subcontractor.

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