Tag Archives: SBA size standards

Proposed SBA Rule Adopts 2017 NAICS Codes

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It is out with the old, in with the new at the U.S. Small Business Administration.

A proposed SBA rule change published Tuesday, April 18, would incorporate the 2017 NAICS code revision into the SBA’s size standards table. If the proposed rule is made final, it will replace SBA’s current size standards table, which SBA has relied on for making size determinations since 2012. The revised size standards table will add 21 new NAICS industries. The revised NAICS code table also will feature larger standards for six industries, smaller standards for two industries, and will switch one size standard from revenue-based to employee-based.

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SBA OHA: “Manufacturer” Need Not Create Most Expensive Component

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The SBA Office of Hearings and Appeals reaffirmed recently that a business need not manufacture the most expensive component of an item in order to be considered its manufacturer.

Rather, under the SBA’s size rules, a company may be considered a manufacturer if it adds important functionality to the end product, even if the proportion of total dollar value added by the company is relatively small.

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ITVAR Nonmanufacturer Subject To 150-Employee Size Standard, Court Says

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An offeror submitting a proposal under a solicitation designated with the Information Technology Value Added Resellers exception to NAICS code 541519 must qualify as a small business under a 150-employee size standard–even if the offeror is a nonmanufacturer.

In a recent decision, the U.S. Court of Federal Claims held that an ITVAR nonmanufacturer cannot qualify as small based solely on the ordinary 500-employee size standard under the nonmanufacturer rule, but instead must also qualify as small under the much smaller size standard associated with the ITVAR NAICS code exception.

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SBA Proposed Rule Will Allow SBA OHA Size Standard Appeals

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The SBA’s Office of Hearings and Appeals will have authority to hear petitions for reconsideration of SBA size standards under a proposed rule recently issued by the SBA.

Once the proposal becomes a final rule, anyone “adversely affected” by a new, revised or modified size standard would have 30 days to ask OHA to review the SBA’s size standard determination.

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Successful NAICS Code Appeal Dramatically Alters Size Standard

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NAICS code appeals, while little known, can be an extraordinarily powerful tool when it comes to affecting the competitive landscape of government acquisitions.

Case in point: in a recent NAICS code appeal decision issued by the SBA Office of Hearings and Appeals, the appellant prevailed–and obtained an order requiring the contracting officer to change the solicitation’s size standard from 500 employees to $15 million.

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Limitations On Subcontracting: Important New SBA Rule Takes Effect June 30, 2016

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The SBA has issued a final rule implementing the changes to the limitations on subcontracting enacted by Congress in the 2013 National Defense Authorization Act.

The SBA’s final rule takes effect June 30, 2016–and will significantly change the way the limitations on subcontracting are calculated and enforced moving forward.

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SBA OHA Reaffirms 70% Threshold For Economic Dependence Affiliation

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Under the SBA’s affiliation rules, one of the many ways a small business can be deemed affiliated with another is through the economic dependence rule: where a small business derives 70% or more of its revenues from another entity, the SBA ordinarily considers it to be economically dependent upon—and thus subject to the control of—that other entity.

So it was in a recent decision from the SBA’s Office of Hearings and Appeals (“OHA”), which confirmed the so-called “70% rule” for economic dependence.

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