SBA OHA: Operating Agreements Must Clearly Demonstrate Control

A recent appeal before the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Office of Hearings and Appeals (OHA) upheld SBA’s denial of an application for a veteran-owned small business because its operating agreement gave too much control to a non-veteran owner and failed to identify a veteran as the highest officer. The decision in Facekay LLC demonstrates the importance of strict adherence to the control requirements laid out by the various SBA programs.

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OHA: Show me the Management, or Fail SDVOSB Certification

A recent OHA decision reminds us that it’s important to show and tell the SBA how a company seeking certification is meeting the SBA’s requirements for control of a socioeconomic company. Like many of these decisions involving SBA’s programs, it comes out of the Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) VetCert program. That’s because the SDVOSB program allows appeals of denials of certifications. The other programs don’t allow such broad reasons for appeals from certifications (or at least have restrictions on them).

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Update: SBA Will Eliminate Remaining SDVOSB Self-Certification December 2024

As SmallGovCon readers may recall, SBA has already eliminated the ability to self-certify as a Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) for all prime contracting opportunities set aside for SDVOSBs. This change occurred January 1, 2024 and meant that self-certified SDVOSBs will no longer be eligible for set-aside and sole source contracts. We wrote about the change here. However, the rule change left in place the self-certification ability for self-certified SDVOSBS, but only for subcontracting purposes and government goaling purposes. This will be changing in December 2024.

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Webinar! Small Business Certifications, March 20, 2024, 10:00-11:00 am CDT

Please join federal government contracts attorneys Nicole Pottroff & Greg Weber for this informative webinar on SBA certifications hosted by Catalyst Center for Business & Entrepreneurship. Participants will get an overview about the Small Business Certifications including:

  • Woman Owned Small Business and Economically Disadvantaged Woman Owned Small Business
  • 8(a)  Business Development Program
  • HUBZone (Historically Underutilized Business Zone)
  • Service Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business

We will discuss how to get certified, how long it may take, regulations, changes, updates, and tips and tricks on how to be prepared. Please Register here.

Reminder: 2023 SDVOSB Deadline Looming

SmallGovCon has covered the SBA’s assumption of control over certification of Service-Disabled Veteran Owned Small Businesses (“SDVOSB”) and Veteran Owned Small Businesses (“VOSB”) since it was first announced well over a year ago. Now, we are coming close to one of the final deadlines associated with SBA taking over these certification processes. It is hard to believe that it is already the end of the calendar year once again. But time flies when you are having federal contracting fun! With the end of 2023 comes a crucial deadline for certain veteran businesses to keep in mind–the date for self-certification to go away.

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Webinar Event: Small Business Certifications hosted by the Catalyst Center for Business & Entrepreneurship, December 14, 2023, 4:00pm EST

Please join Greg Weber and I for this informative webinar on small business certifications. Participants will get an overview about:

  • Woman Owned Small Business and Economically Disadvantaged Woman Owned Small Business
  • 8(a)  Business Development Program
  • HUBZone (Historically Underutilized Business Zone)
  • Service Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business

We will discuss how to get certified, how long it may take, regulations, changes, updates, and tips and tricks on how to be prepared. We hope you will join us. Register here.

Govology Webinar: An Introduction to Government Small Business Certifications (2023 Update) July 25, 2023, 1:00pm EDT

Steven Koprince, Govology Legal Analyst and retired founder of Koprince McCall Pottroff (and all around cool dude) will be presenting this webinar providing a big-picture overview of small business certifications in the government marketplace. In this webinar, you will learn about various federal small business certification programs, including Small Business Self Certification, Small Disadvantaged Business (SDB) & 8(a), Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB), Veteran-Owned Small Business (VOSB), Historically Underutilized Business Zones (HUBZone), Woman-Owned Small Business (WOSB), and Economically Disadvantaged Woman-Owned Small Business (EDWOSB). Steve will also touch on state and local certification programs and provide information on additional training and resources you can use to develop a deeper understanding and get help with any federal, state, and small business certification program. If interested in this informative webinar, please register here.