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Government Contracting Accounting and Compliance Developments Conference
June 7&8, 2012
8:00 AM
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The SBA recently published new guidelines on what size a business must be to qualify as a "small business." The rules which appeared in the Federal Register on Feb. 10, with the rules scheduled to go into effect March 12, has met with mixed reactions from legislators.
The new size standards, the first SBA has undertaken since the early 1980s, has determined that larger businesses in 34 industries and three sub-industries in some technology and science sectors may be exempted from previous standards.
Under the new rules, more weight is placed on business structural characteristics, including average firm size, the degree of competition and federal government contracting trends, in order to cast a broader net over businesses eligible for government programs. SBA estimates that as many as 8,350 additional firms will become eligible for its programs as a result.
However, some congressional lawmakers unhappy with the SBA are seeking to implement new legislation that would require the government to see small businesses in a different light.
"If the size standards are adjusted then we don't need to change the definition, but we do need complementary incentives for advanced [and] growing small businesses," said Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., co-author of the Small Business Protection Act, which was introduced in the House on Feb. 8.
The bill, also co-authored by Rep. Joe Walsh, R-Ill., seeks to redefine the size standard for each small business category so that it remains within each group's North American Industry Classification System code, according to a Feb. 8 press release from Walsh's office.
As part of President Obama's fiscal 2013 budget proposal, SBA received a 30-percent boost in federal funding from fiscal 2011 actual discretionary expenditures.
