8(a) Business Development Program
Also called: 8(a), 8a certification, 8a firm, 8(a) program, SBA 8(a)
The 8(a) program is SBA's nine-year business development program for small firms owned and controlled by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals. Certified firms can receive sole source and competitive 8(a) contracts.
The program rules are 13 CFR Part 124 and the contracting procedures are FAR 19.8. SBA certifies the firm after reviewing ownership, control, the owner's personal financial statement and the business's potential for success; the firm then has a program term of nine years (13 CFR 124.2) split into a developmental stage and a transitional stage. Agencies can award 8(a) sole source contracts up to the competitive threshold in FAR 19.805-1, and larger requirements are competed among 8(a) firms.
What to check: eligibility under 13 CFR 124.103 to 124.109 before you spend months on the application, the mentor-protege and joint venture options in 13 CFR 124.513 and 125.9, and the fact that the clock runs from certification, not from your first award.
What it is not: a pipeline of work. An 8(a) certification makes awards possible; the business case, the relationships and the capability statement still have to be there.
See also: Set-aside, Sole source award, SBA Mentor-Protege Program, HUBZone
Questions that use this term
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