You Need To Know: SBA Certifications

You should Did know thatThe Small Business Administration is proposing to amend its regulations to implement a statutory requirement to certify Women-Owned Small Business Concerns (WOSB) and Economically Disadvantaged Women-Owned Small Business Concerns (EDWOSB) program?  The changes were necessary due to the increased number of firms that are really ineligible to receive WOSB contracts.

In a report issued by GAO (2014 Women owned Small Business program), the Office of the Inspector General reported that contracts were awarded to firms that were not eligible under the WOSB requirements.  The SBA was also criticized for not properly monitoring the performance of third party certifiers.

Below is a quick summary of some the major changes that will be implemented:

• SBA will adjust the economic disadvantaged thresholds to continue eligibility on what qualifies as economically disadvantaged
• The SBA proposes that the EDWOSB and 8(a) income guidelines match
• All applications will be required to be registered in the System for Award Management (SAM) at sam.gov/SAM/ to qualify for WOSB, ED WOSB certifications.
• Small businesses will be certified by a Federal Agency, a State government or a national certifying entity in order to be awarded a set aside or sole source contract under the WOSB program. 
• All online applications must be approved by a Federal Agency, a State government or a national third party certifying entity.
• The SBA will provide an online electronic application where you can upload the required documentation and submit your online application at certify.sba.gov/.
• Once you complete the application you can no longer receive automatic approval, you must wait for your application to be approved and verified by the SBA.
• After submitting your online application, there will be a waiting period for approval.  If you submit an incomplete application the waiting period could be as long as 90 days.
• You will still be allowed to certify through an SBA approved third party certifier
• The certification process will accept a federal agency DOT DBE certification DOT DBE Program

Under the proposed rule, you still have the option to obtain certification directly from the SBA through the free online application process.  However, you will have to wait 90 days to receive a decision once the application is submitted.  Also, all third party certifiers must be approved by the small business administration (SBA).

The interesting change is that SBA will also propose acknowledging existing government certification from the Federal and State levels that have a valid certification program which the SBA could except in lieu of an SBA only process.  Examples of these program from a federal agency include DOT/DBE program. The SBA will accept VA, BOSB and SDVOSB certification for women veterans with the stipulation that they are 51% owned by women.