Apogee Coaching

This weekend, I was spending time with a close friend and business owner.  We were discussing her recent business challenges and opportunities and she was updating me on her application to participate in the 8(a) Business Development (BD) Program.  For those of you who are not familiar, the 8(s) BD Program is the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) program is designed to help small disadvantaged business owners compete and access the federal procurement market.  So, I thought it might help my readers to understand a little more about the opportunities presented by 8(a).

In talking to my friend, the application process can be  bit time consuming, but the rewards can be great.  From the SBA’s site, some of the benefits include:

• Participants can receive sole-source contracts, up to a ceiling of $3 million for goods and services and $5 million for manufacturing. While SBA helps 8(a) firms build their competitive and institutional know-how, the agency also encourages them to participate in competitive acquisitions.
• Recent changes permit 8(a) firms to form joint ventures and teams to bid on contracts. This enhances the ability of 8(a) firms to perform larger prime contracts and overcome the effects of contract bundling, the combining of two or more contracts together into one large contract.

To participate in the program applicant’s must:

• be a small business,
• be unconditionally owned and controlled by one or more socially and economically disadvantaged individuals who are of good character and citizens of the United States, and
• demonstrate potential for success.

Don’t know whether you would be considered a small business by the SBA?  Don’t know whether you would be considered a disadvantaged business by the SBA?

Take a look at the 8(a) BD Program info on the SBA site and find out.  In addition to all the information on the site, you can contact an SBA representative who will answer additional questions by phone.