NOTE: The Alaska PTAC has been renamed as Alaska APEX Accelerator. This change occurred on September 15, 2023. Learn why.
The U.S. Small Business Administration issued a proposal to modify two of the methods it uses to determine which businesses qualify as a small business for government contracts and SBA’s loan and investment programs. The proposed modifications would extend the averaging period for calculating a small business’s number of employees. The proposal also would change how the average annual revenues may be calculated for SBA’s loan and investment programs.
Specifically, the proposed changes would modify the averaging period for calculating a small business’s number of employees, increasing it from 12 months to 24 months and applying the change to all of SBA’s programs. In addition, the proposed changes would also give small businesses participating in SBA’s loan programs and Small Business Investment Company (SBIC) Programs the option to choose between the new five-year averaging period or the existing three-year averaging period for the purposes of calculating average annual revenues.
SBA estimates that, as a result of these proposed changes, about 67,650 additional businesses will gain access to SBA’s loan programs and about 450 additional businesses will gain access to SBA’s contracting programs.
The public is invited to submit comment on the proposed rule on or before Dec. 2, 2021. Submissions may be submitted at www.regulations.gov or via FederalRegister.gov and identified by the following RIN number: RIN 3245-AH26. Comments will also be accepted by mail directed to Khem R. Sharma, Chief, Office of Size Standards, 409 3rd Street SW, Mail Code 6530, Washington, D.C. 20416.