Latest news with #8(a)BusinessDevelopmentProgram
Business Upturn
10 hours ago
- Business
- Business Upturn
SBA Reinstates Rule to Return Federal Contractors to Work
By GlobeNewswire Published on June 17, 2025, 23:35 IST WASHINGTON, June 17, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Today, the U.S. Small Business Administration announced that it would be reinstating a rule to require government contractors to return to work. Effective Oct. 1, participants in SBA's 8(a) Business Development Program will once again be required to have an actual, physical office within the geographic area in which they are bidding on federal construction contracts. The temporary COVID-era suspension of this rule ends Sept. 30. 'The Covid-19 emergency has long been over and America is open for business – which means the SBA is requiring 8(a) contractors to return to work if they want to bid on taxpayer-funded federal construction contracts,' said SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler. 'Those that seek to build in America should have boots on the ground in America – enabling them to create jobs, complete projects, and better serve U.S. taxpayers.' During the Covid-19 pandemic, SBA temporarily suspended the bona fide place of business rule for small business 8(a) construction contractors impacted by widespread economic shutdowns. Under the applicable rule, 8(a) construction contractors must have a legitimate office that is within their project's geographical boundary, have at least one full-time employee physically present, and ensure that their bona fide place of business is not a portable trailer, temporary unit, or virtual address. Firms participating in the 8(a) program can email questions to their local servicing district office or visit 8(a) Business Development Program. # # # About the 8(a) Business Development Program The SBA certifies small businesses considered to be socially and economically disadvantaged under its nine-year 8(a) Business Development Program. The 8(a) program helps these firms develop and grow their businesses through one-to-one counseling, training workshops and management and technical guidance. It also provides access to government contracting opportunities, allowing them to become solid competitors in the federal marketplace. About the U.S. Small Business Administration The U.S. Small Business Administration helps power the American dream of entrepreneurship. As the leading voice for small businesses within the federal government, the SBA empowers job creators with the resources and support they need to start, grow, and expand their businesses or recover from a declared disaster. It delivers services through an extensive network of SBA field offices and partnerships with public and private organizations. To learn more, visit Disclaimer: The above press release comes to you under an arrangement with GlobeNewswire. Business Upturn takes no editorial responsibility for the same. Ahmedabad Plane Crash GlobeNewswire provides press release distribution services globally, with substantial operations in North America and Europe.
Yahoo
03-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
DOT agrees to remove race, gender-based criteria from DBE program
This story was originally published on Construction Dive. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily Construction Dive newsletter. The DOT has agreed to settle a case challenging the constitutionality of its Disadvantaged Business Enterprise program, effectively barring women- and minority-owned companies from automatic inclusion in the initiative. In a joint motion filed May 28 in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky that still needs a judge's approval, DOT agreed to no longer defend gender and race as presupposed qualifications for inclusion in the program. 'USDOT has determined that the race- and sex-based presumptions in its DBE program can no longer pass constitutional scrutiny,' the agency wrote in court documents. The move essentially abandons the fight taken on by former President Joe Biden's administration to defend the program's constitutionality after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling banned affirmative action in higher education admissions in 2023. Although the proposed settlement casts uncertainty around the future of the DBE program, which was started in 1983 under President Ronald Reagan, it isn't an absolute death knell. For instance, the DOT could change the criteria for inclusion in the DBE program to look at specific circumstances, much as the Small Business Administration did for its similar 8(a) Business Development Program after a separate challenge was successful against that initiative. 'What this means is that, if the consent order is entered, companies who qualified as DBEs due to race or gender alone will likely need to be recertified as disadvantaged based on a unique narrative of what they've actually experienced over the course of doing business,' said Christopher Slottee, an attorney at law firm Schwabe in Anchorage, Alaska, who specializes in federal contracting. 'They'll need to show they've actually been harmed due to their race or gender.' The settlement also still needs to be granted by the judge in the case. Beyond that, Democracy Forward, a liberal advocacy group that has been a vocal legal challenger to President Donald Trump's policies during both of his terms, recently won a minor victory in gaining approval to intervene in the case, which is still ongoing. 'The participation in this case is essential to allowing minority- and women-owned businesses to fight for themselves and their communities, and we are pleased that the court will allow their voices to be heard, said Sarah von der Lippe, counsel for the Minority Business Enterprise Legal Defense and Education Fund in a May 21 Democracy Forward news release praising that decision. Whatever the ultimate outcome of the case, the DBE's future administration will likely be dramatically curtailed and increasingly complex, according to Slottee. He said based on the settlement in its current form, state DOTs would need to re-certify all existing DBE contractors without using an assumption of disadvantage based on gender or race alone to award any contracts under the initiative. In effect, the 'DOT may not approve any federal, state or local DOT-funded projects with DBE contract goals where any DBE in that jurisdiction was determined to be eligible based on a race- or sex-based rebuttable presumption,' Slottee said in an email to Construction Dive. That means just a single participant certified under DBE's old rules could now effectively block the program from making new awards going forward. 'For example, if a single, individually owned company in the State of Alaska was certified as a DBE due to the rebuttable presumption, the DOT would be barred by the proposed consent order from approving any projects in Alaska that had DBE goals,' Slottee said. Shortly following the Supreme Court's 2023 ruling on affirmative action in higher education, the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty, a conservative advocacy group, filed suit against DOT on behalf of two White-owned businesses, Jeffersonville, Indiana-based Mid-America Milling Co. and Memphis, Indiana-based Bagshaw Trucking. It claimed that the DBE program, which aims to award 10% of federal contracts to disadvantaged businesses, was a legalized form of reverse discrimination, since women- and other non-majority-owned firms received automatic — or 'presumed' — certification to participate based on race or gender alone. 'All we want is a level playing field,' Kramer Koetter, president of Mid-America Milling, said in a news release. 'If my team can put forth the best product or service at a reasonable cost, then we should be rewarded for that. The DBE's removal returns common-sense back to contracting. Recommended Reading Debt ceiling breach would sink construction starts by as much as 30% Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
