FMC Financial Services, Inc. SBA 8-a Minority Certification

How Does the 8(a) Program Work?
Each year the Federal government awards over $6 Billion in sole-source and set-aside contracts to small businesses certified under SBA’s 8(a) Business Development Program. The 8(a) program has allowed many minority and women-owned firms to get started in federal contracting and to grow from small companies to medium-sized firms with annual revenues in the tens of millions.

  • Participants can be awarded individual sole-source (non-competitive) Federal government contracts up to $3 million for goods & services and $5 million for manufacturing.
  • Each participant may receive up to $100 million in sole source contracts during their program participation.
  • Participants may compete for procurements over $3 million (or $5 million for manufacturing) that are set aside for competition only by 8(a) certified firms which greatly reduces the field of competition.
  • Participants, as certified Small Disadvantaged Businesses, can receive a price evaluation preference of 10% on full and open competitive procurements for which they submit bids.
  • Federal acquisition policies encourage Federal agencies to award a certain percentage of their contracts to Small Disadvantaged Businesses. To speed up the award process, the SBA has signed Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) with 25 Federal agencies allowing them to contract directly with certified 8(a) firms.
  • 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).

Do I Qualify for 8(a) Certification?
You must meet the following qualifications in order to become certified under the 8(a) BD Program:

  • You must be a small business concern based on applicable size standards for small businesses in your industry.
  • All individuals upon whom eligibility is based must be U.S. citizens.
  • You must be the unconditional majority owner of the business.
  • Outside business interests are strictly limited.
  • You must work full-time in your business.
  • You must be in immediate charge of your business.
  • Board control in the case of a small business corporation can be exercised only by disadvantaged persons.
  • You must be a socially disadvantaged individual. Socially disadvantaged individuals are those who have been subjected to racial or ethnic prejudice or cultural bias within American society because of their identities as members of groups and without regard to their individual qualities. The social disadvantage must stem from circumstances beyond their control. Under the Small Business Act, certain presumed groups include African Americans, Native Americans, Hispanic Americans, Asian Pacific Americans, and Subcontinent Asian Americans. Other individuals can be admitted to the program if they can show evidence that they are disadvantaged because of race, ethnicity, gender, physical handicap, or residence in an environment isolated from the mainstream of American society.
  • Ultimate control of your company must not reside with anyone other than those upon whom eligibility is based.
  • You must be an economically disadvantaged individual. For the 8(a) program this means all applicant individuals must have a net worth of $250,000 or less, excluding the value of the business and personal residence.
  • You must be in business for at least two years or apply for a waiver of the two-year requirement.
  • You must not have any significant unresolved federal or state tax financial issues.
  • You must not operate a business that is not eligible for certification.

Is it Hard to Get Certified?
 It can be . . .

Getting certified can be an annoying, complicated and time-consuming process. The application package consists of numerous SBA forms and can require as many as 50 attachments. A completed application package can be as many as 300 pages and over three inches thick!

Interestingly, SBA turns down many otherwise eligible firms over inconsistencies and correctable issues. SBA’s screening process is designed to weed out even the remotest possibility of a non-eligible firm becoming certified. They carefully review every aspect of your application for anything that does not meet their strict eligibility criteria. It is easy to be turned down for something that you could have corrected beforehand if you had known it would be a problem.

Is There an Easier Way?
There sure is!

The key is to have your application professionally prepared by a consultant who knows exactly what SBA will be looking for and how to avoid the pitfalls.

We will professionally prepare your 8(a) application package, saving you both time and money. And you can be assured that it will not be rejected due to incompleteness, disorganization or correctable eligibility problems. Even if it turns out that you have a few eligibility obstacles, they can often be overcome if you know what to do. That’s why experience is so important.

FMC Financial Services, Inc. has developed an organized system for gathering the necessary information and preparing the package in a complete and efficient manner. This allows us to complete your application in less time. And it assures you of your best chance of getting quickly certified.

Completion Time
When FMC Financial Services, Inc. prepares your package, we go through an initial interview to determine eligibility and to identify what documents and information you will need to supply to prepare a complete package. We provide you with a written checklist of everything you will need to provide for your application. As soon as we have received all your information, we begin to prepare the package. Normally the package is complete and ready for your signature within 14 business days from that point.

What Will It Cost?
Because some applications vary in degree of complexity and will require additional paperwork to prepare. We will assess your project and estimate the hours necessary to complete it and commit to a price before work begins.

Of course, you could prepare your own application package. There are two reasons why we don’t recommend it. First, it will take between 80 and 160 hours of your time to prepare all the forms and attachments required to make up a complete 8(a) package (often over 300 pages). That is time you need to dedicate to running your business. So you really won’t save any money by doing it yourself — in fact, it will probably cost your much more. Frankly, the chances of your being able to get such a package approved without expert guidance are slim.

The second reason is that you are not an expert in 8(a) certification. Most of the applications that SBA turns down are self-prepared. There are many “trip wires” in an 8(a) application that an expert can help you avoid. And keep in mind that your 8(a) certification can be worth tens of millions of dollars to you. That is far too important to experiment with trying to do yourself on a hit-or-miss basis.

How Do I Get Started?
Please call FMC Financial Services, Inc at 800-381-7498 and request an 8-a specialist for assistance. Also you can e-mail us by clicking here.