April 18, 2019  1

The real benefits of getting SBA 8(a) Certified

1. You will have access to sole source/non-competitive federal contracts with a value of:

  • $4M and under for all services related contracts.
  • $6.5M and under for manufacturing related contracts.

2. You will have access to competitive set-aside federal contracts with a value of:

  • $4M and over for all services related contracts.
  • $6.5M and over for manufacturing related contracts.
April 10, 2019  1

Top 10 8(a) Program Continued Eligibility Problems

1) Late or non-submission of 8(a) Annual Review documents.

The most common eligibility problem 8(a) firms encounter is either the late or non-submission of required 8(a) Annual Review documents. The SBA is required to review each 8(a) firm’s program eligibility every year on the firm’s certification anniversary date. Your local SBA office will send a request for the required Annual Review documents and information shortly before the end of your program year which contains the date that your submission is due back to your SBA Business Development Specialist (BDS). If it is not received by the due date, you will be sent a reminder and a second due date. If the information is not submitted by this second date, SBA’s rules & regulations require the SBA to start program termination proceedings against your firm. The termination process may result in the loss of your 8(a) certification. Once it is lost you cannot be certified in the 8(a) program again. Since annual reviews are done every year on your anniversary date, you should be prepared for it and comply on time.

April 9, 2019  1

How to determine your Adjusted Net Worth

The applicant(s) for 8(a) Certification must have an Adjusted Net Worth of less than $850,000 and total assets of less than $6,500,000 to be considered economically disadvantaged by the SBA.

What is the definition of Adjusted Net Worth?

Adjusted Net Worth = Personal Assets – Liabilities – [Equity in primary residence + ownership interest in business + IRA/Other Retirement].

Additionally, Total Assets = Personal Assets – IRA/Other Retirement.

March 27, 2019  1

Tips on selecting the right consultant to prepare your 8a, HUBZone or VetBiz Application

Pick up the phone. Speak to the actual person who will be preparing your application.

You should be able to call and speak directly to the individual who will be responsible for preparing your application. At Cloveer, you can call and speak to the employee who will be responsible for preparing your application. They will answer any of your questions and let you know whether or not you are eligible to become certified into one of these programs at no cost.

March 20, 2019  1

8(a) Application Contract Listings Breakdown Tips

When you apply for the 8(a) Program through certify.sba.gov the SBA will require that you provide a detailed listing of your contracts* for the last 12 months.

Tip: We also suggest that you take a look at this breakdown for the last completed (e.g., 2021, 2020 and 2019) three years too. The SBA is likely to request this additional information to look at the totality of your economic dependency.

Here is the message you will likely receive from the SBA if you fail to provide the last three years of information:

“The chart associated with the Certify application does not ask for this level of detail, and is not sufficient in addressing this query.”