The U.S. Small Business Administration has issued a proposal to modify two of the methods the organization uses to qualify which businesses classify as “small businesses” for SBA loan and investment programs, as well as for government contracts.
The proposed changes would extend the averaging period for calculating a small business’ number of employees from 12 to 24 months and apply the change to all of the SBA’s programs. The proposed modifications also would allow small businesses participating in SBA loan programs and Small Business Investment Company programs to choose between a new five-year averaging period or the existing three-year averaging period for the purposes of calculating average annual revenues.
The SBA estimates that implementing these changes would result in approximately 67,650 additional businesses gaining access to SBA loan programs and about 450 additional businesses gaining access to the SBA’s contracting programs.
For more information about SBA’s Office of Size Standards and revisions to its small business size standards for industry sectors, visit: http://www.sba.gov/size.
