The U.S. Small Business Administration issued four final rules in the Federal Register. Size standards define the maximum size a firm can be and still be considered a small business. The revised standards reflect changes in marketplace conditions and public comments that SBA received to the proposed rules.
New size standards will enable more businesses in these sectors to obtain or retain small business status; will give federal agencies a larger pool of small businesses from which to choose for their procurement programs; and will make more small businesses eligible for SBA’s loan programs.
SBA increased size standards for businesses in 11 industries in the Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing and Hunting Sector. More than 7,800 additional firms will qualify as small under these new size standards and become eligible for SBA’s loan and federal procurement programs.
“Flexibility is part of what keeps SBA relevant to the entrepreneurs we serve,” says SBA Mid-Atlantic Regional Administrator, Natalia Olson-Urtecho. “We understand that there isn’t a magic number for every industry, and look forward to providing our counseling, capital access programs, and other assistance to our new small business clients.”
SBA also increased size standards for 36 industries for firms in the Finance and Insurance Sector and two industries in the Management of Companies and Enterprises Sector. SBA changed the basis for measuring size from assets to annual revenues for the International Trade Financing industry and deleted the Real Estate Investment Trusts from its table of size standards. More than 7,400 additional businesses will qualify as small under the new size standards and become eligible for SBA’s loan and federal procurement programs.
Size standards for 17 industries were also increased for firms in the Arts, Entertainment and Recreation sector. More than 1,450 additional firms will qualify as small under these new size standards and become eligible for SBA’s loan and federal procurement programs.
SBA also increased size standards for three of the four industries for firms in the Support Activities for Mining Subsector within the Mining, Quarrying and Oil and Gas Extraction Sector (Sector 21). Subsector 213 is the only subsector within Sector 21 which has revenues-based size standards.
