| On February 5, 2015, the Small Business Administration (SBA) issued its Proposed Rule which created a new mentor-protege program for small businesses and made other changes relevant to small business joint ventures and the 8(a) Business Development Program. Comments in response to the Proposed Rule were initially due on April 6, 2015 but the deadline was extended until May 6, 2015 - presumably due to the relatively small number of comments that had been submitted as of April 6, 2015. |  |
Comments in response to this Proposed Rule were especially important for Native Hawaiian Organizations (NHO) and NHO-owned 8(a) firms. Although not one of the changes made in the Proposed Rule, the SBA specifically requested comments on how economic disadvantage is determined/established for NHOs (and therefore for NHO-owned firms) for purposes of 8(a) program eligibility. For some time now, the NHOs have advocated for SBA to seriously consider changes in this regard in order to put the NHOs on a more level playing field with the other entity-owned firms (i.e., Tribes and ANCs).
Given the SBA's willingness to solicit comments and suggestions from the business community on this issue and given the positive impact that such a change could have, we felt it important to take the time to develop comments that provide the SBA with: (1) a better understanding of Native Hawaiians; and (2) a realistic and practical solution. To that end, we have had many discussions with our clients and others in the small business government contracting community which we have considered and utilized to develop our comments, which we submitted on May 4, 2015. To view our comments, please feel free to download the file below.
If you have any questions about the Proposed Rule or our comments, please feel free to contact us at info@holomuaconsulting.com or (808) 369-9710.
Given the SBA's willingness to solicit comments and suggestions from the business community on this issue and given the positive impact that such a change could have, we felt it important to take the time to develop comments that provide the SBA with: (1) a better understanding of Native Hawaiians; and (2) a realistic and practical solution. To that end, we have had many discussions with our clients and others in the small business government contracting community which we have considered and utilized to develop our comments, which we submitted on May 4, 2015. To view our comments, please feel free to download the file below.
If you have any questions about the Proposed Rule or our comments, please feel free to contact us at info@holomuaconsulting.com or (808) 369-9710.
| HCG Comments re Proposed Rule - 05.05.15 |
