UPDATE: Next Step In SBA's Implementation Of Ultima Ruling To 8(a) Program

The July 19 Ultima ruling threw the 8(a) program into tumult after the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee found the program's rebuttable presumption mechanism, used to find social disadvantage, in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment's Equal Protection Clause.

Following the ruling, in an attempt to resolve confusion, the Small Business Administration (SBA) issued interim guidance providing that those participants "whose program eligibility is based upon one or more individuals who relied upon the presumption of social disadvantage to establish their individual social disadvantage" must submit a narrative to maintain eligibility in the program.

The change requires all current 8(a) participants who established social disadvantage using the rebuttable presumption mechanism to complete a social disadvantage narrative to reestablish their social disadvantage. Those 8(a) firms with a pending 8(a) award were required to obtain SBA approval of