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ARTICLE · 10 OCTOBER 2023

Update: 8(a) Reopens Its Certify Site Welcoming New Applicants

Bass, Berry & Sims PLC
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On September 29, the Small Business Administration (SBA) reopened its Certify portal to new applicants seeking admittance into the SBA 8(a) program.

United StatesGovernment, Public Sector
Todd Overman
Todd Overman

On September 29, the Small Business Administration (SBA) reopened its Certify portal to new applicants seeking admittance into the SBA 8(a) program.

This decision comes over a month after a ruling from the Eastern District of Tennessee prohibited the SBA from applying a presumption of social disadvantage to certain designated groups. In an August blog post, we wrote about the Ultima decision and its effects. Shortly after, the SBA closed the portal for new 8(a) applicants and mandated that all current 8(a) participants submit a social disadvantage narrative proving their eligibility.

The SBA announcement also offered an additional and more intuitive avenue to submitting a social disadvantage narrative. In Certify, applicants can continue to upload previously prepared narratives, but SBA also added "a plain language fillable questionnaire for applicants to identify social disadvantage." The questionnaire asks applicants to describe the event(s) that have

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