Great news for small businesses looking to one day land a federal contract with the federal government! After years of receiving and processing separate applications for each of the many unique SBA certifications available to women, minority & disadvantaged owned businesses, the SBA has decided to move forward with a much-needed technology upgrade to its online platform and unify them all into one application.
The SBA has recently announced the new MySBA Certification platform. MySBA Certifications is a new, single application for all SBA federal contracting certifications. This is a game changer for many small business owners who desire to contract with a federal government agency and may qualify for more than one of the available certifications. The new MySBA Certifications process, (which will launch in September) will allow customers to apply and manage all their federal contracting certifications through one simple login. With this new unified process, the SBA hopes to encourage more, Small, Minority, and Disadvantaged businesses whose goals are to contract with the federal government, to seek SBA federal certification.
To get the new system ready for implementation, the SBA has paused initial application submissions as of August 1, 2024. If you have submitted your application, before the August 1st cut-off date under the current/legacy systems, it will be processed in each system until a decision is rendered. Those applications will not be transferred to the new MySBA Certifications for processing.
As part of its equity agenda, the Biden administration has set a high bar to ensure more federal contract spending (15% by 2025) goes to minority-owned small businesses. This has led to a steady increase in federal contracting dollars year after year. Although the spending is up, agencies are seeing a significant drop in the number of small businesses that receive government contracts. The federal government is also seeing an even sharper decline in the number of small businesses that are new or recent entrants to the federal marketplace.
Since 2010, agencies have seen a 40% decrease in small businesses receiving prime contract awards. Over the same period, the number of small companies doing business with the federal government for the first time has decreased by about 60% — and over the past 15 years, new entrants have dropped by approximately 80%.
Simplifying the certification process for woman-owned, minority-owned or disadvantaged businesses does not guarantee winning a bid for a government contract, but it does facilitate the process of becoming competitive in the marketplace. Stay tuned for more updates about MySBA Certification at www.certify.sba.gov/upgrade.
For help applying for SBA certifications or to determine your eligibility, contact Aventi Enterprises and schedule a certification inquiry call.
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