SBA Announces Two Virtual Public Forums on Proposed Updates to Small Business Size Standards  

The SBA announced two virtual public forums to discuss its recently issued proposed rule regarding size standard updates for over 200 small business size standards. The proposed rule would increase SBA’s monetary based small business size definitions (commonly referred to as ‘size standards’) for 263 industries (259 receipts based and four assets based). The changes contained in the proposed rule are part of SBA’s third five-year review of size standards, as required under the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010. The comment period ends on October 21, 2025.

The SBA seeks public comments on its proposed rule to increase its monetary-based small business size standards for 263 industries and to retain receipts-based size standards for 237 industries and 12 subindustries (“exceptions”) and remove one exception.  SBA also invites comments on its proposed policy of not lowering any size standards (except for excluding dominant firms from qualifying as small).  We encourage interested small businesses to file comments, at minimum, short comments to support SBA’s position not to lower any size standards. 

The FAR Council also recently issued a Final Rule affecting the dollar thresholds that affect small business set-asides and federal government procurement generally, including changes to the simplified acquisition threshold.  

We encourage small business to consider attending one of the SBA’s public forums to discuss not only the proposal size standard changes but also the impact of the recent FAR council threshold changes and whether more is to be expected that threatens the vital “rule of two” that encourages federal agencies to use small business federal contractors.

Public Forum Dates:

• Wednesday, September 17, 2025, from 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM (EDT)
• Thursday, September 18, 2025, from 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM (EDT)

Pre-registration to receive the virtual TEAMS Meeting link is required and is available on the SBA’s Size Standards webpage.

If you have any questions regarding how these rule changes might affect your business, please reach out to Government Contracts attorney Carissa Siebeneck Anderson.