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Small Business Concerns

A Small Business Concern is a business, including its affiliates, that is independently owned and operated, not dominant in the field of operation in which it is bidding on contracts and qualified as a small business under the applicable size standards in 13 CFR Part 121 (FAR 19.102).

The size standard is based on the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) codes and is currently figured by either dollar revenue or number of employees. Determine your company's NAICS code(s).

Our small business specialists seek to ensure a fair portion of contract awards, percentage of total U.S. business dollars, is placed with organizations within the small business concern areas:

  • Historically Black Colleges, Universities and Minority Institutions (HBCU/MI)
  • Historically Underutilized Business Zones (HUBZone) Small Business
  • Veteran-Owned Small Business (VOSB) / Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB)
  • Small Disadvantaged Business (SDB)
  • Women-Owned Small Business (WOSB)

There is a close relationship between the economy and small businesses. Small businesses make up more than 90% of all employers, account for more than 35 percent of the country's gross national product, create two out of every three new jobs, and produce 2.5 times as many innovations per employee as do large firms. These are some of the reasons that doing contracts with small businesses have become priority with the Communications-Electronics Command (CECOM).

Small Business Set-Aside

A "set-aside for small business" is the reserving of an acquisition exclusively for participation by small business concerns. For a procurement to be totally set-aside, a contracting officer must have reasonable expectations that offers will be obtained from at least two responsible small businesses and awards will be made at reasonable or fair market prices. For more information on small business set-asides, see FAR Subpart 19.501.

For small business set-asides, other than for construction or services, any small business concern proposing to furnish a product that it did not itself manufacture, must furnish the product of a small business manufacturer unless the SBA has granted either a waiver or exception to the non-manufacturer rule.

It is important to understand that the determination for the "rule of Two" is based on a combination of past procurement history as well as market research. One of the most frequent and utilized tools in determining if there are two or more capable small businesses is the "Request for Information" (RFI) that is posted on FedBizOpps. If Small Businesses respond thoroughly and completely it enhances the chances of more potential Small Business Set-asides.