Week of August 25, 2026
SBA just moved the line on who counts as small.
CLOSING WITHIN 48 HOURS OF PUBLICATION
THIS WEEK IN 8(a)
Check whether your NAICS code is one of the 338 that SBA rewrote on Aug 20, 2026. The comment window closes Sep 21, 2026, and it is the only lever you get before this settles.
SBA proposed replacing roughly 1,000 small-business size standards with 338 broader ones, and the thresholds mostly rise. SBA estimates about 114,500 more firms would qualify as small under them. Some of the jumps are steep. Engineering services under NAICS 541330 sits at $25.5 million in average annual receipts today. The proposal takes it to $252 million. Computer systems design under 5415 moves from $34 million to $531 million.
That cuts two ways at once. You stay small longer, which protects your set-aside eligibility as you grow. And firms many times your size stay small alongside you, inside the same set-asides you are bidding.
NAICS 541330 appears twice in this issue. If your codes are on the list, a comment filed before Sep 21, 2026 carries more weight than an objection after.
SBA's proposed size standards, Federal Register, Aug 20, 2026 · the revised methodology behind them
BY THE NUMBERS
A sole-source intent names one firm an agency plans to award without competition. It stays contestable until award. Sources sought and presolicitations come earlier still, before a solicitation exists, which is the window where a response can change whether the work becomes an 8(a) set-aside. The sources-sought figure covers only the sectors this digest tracks, not everything posted to SAM.gov.