Edward DeLisle and Maria Panichelli article from JD Supra Business Advisor

February 17, 2015

The SBA is on a roll!  It seems that ringing in the new year has invigorated the agency, prompting it to act on the various outstanding directives set forth in the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2013 (“NDAA”).

Last Thursday, the agency issued its long-awaited proposed rule on the expansion of the Mentor-Protégé Program.  There were also proposed changes impacting the 8(a), HUBZone, and other small business programs. We gave you a sneak preview of that rule here, the day before it was issued.  In addition to those proposed mentor-protégé changes, the SBA also recently rolled out a second proposed rule ,which included various changes to the small business regulations. Over the next several weeks, we will provide you with our take on various aspects of these two proposed rules. For purposes of this article, though, we’re going to focus on the changes to the affiliation regulations set forth in the December 29, 2014 proposed rule.  These proposed changes would fundamentally alter the SBA’s analysis regarding the “ostensible subcontractor” rule, economic dependence, and “identify of interest” affiliation. Read more