August 17, 2026
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Margee Higgins
The agency had paused processing applications for the past year for the program, which is aimed at socially and economically disadvantaged businesses.
| A link to the orifinal article, by Katherine Hapgood, is available here. The Small Business Administration has resumed new application approvals for a business development program aimed at “socially and economically disadvantaged” participants after a year-long pause, the Native American Contractors Association said Thursday. The Trump administration has gone through numerous efforts to audit the 8(a) Business Development Program for “fraud, waste and abuse.” The SBA paused processing of new 8(a) program applications in August 2025. During a House Oversight Committee hearing last month, SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler said the pause was due to a full audit by the agency and efforts to reform the program. The SBA partners with federal agencies in an effort to maximize program participants’ access to contracts to help them compete in the economy. The contractors’ association welcomed the news that the application process was being resumed. “The 8(a) Program remains one of the federal government’s most effective tools for expanding economic opportunity in Native communities,” Jon Panamaroff, co-chair of NACA’s board, said in a statement. “Today’s progress is good news for qualified applicants and for the Tribal citizens, Alaska Native shareholders, and Native Hawaiians who benefit from the success of Native-owned enterprises.” Loeffler said in a statement in June that the Biden administration had “weaponized the 8(a) program as a vehicle for partisan and DEI preferences in federal contracting, using race to steer exclusive opportunities to favored groups while shutting out other deserving Americans.” SBA Spokesperson Caitlin O’Dea said in a statement that the “Trump SBA has approved dozens of 8(a) applicants.” “With a renewed commitment to oversight and legal compliance, the agency launched an audit, suspended over 1,000 firms, and worked concurrently with industry stakeholders to develop a comprehensive regulatory overhaul to ensure that the program can never again be used to advance racial discrimination,” O’Dea said. “The SBA will issue further guidance to pending individually owned 8(a) applicants prior to the rule’s effective date of September 10.” The SBA also issued a final rule this week that would amend 8(a) program regulations so there is no longer a presumption that individuals belonging to certain designated groups are socially disadvantaged in an effort to administer the program in a “race-neutral manner.” The rule goes into effect Sept. 10 and does not affect the eligibility of small businesses owned by tribes, Alaska Native Corporations, Native Hawaiian Organizations or Community Development Corporations. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth previously said he was “taking a sledgehammer” to the 8(a) program, which he called “the oldest DEI program in the federal government” in a January video. “For decades, this program, 8(a), has been a breeding ground for fraud, and this administration is finally doing something about it,” Hedgeth said in the video. The Department of Defense spends more money than any other agency on 8(a) contracts and awarded more than $18 billion in contracts to program participants during fiscal 2024, according to an agency memo. |