- U.S. Small Business Administration accepting comments on proposed rule changes aimed at expanding access to its loan programs and contracting opportunities
- One change would modify the averaging period for calculating a small business’s number of employees
- Another modification would allow businesses to choose a longer averaging period to calculate annual revenues
Summary by Dirk Langeveld
The U.S. Small Business Administration is seeking comment on two proposed changes aimed at expanding access to the agency’s lending programs.
The SBA is proposing to modify two of the methods it uses to determine which entities qualify as small businesses for government contracts and the SBA’s loan and investment programs. The agency estimates that 67,650 more businesses will become eligible for the SBA’s loan programs and another 450 businesses will be able to access the SBA’s contracting programs under the changes.
One change would modify the averaging period for calculating a small business’s number of employees from 12 months to 24 months. Another would allow small businesses participating in the SBA’s loan programs and the Small Business Investment Company programs to choose between a five-year averaging period or the current three-year averaging period to calculate average annual revenues.
Comments are being accepted until Dec. 2.