Government Contracts Monitor

Short Takes: New Mentor-Protégé Programs Among SBA’s “Highest Regulatory Priorities” for 2014

March 19, 2014

The Small Business Jobs Act of 2010, Pub. L. No. 111-240, § 1347(b)(3), authorized the Small Business Administration (SBA) to establish mentor-protégé programs for HUBZone, Service Disabled Veteran-Owned (SDVO) and Women-Owned small businesses, modeled on SBA’s existing 8(a) mentor-protégé program set forth in 13 C.F.R. § 124.520. Section 1641 of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2013 (FY13), Pub. L. No. 112-239, (i) authorized SBA to establish mentor-protégé programs for all small businesses, and (ii) required SBA to issue regulations within 270 days establishing requirements for all Federal Department or agency mentor-protégé programs. The SBA, in its recent semi-annual “Statement of Regulatory Priorities,” stated that issuing regulations establishing the authorized new protégé programs for the Service-Disabled Veteran Owned, HUBZone and Women-Owned Small Business Programs is one of “SBA’s highest regulatory priorities” for calendar year 2014. 79 Fed. Reg. at 1088-89. SBA did not say when a proposed rule might be issued. However, the early 2015 SBA reporting requirement established in Section 1641(c) of the NDAA-FY13 as to all Federal Government mentor-protégé programs may provide some impetus for SBA to act this year. SBA’s statement was conspicuously quiet as to the separate, already past due, required regulations as to other agency mentor-protégé programs. Hopefully, these proposed regulations also will be forthcoming this year.

Hopewell Darneille is the attorney responsible for the contents of this article.