|
|
Business Overhead Disability | Key Employee Insurance | Business Continuation | Group Health Insurance | Group Health Quote | Retirement-Self-Emp| Glossary | Frequently Asked Questions | Business Links
What Is a Small Business?
The Small Business Act (Act) established SBA to protect the interests of small businesses and to help ensure that a fair and representative share of government contracts are placed with small businesses. The law defines a small business concern as "one that is independently owned and operated and which is not dominant in its field of operation."
The law also states that in determining what constitutes a small business, the definition will vary from industry to industry to reflect industry differences accurately.
At SBA's inception, the fundamental question centered on what would be the numerical definition of a small business, industry by industry, to establish eligibility for SBA's programs. This numerical definition is the "size standard" and is almost always stated in terms of either number of employees or average annual receipts.
In addition to establishing eligibility for SBA programs, all federal agencies use SBA's size standards to determine the eligibility of firms to receive federal government contracts that are specifically designated for small business. Other laws or programs may similarly require using SBA's small business definition.
SBA.s Office of Size Standards develops and recommends small business size standards to the Size Policy Board and to the Administrator of SBA. These include recommendations on small business definitions that other federal agencies propose. Under the Small Business Act, federal agencies must obtain the approval of the SBA Administrator before adopting a size standard different from SBA's size standard.
The Office of Government Contracting makes formal "size determinations" on whether a business qualifies as an eligible small business for SBA programs.
The Office of Hearings and Appeals (OHA) reviews appeals of formal size determinations.
The Office of General Counsel interprets size standards regulations for the Agency and intervenes in OHA size determination appeal cases if necessary.
The Offices of Size Standards, Government Contracting, and General Counsel coordinate on all size standard issues.
For further information, you may write or call the Office of Size Standards:
Office of Size Standards
U.S. Small Business Administration
409 3rd St., SW, Washington, DC 20416
Phone: (202) 205-6618
Fax: (202) 205-6390
E-mail: SIZESTANDARDS@sba.gov
North American Industry Classification Codes (NAICS )
The United States has a new industry classification system. The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) replaces the U.S. Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) system.
NAICS is the first-ever North American industry classification system. The system was developed by the U.S., Canada, and Mexico to provide comparable statistics across the three countries. For the first time, government and business analysts will be able to compare directly industrial production statistics collected and published in the three North American Free Trade Agreement countries. NAICS also provides for increased comparability with the International Standard Industrial Classification System (ISIC, Revision 3), developed and maintained by the United Nations.
SBA's size standards define whether a business entity is small and, thus, eligible for Government programs and preferences reserved for ``small business'' concerns. Size standards have been established for types of economic activity, or industry, generally under the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS).
Guide to Standard Size
The U. S. Small Business Administration (SBA) has prepared this guide to assist the general public in understanding SBA's definitions of a small business. They are termed "size standards", and represent the largest a firm can be and still be considered a small business. This guide provides general information on size standard requirements and also addresses most of the typical concerns of the public regarding the use of size standards.
Effective October 1, 2000, SBA established a new table of small business size standards based on the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS). This new table replaced the table that was based on the Standard Industrial Classification system (SIC). SBA increased size standards for inflation effective February 22, 2002. We have updated this "Guide to Small Business Size Standards" to reflect the new small business size standards, based on NAICS. For more information on this, we suggest you visit our Website at http://www.sba.gov/size/.
This guide is advisory only, and does not carry any legal weight. SBA has written it in non-technical language. For further information the user of this guide may contact the sources listed at the end or consult the applicable regulations in the Code of Federal Regulations.
The regulations specifying size standards and governing their use are set forth in Title 13, Code of Federal Regulations, part 121 (13 CFR- 121), Small Business Size Regulations. SBA's size regulations as they pertain to Federal procurement are also found in the Federal Acquisition Regulation, 48 CFR - 19. These regulations do have legal bearing on size determinations and size appeal rulings made by SBA.
The material presented on our web site may contain concepts that have legal, accounting and tax implications. It is not intended to provide legal, accounting or tax advice, you may wish to consult a competent attorney, tax advisor, or accountant.
|
CHRISTCO INVESTMENTS & ASSOCIATES
P. O. BOX 218056 | HOUSTON, TX 77218-8056
Local Phone 281) 493-4089
Toll Free 866-863-4835
Fax (281) 493-9838 |
|
|
|
PLEASE NOTE: The links contained on this page of the CHRISTCO INVESTMENTS & ASSOCIATES website are provided strictly as a courtesy and the pages referenced are maintained by external sources. CHRISTCO INVESTMENTS & ASSOCIATES is not responsible for nor guarantees the accuracy of the information contained in the linked sites. |  |
 |