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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 8 / Wednesday, January 13, 2021 / Rules and Regulations
DATES:

13, 2020 https www.whitehouse.gov/
presidential-actions/proclamationdeclaring-national-emergencyconcerning-novel-coronavirus-diseasecovid-19-outbreak.
Section 869 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021, Public Law 116283, title VIII, sec. 869
January 1, 2021 NDAA 2021 also contained the same language authorizing business concerns participating in the 8a BD program on or before September 9, 2020 to extend their participation in the program for a period of one year from the end of their program terms. The statutory language of both the Appropriations Act and NDAA 2021 authorizes an extension for firms participating in the program on or before September 9, 2020. There is no further clarifying language as to what before September 9, 2020 is intended to encompass. It is SBAs understanding that Congress extended the term of participation in the 8a BD program because it believed that the pandemic has adversely affected 8a concerns and their ability to participate in and receive the full benefits of the program. Thus, SBA believes it is reasonable to conclude that any firms participating in the program as of the date the national disaster was declared due to the pandemic i.e., March 13, 2020 should receive the program term extension authorized by Congress.
This extension authority does not extend to business concerns that graduated from or otherwise left the 8a BD program prior to March 13, 2020, or to business concerns that were admitted to the 8a BD program after September 9, 2020. In addition, this rule clarifies that the extension will not apply to business concerns that were Participants in the 8a BD program at any point between March 13, 2020, and September 9, 2020, but were terminated, early graduated or voluntarily withdrew from the program in lieu of being terminated or early graduated. SBA has already determined that such business concerns are no longer eligible to participate in the 8a BD program.
In addition, both the Appropriations Act and the NDAA 2021 provide that SBA shall issue regulations implementing the provision not later than 15 days after the date of enactment, and that the regulations shall be issued without regard to the notice requirements under section 553b of title 5, United States Code. As such, this rule is being implemented as an interim final rule with an immediate effective date.
In order to implement the statutory language of section 330 of the Appropriations Act and section 869 of
Effective date: This interim final rule is effective on January 13, 2021.
Comment date: Comments must be received no later than March 15, 2021.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by RIN: 3245AH64 by any of the following methods:
Federal eRulemaking Portal: http
www.regulations.gov. Follow the instructions for submitting comments.
Email: Van Tran, Deputy Associate Administrator, Office of Business Development, Small Business Administration, at 8aQuestions@
sba.gov.
SBA will post all comments on http
www.regulations.gov. If you wish to submit confidential business information CBI, as defined in the User Notice at http www.regulations.gov, please submit the information to Van Tran, Deputy Associate Administrator, Office of Business Development, Small Business Administration at 8aQuestions@sba.gov. Highlight the information that you consider to be CBI
and explain why you believe SBA
should hold this information as confidential. SBA will review the information and make the final determination on whether it will publish the information.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Van Tran, Deputy Associate Administrator, Office of Business Development, Office of Government Contracting and Business Development, at 8aQuestions@
sba.gov, or SBAs 8a BD information line at 415 7440328.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background Information On December 27, 2020, President Trump signed into law the Appropriations Act, Public Law 116
260, Div. N, title III, sec. 330 Dec. 27, 2020, to, among other things, make appropriations for the 2021 fiscal year and to provide coronavirus emergency response and relief. Section 330 of the Appropriations Act mandates that SBA
must ensure that any small business concern participating in the 8a BD
program on or before September 9, 2020
has the option to extend such participation for a period of one year from the end of its program term, regardless of whether the concern previously elected to voluntarily suspend its program participation in connection with the Presidents nationwide coronavirus emergency disaster declaration on March 13, 2020.
Presidential Disaster Declaration on Declaring a National Emergency Concerning the Novel Coronavirus Disease COVID19 Outbreak March
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the NDAA 2021, SBA is amending 124.2 of its regulations to incorporate the optional program term extension for small business concerns participating in the 8a BD program on March 13, 2020.
Specifically, revised 124.2 provides that for a firm participating in the 8a BD program as of March 13, 2020 and through January 13, 2021, SBA will extend its program term by one year unless the concern declines such extension. A firm that was participating in the 8a BD program as of March 13, 2020, but has since graduated or otherwise left the program before January 13, 2021 must notify SBA of its intent to be readmitted for a period of one year from the date it completed its program term. Any such notification must be received by SBA no later than March 15, 2021. In addition, a firm seeking to be readmitted must certify that it continues to meet the applicable eligibility requirements as set forth in 124.101 through 124.111.
SBA is also revising 124.2 to clarify that any period of extension under the Act will be added to a Participants transitional stage of participation in the 8a BD program. SBA has selected this approach for two reasons. First, in authorizing an extension of 8a BD
program participation, Congress clearly intended to give certain 8a Participants the opportunity to recover and take full advantage of the programs business development assistance, including the additional assistance available to firms in the transitional stage as set forth in 124.404c. Second, it would be administratively burdensome and illogical to place a Participant that has already entered the transitional stage or completed its program term back in the development stage during its period of extension.
As part of this revision, SBA is also making conforming amendments to 124.404 to clarify the respective terms of the developmental and transitional stages of program participation.
Lastly, SBA is revising 124.509 of its regulations to clarify how an extension of participation under the Act will impact an 8a Participants requirement to attain the targeted dollar levels of non-8a revenue in its extended program term. Currently, under SBAs regulations, a Participant in the transitional stage of the 8a BD program i.e., years five through nine must generally achieve certain targets of revenue derived from sources other than sole source or competitive 8a contracts. The purpose of these targets is to ensure that Participants do not develop an unreasonable reliance on 8a awards, and to ease their transition into the competitive marketplace after
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