H.R. 8879: Oversight and Transparency for Small Business Certifications Act of 2026

This bill, titled the Oversight and Transparency for Small Business Certifications Act of 2026, aims to enhance reporting on the participation of small businesses in various federal contracting programs. Here’s a breakdown of what it would do:

Report on Small Business Participation

The bill proposes that the Administrator of Small Business Administration (SBA) submit an annual report to Congress as part of the President's budget submission. This report would include detailed statistics on small business certifications in specified contracting programs. The report would cover the following areas:

• Total certified small businesses: The number of unique small businesses certified for participation.
• Application statistics:
  • Total applications for participation that contain sufficient information for certification determinations.
  • Numbers of certifications issued for each contracting program.
  • Applications for which a determination has not yet been made.
• Multiple certifications: The report would track how many businesses applied for and received certifications in multiple programs.
• Application platforms: Information about the applications received through the SBA's unified platform compared to other systems.
• Veteran-owned businesses: Specific statistics around small businesses owned by service-disabled veterans, including numbers of applications certified, denied, or undecided as well as timeframes for decisions.
• Women-owned businesses: Similar metrics would be tracked for businesses owned by women, including specific counts of successful applications, applications eligible for sole source contracts, and processing times.
• HUBZone businesses: For small businesses in HUBZones, data regarding certifications, denials, and decision timeframes would also be reported.

Definition of Covered Contracting Programs

The term "covered contracting program" in this context encompasses various sections of the Small Business Act under which contracting assistance is provided, specifically:

• Section 8(a)
• Section 8(m)
• Section 31
• Section 36

Thus, the bill seeks to improve transparency and oversight into how small businesses engage with federal contracting opportunities, aiming to streamline and clarify the certification process while ensuring robust tracking of participation rates across different demographics of small businesses.

Relevant Companies

• None found