But it also proved popular because it enabled large firms to form joint ventures with 8(a) protégés, which were then eligible to compete for any opportunity for which the protégé qualified. The purpose of the program is to enhance the ability of the minority-owned protégé to compete for government and commercial contracts, through business assistance for the protégé, such as technical or management training, financial assistance in either equity investments or loans, and subcontracts.

Comments on the proposed rule are due January 17, 2020.Ĭombining the 8(a) BD and All Small Mentor-Protégé ProgramsĪlthough the 8(a) Mentor-Protégé Program seems to have been around forever, SBA started it relatively recently, in 1998. The far-reaching SBA proposal also includes changes to the mentor-protégé programs, changes affecting joint ventures, changes for certain details in the 8(a) Program, and new requirements for certain multiple-award contracts, among others. On November 8, 2019, the Small Business Administration published a proposed rule to combine the 8(a) Business Development (BD) Mentor-Protégé Program with the All Small Mentor-Protégé Program. Confusingly (and again, like the recordkeeping rules), SBA’s decision to change only the small business set-aside regulation, 13 C.F.R 125.8, means that the same joint venture agreement may not be valid for both small business set-aside contracts and socioeconomic contracts.įiled Under: Contracting Tips Tagged With: joint venture, mentor-protege Podcast: Teaming agreements, joint ventures, and mentor-protégé Like the revised recordkeeping rules SmallGovCon discussed in an earlier post, the new required provision only applies to mentor-protege joint ventures pursuing small business set-aside contracts–not to JVs seeking 8(a), SDVOSB/VOSB, WOSB/EDWOSB or HUBZone work. If you are part of a joint venture between a small protege and its large mentor under the SBA’s Mentor-Protege Program, heads up: the SBA recently amended its list of mandatory requirements for joint venture agreements to cover what happens to funds leftover in the joint venture bank account at the end of a project.

Sba mentor protege program checklist