Set-aside contracts
A set-aside is federal work that only certain companies are allowed to bid on. It is the single largest structural advantage available to a small business, and which ones you can use depends entirely on certifications you either hold or do not.
3,068
solicitations open right now carry a set-aside, out of 10,527 open in total. Large firms cannot bid on any of them.
What is open right now, by programme
| Small business | 2,365 |
| Service-disabled veteran-owned | 411 |
| Woman-owned | 108 |
| 8(a) Business Development | 86 |
| HUBZone | 98 |
The rule of two
If a contracting officer has a reasonable expectation that at least two small businesses will bid, and that the award will be at a fair market price, the work must be set aside for small business. Two is the whole threshold. It is why registering and being findable in your NAICS codes matters beyond your own bids: your existence helps create set-asides that you then get to compete for.
Sole source
Under the SDVOSB, WOSB, 8(a) and HUBZone programmes an agency can award directly with no competition, generally up to $4.5 million for services and $7 million for manufacturing. This is where the real money in certification sits, and it goes to firms a contracting officer already knows. Certification makes you eligible; it does not make you findable.
Stacking
Certifications combine. A firm holding both HUBZone and SDVOSB can bid set-asides for either. Nothing is lost by holding more than one, beyond the effort of maintaining them.
Questions people ask
What is the rule of two?
If two or more small businesses are expected to bid at a fair price, the contract must be set aside for small business.
Can a large business bid on a set-aside?
No. Eligibility is checked and a non-eligible bid is thrown out before evaluation.
Do I need certification for a small business set-aside?
No. Small business status is self-certified in SAM against the size standard for your NAICS code. The named programmes are the ones requiring formal certification.
What is a partial set-aside?
Part of a requirement is set aside for small business and the rest competed openly, used where the whole thing is too large for the small business pool.
Can I hold more than one certification?
Yes, and they stack. Each opens its own set-asides.
Related
SDVOSB certification · WOSB certification · HUBZone certification · 8(a) certification