Overview
This section prescribes the limitations and procedures for challenging an 8(a) participant's eligibility and size status, effectively restricting the grounds and parties permitted to file protests. It distinguishes between the non-protestable nature of program eligibility and the conditional ability to protest size in competitive environments.
Key Rules
- Eligibility Immunity: A participant's eligibility for the 8(a) program cannot be challenged by other participants or third parties for either sole source or competitive requirements.
- Sole Source Size Protection: The size status of an 8(a) participant nominated for a sole source contract is not subject to protest.
- Competitive Size Protests: Size status may only be protested in competitive 8(a) awards.
- Standing to Protest: Only specific parties have the right to file a size protest for competitive awards:
- Offerors not eliminated for non-size-related reasons.
- The Contracting Officer.
- Specific SBA officials (District Directors or the Associate Administrator for Business Development).
- Procedural Compliance: Competitive size protests must follow the established procedures in FAR 19.302 and 13 CFR 121.1001.
Practical Implications
- Limited Recourse: Contractors cannot use the protest process to challenge a competitor's right to be in the 8(a) program; such matters are handled exclusively by the SBA's internal administrative processes.
- Sole Source Finality: Once a firm is nominated for an 8(a) sole source award, competitors are legally barred from delaying the procurement via size or eligibility protests.