What is 8a Certification and How it Benefits?

8a certification is an initiative by the United States government, run by Small Business Administration (SBA) to help socially and economically backward people receive governmental contracts. The Small Business Administration offers these disadvantaged business organizations a nine-year business development program in which they get pieces of training, counseling, help in marketing and technical areas. Such organizations are often owned or controlled by people of certain races like African Americans, Native Americans, Hispanic Americans, and others who face challenges due to their ethnicity, gender, physical abilities, etc, and have no economical advantage.  

The 8acertification benefits these people widely and helps them to thrive in the competitive business environment. The certification program is a two-step program in which the four initial years is the developmental stage. In these years the organizations are provided with funds, training, various policies, and marketing strategies. The next five years are the transition stage where the government continues to support them while they try to successfully run the business on their own. The government's annual goal is to award at least 5% of all the contracts to these backward business organizations.

These small businesses that apply for 8a certification become privileged to face less competition as they can get reserved government contracts and "sole-source contracts" which ensures virtually no competition for them in the market. They are also offered guidance during the entire application process. While the SBA is willing to provide support through this certification program, small business organizations need certain requirements to be eligible for this certification. This is exclusively for small businesses owned by socially backward and financially challenged people and that is why the average adjusted gross revenue must not exceed $25000 for the past three years. 

The 8a certification also requires the owner to be free of any criminal records and the owner should not have violated any SBA terms in the past. This is a one-time certification which means if any business has already participated in this certification program it is not eligible to reapply. The certification process gives these socio-economically backward people a platform to grow their small businesses. A lot of people have benefited from this initiative.

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