121.1001—Who may initiate a size protest or request a formal size determination?
(a) Size Status Protests.
(1)
For SBA's Small Business Set-Aside Program, including the Property Sales Program, or any instance in which a procurement or order has been restricted to or reserved for small business or a particular group of small business, the following entities may file a size protest in connection with a particular procurement, sale or order:
(iii)
The SBA Government Contracting Area Director having responsibility for the area in which the headquarters of the protested offeror is located, regardless of the location of a parent company or affiliates, or the Director, Office of Government Contracting; and
(iv)
Other interested parties. Other interested parties include large businesses where only one concern submitted an offer for the specific procurement in question. A concern found to be other than small in connection with the procurement is not an interested party unless there is only one remaining offeror after the concern is found to be other than small.
(iii)
The SBA District Director, or designee, in either the district office serving the geographical area in which the procuring activity is located or the district office that services the apparent successful offeror, or the Associate Administrator for Business Development.
(iv)
The responsible SBA Government Contracting Area Director or the Director, Office of Government Contracting; and
(4)
For SBA's Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program, the following entities may protest:
(iii)
The responsible SBA Government Contracting Area Director or the Division Chief, Office of Technology; and
(5)
For the Department of Defense's Small Disadvantaged Business (SDB) Program, and any other similar program of another Federal agency, the following entities may file a protest in connection with a particular SDB procurement:
(i)
Any offeror for the specific SDB requirement whom the contracting officer has not eliminated for reasons unrelated to size;
(iii)
The responsible SBA Area Director for Government Contracting, the SBA Director, Office of Government Contracting, or the SBA Associate Administrator for Business Development;
(6)
For SBA's HUBZone program, the following entities may protest in connection with a particular HUBZone procurement:
(i)
Any concern that submits an offer for a specific HUBZone set-aside procurement that the contracting officer has not eliminated for reasons unrelated to size;
(ii)
Any concern that submitted an offer in full and open competition and its opportunity for award will be affected by a price evaluation preference given a qualified HUBZone SBC;
(7)
For any unrestricted Government procurement in which a business concern has represented itself as a small business concern, the following entities may protest in connection with a particular procurement:
(iii)
The responsible SBA Government Contracting Area Director, the Director, Office of Government Contracting, or the Associate Administrator for Business Development.
(8)
For SBA's Service Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business Concern program, the following entities may protest in connection with a particular service-disabled veteran-owned procurement:
(i)
Any concern that submits an offer for a specific service-disabled veteran-owned small business set-aside contract;
(i)
Any concern that submits an offer for a specific requirement set aside for WOSBs or WOSBs owned by one or more women who are economically disadvantaged (EDWOSB) pursuant to part 127 ;
(b) Request for Size Determinations.
(1)
For SBA's Financial Assistance Programs, the following entities may request a formal size determination:
(ii)
The SBA official with authority to take final action on the assistance requested. That official may also request the appropriate Government Contracting Area Office to determine whether affiliation exists between an applicant for financial assistance and one or more other entities for purposes of determining whether the applicant would exceed the loan limit amount imposed by § 120.151 of this chapter.
(iii)
The SBA Associate Administrator for Investment or designee may request a formal size determination for any purpose relating to the SBIC program (see part 107 of this chapter) or the NMVC program (see part 108 of this chapter ). A formal size determination includes a request to determine whether or not affiliation exists between two or more entities for any purpose relating to the SBIC program.
(i)
Concerning initial or continued 8(a) BD eligibility, the following entities may request a formal size determination:
(B)
The Director of the Division of Program Certification and Eligibility or the Associate Administrator for Business Development.
(ii)
Concerning individual sole source 8(a) contract awards, the following entities may request a formal size determination:
(B)
The SBA program official with authority to execute the 8(a) contract or, where applicable, the procuring activity contracting officer who has been delegated SBA's 8(a) contract execution functions; or
(C)
The SBA District Director in the district office that services the Participant, or the Associate Administrator for Business Development.
(3)
For SBA's Certificate of Competency Program, the following entities may request a formal size determination:
(ii)
The responsible SBA Government Contracting Area Director or the Director, Office of Government Contracting.
(4)
For SBA's sale or lease of government property, the following entities may request a formal size determination:
(i)
The responsible SBA Government Contracting Area Director or the Director, Office of Government Contracting; and
(5)
For eligibility to pay reduced patent fees, the following entities may request a formal size determination:
(6)
For purposes of determining compliance with small business requirements of another Government agency program not otherwise specified in this section, an official with authority to administer the program involved may request a formal size determination.
(7)
In connection with initial or continued eligibility for the Small Disadvantaged Business (SDB) program, the following may request a formal size determination:
(ii)
The Director of the Division of Program Certification and Eligibility or the Associate Administrator for Business Development.
(8)
In connection with initial or continued eligibility for the HUBZone program, the following may request a formal size determination:
(9)
For purposes of validating that firms listed in the Central Contractor Registration database are small, the Government Contracting Area Director or the Director, Office of Government Contracting may initiate a formal size determination when sufficient information exists that calls into question a firm's small business status. The current date will be used to determine size, and SBA will initiate the process to remove from the database the small business designation of any firm found to be other than small.