The Small Business Administration would get 15 days--up from 10 days--to evaluate the size of a protested company under new regulatory amendments.

The proposed changes were published in the Federal register on March 7.

The new rules state that contracting officers have the authority to determine whether to suspend work until the SBA’s Office of Hearing and Appeals renders a decision, along with guidance on what to do if SBA misses the deadline.

The rule change also specifies that contracting officers must update the Federal Procurement Data System to reflect the final size determination.

SBA processes nearly 500 size protests each fiscal year, resulting in 41% of the targeted firms being determined to be small, 26% determined to be other than small, and the remainder (33%) of the complaints dismissed on procedural grounds, the SBA said in the notice.

More information: Federal Register notice: http://goo.gl/ya28r