The Small Business Administration’s flagship 8(a) business development program is getting updated with a modernized online certification system and other improvements, according to Darryl Hairston, associate administrator, SBA Office of Business Development.

The SBA is preparing to roll out the first phase of the new OneTrackCMS (Certification Management System) on Nov. 4, Hairston said.

The new system replaces the current BDMIS (Business Development Management Information System).

Contractors who have new 8(a) applications in the works are being advised to finish their applications by Oct. 28, Hairston said at a recent industry event hosted by the Minority Business Roundtable.

“If you have an application in process, get it done by Oct. 28,” Hairston said. “I don’t want you to risk losing data when we are moving over to the new system.”

Initially, the OneTrack system will be available to 8(a) applicants and current participants only.

“It will be cradle-to-grave for 8(a),” Hairston said.

Additional phases will make it available to HUBZone applicants and participants as well as participants in other government contracting programs, according to an SBA spokeswoman.

The new system also will support the SBA’s expanded Mentor-Protege program and new business processes, including initiatives to reduce fraud, waste and abuse, according to the federal IT Dashboard. Projected spending on the new system is $765,000 from 2011 to 2017, the dashboard indicated.

While the current BDMIS and HUBZone systems are operational, they have significant deficiencies with regard to data integrity, customer experience, compliance with requirements for people with disabilities and manual processes to compensate for missing functionality, the dashboard states.

Hairston said at the roundtable event that the new system supports ongoing initiatives to strengthen the 8(a) program and attract new applicants at a time of budget cuts. Due to longer-term contracting trends, the number of firms graduating from 8(a) has been exceeding the number of new firms entering 8(a) in recent years.

“Contracts are much more competitive,” Hairston said. “We are seeing larger contracts, more Multiple Award contracts and strategic sourcing. The pool of contracts is getting smaller.”

Even so, there is a lot of interest in 8(a) among vendors. “We get about 40 to 50 new applications a week, and we have 15 people processing applications,” Hairston said.

Hairston cautioned that 8(a) is not centered around helping vendors to win federal contracts. Those awards are a plus, but the goal is broader business development and a range of markets.

“8(a) is an artificial environment,” Hairston said. “I want you to be pursuing other markets and developing your business. You need to be competitive in those other markets. You should come into 8(a) with a plan on how to leave.”

The SBA has a training curriculum for pre-8(a) companies, as well as the 7(j) program for helping firms that have graduated from the nine-year 8(a) program.

The SBA offers about $3 million a year in 7(j) free support services, which has been reduced from $10 million a year due to budget cuts, Hairston said. The services include help with marketing, business plans, and becoming auditable by the Defense Contract Audit Agency, but no legal advice.

In other news, Hairston said the new government-wide Mentor- Protege program regulations are in development and will be sent to the White House for review shortly.

Under a 2010 law, the SBA previously was preparing to expand the 8(a) Mentor-Protege program to HUBZones and to women-owned firms. Those regulations were almost completed when, in 2012, Congress ordered the SBA to prepare a government-wide mentor-protege program.

“We had to start over,” Hairston said. “We redrafted and now are getting ready to send to OMB (Office of Management and Budget) for a government-wide mentor-protege program.”

There currently are about 600 mentor-protege agreements in place in the 8(a) program, he said.

In addition, Hairston said the SBA has completed updating size standards for 19 industry sectors, issuing 14 final rules, with five still pending.

Another final rule expected to be published within days is for allowing set-asides at the task order level on Multiple-Award Contracts, he said.

Contracting officers are allowed to utilize that rule voluntarily now, and the rule will become mandatory when published in the Federal Acquisition Regulation, he said.