Small Disadvantaged Businesses May Self-Certify SBA is allowing small disadvantaged businesses to self-certify their eligibility on subcontracts, abolishing a certification program that has been widely criticized as cumbersome and costly. The interim final rule was effective Oct. 3. SBA said only two agencies – NASA and the Coast Guard – are currently applying the 10% price evaluation adjustment for SDB firms, and they seldom use it. Those agencies will develop their own certification programs for SDBs on prime contracts. Most agencies’ legal authority to use the price evaluation adjustment has expired. The Defense Department has not used the adjustment since 1999 because it consistently meets the SDB goal. As a result, the SDB designation is only used in counting procurement goal achievements. “Federal procuring agencies have expressed concerns of having firms go through the time and expense of the SDB certification process when there is little-to-no benefit,” SBA said in a notice published in the Oct. 3 Federal Register. “In addition, the agencies have met the government-wide SDB procurement goal through the use of the 8(a) program and award of contracts to SDBs through small business set-asides and full and open competition contracts.” The government has met or exceeded the 5% SDB goal for seven years. Set-asides for SDBs were ended in 1996 as part of the Clinton administration’s overhaul of affirmative action programs in response to the Adarand decision limiting race and gender preferences. SBA said the suspension of SDB applications will have no impact on the 8(a) program. Eight-a companies are also classified as SDBs. About 9,500 firms participate in the 8(a) program. Fewer than 3,000 others are certified as SDBs.