FEDERAL SBA CERTIFICATIONS

Four federal programs, all filed through the SBA's MySBA Certifications portal, and all free to apply for. 8(a) is for firms owned by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals — a one-time nine-year term with sole-source awards up to $4.5 million. HUBZone requires a principal office in a designated zone and 35% of employees living in one, and carries a 10% price preference in open competition. SDVOSB covers firms at least 51% owned by service-disabled veterans, certified through SBA VetCert since 2023. WOSB covers women-owned firms, with EDWOSB adding an economic test. They stack. A firm can hold 8(a), HUBZone, and SDVOSB at the same time, and each adds a separate lane of set-aside work. The catch is that federal eligibility tests are stricter than state or local ones — net worth caps, employee residency, documented disability ratings — so it's worth confirming which you actually qualify for before assembling four applications.