Four former leaders of SBA’s Office of Government Contracting and Business Development are warning that the agency’s proposed size standards could fundamentally reshape the federal small business marketplace.
By Michele Musso & GCP Associates
There is a reason federal small business programs exist. They are designed to create a competitive marketplace where small and emerging companies have a meaningful opportunity to compete for federal contracts, establish past performance, grow their capabilities and contribute to the nation’s industrial base.
Now, four former senior officials of the U.S. Small Business Administration are warning that the agency’s proposed overhaul of small business size standards threatens that fundamental purpose.
GCP Chairman A. John Shoraka, Joe Jordan, Jackie Robinson-Burnette and Francis Spampinato joined together in a newly published Washington Examiner op-ed challenging SBA’s proposed changes and calling attention to what those changes could mean for genuinely small businesses. Each of the four served as Associate Administrator for Government Contracting and Business Development at the SBA, with their collective public service spanning both Republican and Democratic administrations.
That history matters. These are not observers looking at federal small business programs from the outside. They have been responsible for administering government contracting programs, working with the acquisition community and helping implement the policies intended to ensure small businesses receive meaningful access to federal opportunities. Now they are raising the alarm about where those policies may be headed.
What Does “Small Business” Mean If the Government Keeps Making It Bigger?
At the center of the debate is SBA’s proposed overhaul of its size standards. The agency has proposed a new methodology and changes affecting hundreds of industries, including a shift toward employee-based standards in many industries. SBA has argued that its broader methodology would modernize and simplify the system. The proposed rule also consolidates and restructures existing standards.
But simplification is not the only question. Who will qualify as small under the new system and who will have to compete against them?
That is the concern raised by Shoraka, Jordan, Robinson-Burnette and Spampinato. In their Washington Examiner op-ed, they point directly to the potential consequences of allowing substantially larger companies into the small business marketplace.
“If firms with $500 million in revenue are allowed to position themselves as ‘small’ to access set-aside contracts, it would undermine the core congressional intent of the Small Business Act.”
That is not simply a debate over terminology. It is a debate over who federal small business contracting programs are supposed to serve.
Set-Asides Exist for a Reason
Federal small business set-asides create a protected competitive environment. The purpose is not merely to increase the number of companies capable of checking a “small” box. It is to give actual small businesses an opportunity to compete against companies of reasonably comparable scale rather than forcing them immediately into unrestricted competition against significantly larger enterprises.
As the four former SBA leaders write:
“The goal isn’t simply to broaden who qualifies as ‘small’”
Their argument is that the government must preserve a marketplace in which genuinely small businesses can compete with other small businesses. That distinction is critical.
A company trying to win its first major federal prime contract does not have the same resources, infrastructure, access to capital, proposal capacity or past performance as a company generating hundreds of millions of dollars annually. Calling both companies “small” does not eliminate those differences. It simply puts them into the same competitive pool.
The Consequences Go Beyond Individual Contracts
GCP has consistently argued that this discussion cannot be reduced to whether an individual company gains or loses its small business designation. There is a broader federal procurement ecosystem at stake.
Small business contracting programs provide emerging companies with an entry point into the federal market. Those companies can build past performance, develop specialized capabilities, hire employees, invest in technology and eventually graduate into unrestricted competition. That pipeline matters to the health of the federal industrial base.
The Washington Examiner op-ed makes that argument directly, warning that the proposed changes could…
“dilute opportunities for truly innovative small and emerging firms.”
If substantially larger businesses are permitted to compete for the same set-aside opportunities, genuinely small firms may find it increasingly difficult to establish the federal track record necessary to grow. And once those businesses disappear from the acquisition pipeline, simply expanding the definition of “small” does not bring them back.
This Is Why Former SBA Leaders Are Speaking Out
There is another important part of this story. Shoraka, Jordan, Robinson-Burnette and Spampinato did not enter government to dismantle the programs they were charged with administering. They entered public service to help those programs work.
Their collective experience crosses presidential administrations and political parties. They may not agree on every policy question, but they are speaking together now because they share a concern about the direction of federal small business contracting policy. That should get the attention of policymakers and contractors alike.
This is bigger than one proposed rule. It raises a fundamental question: Does federal procurement policy still intend to create a meaningful competitive space for genuinely small businesses?
If the answer is yes, then policymakers must consider not only how many additional companies can qualify as small under a new methodology, but what happens to the businesses already competing within that marketplace.
GCP Will Continue to Advocate for Genuine Small Businesses
GovContractPros strongly opposes changes that would substantially increase size standards at the expense of genuinely small and emerging federal contractors. Our concern is not with successful businesses growing.
Growth is the objective.
Small businesses should win contracts, hire people, increase revenue, develop capabilities and eventually graduate into full and open competition. The problem arises when government policy attempts to solve the challenges associated with graduation by continually expanding the definition of “small.”
At some point, the protected marketplace no longer serves the companies it was created to develop.
That is why GCP has been actively engaged on the proposed size standards through regulatory advocacy, direct engagement with policymakers and efforts to ensure the voices of small businesses are heard throughout the rulemaking process. And that advocacy will continue.
Small Businesses Still Have an Opportunity to Be Heard
Importantly, this rule is not final. SBA extended the public comment period on its proposed Small Business Size Standards rule by 60 days. Comments are now due November 20, 2026.
That means contractors still have an opportunity to put their concerns into the administrative record. Businesses should examine how the proposed standards affect their industries, their competitive environment and their ability to pursue small business set-aside opportunities. Then they should make their voices heard.
This is precisely what the public comment process is for.
The future of federal small business contracting should not be determined without the participation of the small businesses that will have to compete under these rules.
Read the Washington Examiner Op-Ed
Trump’s SBA wants to give $500 million corporations ‘small business’ status — that’s a disaster
By A. John Shoraka, Joe Jordan, Jackie Robinson-Burnette and Frank Spampinato
Take Action
SBA Proposed Small Business Size Standards
Public Comment Deadline: November 20, 2026
GCP will continue to stand with small businesses, advocate for the programs designed to support them, and engage directly with policymakers to ensure their voices are heard. As the federal contracting landscape continues to change, our commitment remains the same: protecting meaningful opportunities for small businesses to compete, grow and succeed in the federal marketplace.
Like to discuss with a GCP associate reach out to team@govcontractpros.com .
