Going forward, 8(a) companies with approved mentors are to apply for the All Small Mentor-Protégé Program, just like every other small business. Now, with the enactment of the Octofinal rule, the SBA has effectively rolled the 8(a) Mentor-Protégé Program into the All Small Program so that all existing mentor-protégé agreements are within one regulatory program. The primary difference between the two was that one was available to 8(a) small businesses, and the other was available to everyone else. These two programs had the same general policy purpose and mainly provided the same benefits to those in the program. The result was that the SBA was administering the All Small Mentor-Protégé Program and the 8(a) Mentor-Protégé Program. There, the SBA created the “ All Small Mentor-Protégé Program,” which, as the name suggests, was available to all small businesses. Ultimately this interest resulted in the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010 (Jobs Act), Public Law 111–240, which authorized the creation of identical mentor-protégé programs for the other SBA programs that, like the 8(a) program, were specially designed for small businesses owned by disadvantaged individuals, such as the Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business Concern (SDVO SBC) Program, the HUBZone Program, and the Women-Owned Small Business (WOSB).Įventually, Congress clarified its intent in the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2013 (“NDAA 2013”). Because of these clear benefits, the program was appealing to small businesses outside of the 8(a) program. The 8(a) Mentor-Protégé program provided enormous dividends for the 8(a) protégé who not only had the benefit of mentor’s experience and past performance to get contracts but also was able to learn from the established business acting as a Mentor. Participation in the program has been reserved for participants in the 8(a) program. The SBA’s 8(a) Mentor-Protégé program was established in 1998. You may be wondering why there are two Mentor-Protégé Programs.
This is part of a government-wide regulatory reform initiative to review regulations and determine which may be revised or eliminated. Small Business Administration (“SBA”) published its final rule merging the 8 (a) Business Development Mentor-Protégé Program and the All Small Mentor-Protégé Program to eliminate confusion and remove unnecessary duplication of functions within the SBA.