(a) Upon receipt of the contracting agency’s offer, the SBA will determine whether to accept the requirement for the 8(a) Program. The SBA’s decision whether to accept the requirement will be transmitted to the contracting agency in writing within 10 working days of receipt of the offer if the contract is likely to exceed the simplified acquisition threshold and within 2 days of receipt if the contract is at or below the simplified acquisition threshold. The contracting agency may grant an extension of these time periods. If SBA does not respond to an offering letter within 10 days, the contracting activity may seek SBA’s acceptance through the Associate Administrator (AA)/8(a)BD.
(b) If the acquisition is accepted as a sole source, the SBA will advise the contracting activity of the 8(a) firm selected for negotiation. Generally, the SBA will accept a contracting activity’s recommended source.
(c) For acquisitions not exceeding the simplified acquisition threshold, when the contracting activity makes an offer to the 8(a) Program on behalf of a specific 8(a) firm and does not receive a reply to its offer within 2 days, the contracting activity may assume the offer is accepted and proceed with award of an 8(a) contract.
(d) As part of the acceptance process, SBA will review the appropriateness of the NAICS code designation assigned to the requirement by the contracting activity.
(1) SBA will not challenge the NAICS code assigned to the requirement by the contracting activity if it is reasonable, even though other NAICS codes may also be reasonable.
(2) If SBA and the contracting activity are unable to agree on a NAICS code designation for the requirement, SBA may refuse to accept the requirement for the 8(a) Program, appeal the contracting officer’s determination to the head of the agency pursuant to 19.810, or appeal the NAICS code designation tot he SBA Office of Hearings and Appeals under subpart C of 13 CFR part 134.
