SBA size standard

Size standards are listed by NAICS code in 13 CFR 121.201. Most services and many other industries use average annual receipts; manufacturing and some other industries use average employees. Under the current rules receipts are generally averaged over the last five completed fiscal years and employees over the last 24 months.

Affiliates count. Companies that control or are controlled by the same people, or that share common management or significant contracts, may be added together. Affiliation is the most common reason a company that looks small is found not to be.

You represent your size in SAM.gov and in each offer, based on the NAICS code in the solicitation. Competitors or the contracting officer can protest your size, and the SBA decides. Growth through a size standard ends eligibility for new small business set-asides under that code, which is why many firms plan their pipeline around it.

Common mistakes: using the wrong year range, forgetting affiliates, and assuming a size standard has not changed. The SBA updates them periodically, so check the current table.

Size also affects teaming and acquisitions. Bringing in an investor, merging with another firm, or forming a joint venture can change your size through affiliation, and a large mentor in the SBA mentor-protege program is excluded from affiliation only under that program's rules. Before any change in ownership or a major teaming arrangement, check its effect on your size under the NAICS codes you depend on, because an unexpected affiliation can end small business eligibility across your whole pipeline.