Where must an application be filed?

The easiest way to apply for 8(a) certification is through the use of EZCertify.com's 8(a)/SDB Certification Software or EZCertify's 8(a)/SDB Package Preparation Service. EZCertify's 8(a)/SDB software provides you with a checklist of the information that you will need to have on hand when you start the application. The software will then walk you through step by step with informative cautions and tips along the way. Also included are definitions of all of the terms the SBA uses as well as all of the SBA's regulations.

Using EZCertify 8(a)/SDB is like being interviewed by a skilled consultant. As you answer the questions, your information is automatically entered wherever required on the various forms. After some initial answers, EZCertify 8(a)/SDB will customize the interview to your business and ask only questions that pertain to you and your type of firm. Every form that you need for 8(a) certification will be complete and ready to be printed at the end of your interview.

The attachments that must accompany the application, dwarf the forms in their number, ambiguity regarding what the SBA is really looking for, and potential for traps that could sink your application. The attachments also far outweigh the forms in terms of the amount of the research and data-gathering that are required even by the most mature of small businesses. The specific attachments vary somewhat by your company's type of organizational form (e.g., corporation vs. partnership), and are identified within the form packages themselves. EZCertify.com's 8(a)/SDB Certification Software describes every attachment and provides coaching tips on how to prepare them. This helps to ensure that the applicant will provide what the SBA wants to see and hear.

The person(s) upon whom eligibility for certification is based should complete the area of the software that deals with the business concern. Other areas of the software can be completed by the owners, directors, officers and key players, as well as each of their spouses. The SBA rejects many applications because very often the required forms are not completed and signed by the appropriate individuals, especially spouses. EZCertify.com's 8(a)/SDB Software pinpoints who must complete each form, produces a form for each individual and does not recommend that the full application package be printed for submission until all forms, attachments and data fields within each form are completed in accordance with the coaching tips provided.

Once complete and signed, the application must be filed in the SBA's Division of Programs Certification and Eligibility (DPCE) field office serving the state in which your primary place of business is located. The local SBA District Office will provide you with this information. The EZCertify.com 8(a)/SDB software identifies the specific address for each applicant, based on the location of your primary office.

The SBA has established strict time standards for processing 8(a)BD certification packages, and these standards are carved into the regulations. For example, the SBA will process an application for the 8(a) Program within 90 days of receipt of a complete application. They also will inform you in about 15 days after submission whether or not your application is sufficiently complete for it to be processed. Of course, the operative term here is "complete application." If you omit a required item or fail to complete every data field, you are inviting delay and perhaps even rejection of your application. The 90-day clock starts all over again once you rectify an oversight. The SBA also may request clarifications of information in the application at any time in the process, again potentially restarting the clock.

EZCertify 8(a)/SDB Software will automatically determine where your application will be sent.

<Go Back

Testimonials

Please click on the image to view the testimonial!