(a) Self certification by Participant. A MED Participant must certify that it qualifies as a small business under the NAICS code assigned to a particular MED subcontract as Part of its initial offer including price to the procuring agency. The Participant also must submit a copy of its offer, including its self-certification as to size, to the appropriate SBA district office at the same time it submits the offer to the procuring agency. See Sec. 121.404 for the time at which size is determined for, and Sec. 121.406 for the applicability of the nonmanufacturer rule to, MED procurements.
(b) Verification of size by SBA. Within 30 days of its receipt of a Participant's size self-certification for a particular MED subcontract, the SBA district office serving the geographic area in which the Participant's principal office is located will review the Participant's self-certification and determine if it is small for purposes of that subcontract. The SBA district office will review the Participant's most recent financial statements and other relevant data and then notify the Participant of its decision.
(c) Changes in size between date of self-certification and date of award.
(1) Where SBA verifies that the selected Participant is small for a particular procurement, subsequent changes in size up to the date of award, except those due to merger with or acquisition by another business concern, will not affect the firm's size status for that procurement.
(2) Where a Participant has merged with or been acquired by another business concern between the date of its self-certification and the date of award, the concern must recertify its size status, and SBA must verify the new certification before award can occur.
(d) Finding Participant to be other than small.
(1) A Participant may request a formal size determination (pursuant to Secs. 121.1001 through 121.1009) with the SBA Government Contracting Area Office serving the geographic area in which the principal office of the Participant is located within 5 working days of its receipt of notice from the SBA district office that it is not small for a particular MED subcontract.
(2) Where the Participant does not timely request a formal size determination, SBA may accept the procurement in support of another Participant, or may rescind its acceptance of the offer for the MED program, as appropriate.
Source: Code of Federal Regulations, Title 13, Volume 1, Revised as of January 1, 2003, Part 121 - Small Business Size Regulations, Subpart A - Size Eligibility Provisions and Standards, Size Eligibility Requirements for the Minority Enterprise Development (MED) Program
