The 8a certification process is complicated and takes around 4 months to get completed. However, once you have that wonderful letter saying "congratulations you have been accepted" you still have to complete a SBA form 1010C. This is business plan with marketing plan. As soon as you get the letter from the SBA you will call your local office (details will be given in the letter) and set up an appointment to go over the business plan. If you are prepared for that meeting by already having a business plan ready, then you will be able to complete the process right then and get your 8a certification completed immediately and start getting contracts. This is the last step to the 8a certification process and can delay things a lot if you are not prepared with a 1010c plan.