Caucasian Female 8(a) Applicants Now Have a Much Higher Rate of Success
MAJOR CHANGE: Effective September 10, 2026, a new SBA rule (13 CFR 124.103) changes how the SBA determines Social Disadvantage for 8(a) applicants – building on a 2023 federal court ruling that struck down SBA’s old presumption that only certain racial groups were socially disadvantaged.
The 8(a) Certification can be a major sales growth engine for your small business. The average 8(a) has over $5.5 million per year in federal contracts.
WHY WOMEN STILL WANT 8(a): Unfortunately for women the number of set-asides contracts in the WOSB program is around 200-300 million where in the 8(a) program it is over $10 billion. This is not to say that the WOSB certification is not valuable, because it is.
NEW REQUIREMENTS: Following the Ultima Servs. Corp. decision, SBA’s new rule (effective 9/10/2026) opens 8(a) eligibility to applicants outside the old presumed groups. If you’re White/Caucasian (or otherwise outside SBA’s prior presumed groups) and were dissuaded from applying – or applied and were rejected – because of SBA’s old presumption, you can qualify by making the proper attestations under the new standard; you don’t need to build your own evidence of group discrimination, since the Ultima ruling itself establishes that. Applicants using the traditional minority narrative path still need to submit their own evidence-backed narrative, such as at least two documented incidents supported by a contemporaneous record or a signed affidavit.
TIME TO ACT: The reality is that Caucasian women are currently treated the same for purposes of obtaining the 8(a) certification as all other applicants. Therefore, if you were ever considering obtaining the 8(a) certification now would be a good time before congress alters this loophole.
If you would like to find out if your experiences would qualify you for being socially disadvantaged based upon gender bias give us a call as we are always happy go over the requirements.
