8A CERTIFICATION PACKAGE
We Provide a Proven Step-by-Step Action Plan for Obtaining Your 8(a) Certification
Success: We had 100% approval rate for application decisions for our clients in 2023.*
Compare this to SBA’s reported 25% approval for all applications.**
* Our approval rate over the last 20 years is very high and we conduct a 2-hour screening before we take on new clients as part of our quality control process.
** performance.gov
** performance.gov
8(a) Benefits and Results
8(a) Benefits
Sole Source Contracts – These are direct award contracts up to $4.5 million dollars awarded like private sector contracts.
Set-aside Contracts – These are competitive federal contracts that only 8(a) firms are permitted to bid.
An 8(a) Certification can provide large growth for your firm by helping you obtain Federal Contracts. The average 8(a) firm has over $5 million dollars per year in federal contracts.
8(a) Results
| Year | 8(a) Revenue | Number of Firms | Federal Revenue Per Firm |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | $32.1 billion | 5,787 | $5,562,328 |
| 2022 | $32.1 billion | 5,758 | $5,576,448 |
| 2021 | $31.0 billion | 5,935 | $5,236,325 |
| 2019 | $50.7 billion | 6,133 | $8,273,623 |
| 2018 | $46.5 billion | 5,805 | $8,010,335 |
| 2017 | $40.2 billion | 6,815 | $5,898,752 |
| 2016 | $39.0 billion | 6,289 | $6,201,303 |
| 2015 | $35.6 billion | 6,365 | $5,593,087 |
| 2014 | $34.7 billion | 6,683 | $5,192,278 |
| 2013 | $30.7 billion | 7,436 | $4,128,563 |
| 2012 | $32.4 billion | 7,827 | $4,139,517 |
| 2011 | $32.4 billion | 8,751 | $3,702,434 |
Step 1
Short Call
We start with a short 10-minute call to go over 8(a) Qualifications and your firm’s eligibility as well as have us answer any other questions you might have regarded 8(a) or government contracting.
859-442-3300
Step 2
2 Hour Call with Our Managing Partner
After the short call you can schedule a no-obligation 2-hour call with our managing partner where we will go into greater analysis of the 8(a) qualifications, build a detailed document checklist, as well as answer how to use other certifications as well as how market your firm to the federal government.
859-442-3300
Step 3
Execute your retainer with us and be assigned to one of our Experienced Analysts
Once you agree to move forward with our firm you will be assigned an experienced analyst whose goal is to complete your application in a 30-day time period. This analyst has access to other experts to assist with your narrative and our inhouse CPA should a need for financial expertise arise.
859-442-3300
Step 4
8(a) Application Submittal and SBA Q &A
Once your application is submitted, we continue to support you through to certification. The SBA in most cases will ask questions of your application. We will aid you in answering these questions and help you submit your answers to the SBA.
859-442-3300
Step 5
8(a) Approval & Post Award Marketing
Once your application is approved you can engage with our firm for marketing services as well as grow your firm through GWAC, IDIQ, BPA and MATOC Contracts.
859-442-3300
Call us Now to have your quick 10-minute call to find out if your firm is eligible for the 8(a) Certification.
$300 for each additional owner, director, or key employee over two.
$300 for each additional firm in which any owner has an interest over one outside firm.
Why a GSA Schedule is an Important Add on for your 8(a) Certification!
Use the 8(a) Sales Tool below to find out your firm’s average 8(a) sales by industry and
how a GSA Schedule will potentially grow that sales figure.
Totals / Average
| 8(a) Average Sales this Industry | GSA Schedule Sales for a firm with an 8(a) in this Industry | Synergy (Generally adding an 8(a) to a GSA Creates More Sales than from the GSA Schedule Alone) | Synergy Ratio | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8(a) Industry Grouping | Total 8(a) Federal Sales | Number of 8(a) Firms | Average 8(a) Sales | GSA Schedule Only Sales 8(a) Firms | Number of 8(a) Firms w/ GSA Schedule | Average 8(a) Sales Directly from the GSA Schedule System | Total Federal Sales 8(a) GSA Contract Holders | Number of 8(a) Firms w/ GSA Schedule | Average Total 8(a) Federal Sales for firms with a GSA Schedule | GSA Schedule Sales Advantage | |||
| Totals / Average | 27,490,719,468 | 5,739 | 4,790,342 | 2,401,228,158 | 1,492 | 1,609,899 | 17,694,435,193 | 1,492 | 11,863,199 | 2.5 | |||
| EDWOSB Totals / Average | 10,235,720,046 | 4,266 | 2,399,372 | 1,654,601,729 | 945 | 1,750,901 | 6,411,396,359 | 945 | 6,784,546 | 2.8 | |||
| WOSB Totals / Average | 15,915,184,286 | 14,468 | 1,360,416 | 3,767,315,971 | 2,510 | 1,500,923 | 3,767,315,971 | 2,510 | 4,257,372 | 3.1 | |||
More Details About Our 8(a) Application Package
Our all-inclusive 8(a) Full Support Package is our most popular service. Business owners who select this package typically do so because they want subject matter experts to simplify their involvement generating and reviewing the application. These businesses are usually generating $150K+ in revenue and believe that their time is best aligned to business growth and not in learning the necessary bureaucratic details of this application.
In advance of a purchase decision, our Senior Partner, Mark Ryan, will spend (2) hours with the majority business owner(s) to perform a detailed assessment of the business and its likelihood to achieve certification. He will ask you over a hundred questions to make sure we do not waste your time or energy on a project that we do not believe will succeed. Application strategies are developed, concerns shared, and the prospective client is provided an accurate assessment of their prospects. During this assessment, development actions that improve the chance of certification are created and shared. If moving forward with an application is not recommended by our Senior Partner, he will develop a potential remedy plan and discuss it with you.
The time required to prepare and assemble the 8(a) application varies by client, but most take between a month to a month and a half. The SBA is usually able to award the certification within 3–4 months (on ez8a client packages). So, for planning purposes, estimate award of your certification within 6 months.
From date of hire through to certification, which often involves responding to requests from the SBA’s Reviewing Official, the ez8a team typically dedicates from 70–85 hours to the client’s application (some have taken over 100 hours). Some areas that require the most attention to detail include:
- Interview and assistance with drafts and edits of the economically disadvantaged and socially disadvantaged (if required) narrative(s); which is (are) a critical part of your application.
- Providing guidance, pre-filling and editing templates, explaining and resolving critical elements.
- Performing thorough reviews of every document and audit of all financial statements to identify and remedy any potential problems. The SBA is very detailed in their assessment and so are we.
- Final assembly of application and; double-checking everything to be sure it meets all SBA guidelines. Our applications are formatted in a binder with a table of contents, tabs for every 8(a) application section and all cover letter(s).
- Includes Government Marketing Level I, “Foundations to Success”. One of our ez8a Partners will be assigned to work with you to share the basic concepts and tools required to sell the federal government.
Additional 8(A) Program Support Services
Many of our clients purchase assistance with additional socioeconomic certifications, such as WOSB, HUBZone, SDVOSB, MBE, DBE, WBE, and more such as GSA Schedule, at the time of purchasing our 8(a) Full Support Package. We are able to deeply discount the fees for the additional applications due to paperwork redundancies between programs. Ez8a also performs 1010C Business Plans, Annual Recertification and assistance with Business Development. To learn more about these packages, please use the hyperlinks to our site content.
