Size protests and certificates of competency
What happens when a small business's size or status is challenged after an award, and how SBA's Certificate of Competency protects a small business a contracting officer finds not responsible.
Size and status protests
On a small-business set-aside, another offeror, the contracting officer or SBA can challenge whether the apparent winner is really small for the contract's NAICS code, or really holds the status it claimed (HUBZone, service-disabled veteran-owned, women-owned). The protest goes to the contracting officer within a short deadline after the apparent winner is announced, usually a few business days, and SBA decides it. If the company isn't eligible, it can't receive the award. Decisions can be appealed to SBA's Office of Hearings and Appeals.
The practical lesson: check your size against the size standard of each solicitation's NAICS code before you claim to be small, including your affiliates, and keep your SAM.gov representations current.
Certificates of Competency
Before an award, the contracting officer has to find the apparent winner responsible: able to do the work, with the money, capacity and record to do it. If a small business is found not responsible, the contracting officer refers the decision to SBA instead of simply rejecting it. The company can apply to SBA for a Certificate of Competency (COC); if SBA issues one, the contracting officer has to accept it and award the contract.
Bundling
When an agency combines requirements small businesses could perform separately into one large contract, that's bundling or consolidation. Agencies must justify it, and SBA's Procurement Center Representatives review it; small businesses can raise concerns with them.
On SpendQuery
Official sources
Questions people ask
Who decides a size protest?
SBA (its Office of Government Contracting area offices), not the contracting officer; appeals go to SBA's Office of Hearings and Appeals.
What is a Certificate of Competency?
SBA's certification that a small business can perform a specific contract, after a contracting officer found it not responsible. If SBA issues one, the contracting officer must award to that business.
More guides
- How to find government contracts
- What is a small business set-aside?
- How to read a SAM.gov contract notice
- How to register in SAM.gov
- NAICS codes and small-business size standards
- Federal contract types, explained
- How to market your business to government buyers
- Sole-source contracts for small businesses
- Joint ventures and the SBA Mentor-Protégé Program
- How to decide whether to bid on a government contract
- How to find federal grants
- The federal fiscal year-end spending rush
- What are the easiest government contracts to get?
- FY2026 federal contract spending: which agencies grew and shrank
- Government contract lists: open bids, awards and small business
- Who buys janitorial services from the federal government
- How government contractors get paid: timing, invoices and factoring
- How to respond to RFIs and sources-sought notices
- How to start a government contracting business from scratch
- Subcontracting on federal contracts: finding and vetting subs
- Who won federal IT support contracts in your state
- A free tool to ask government spending questions in plain English
- How to find federal bids your small business qualifies for
- How to find which federal agencies buy your product or service
- Free tools to search state and local government contracts
- How to understand the FAR without reading all of it
Updated 2026-10-06. General information, not legal advice; the solicitation and the FAR govern each purchase.