- Details
- By Brian Edwards
- Native Contracting
The Small Business Administration confirmed it suspended more than 1,000 contractors this month from the 8(a) Business Development Program, a cornerstone of federal contracting for many Native-owned enterprises. The agency said Thursday the action followed firms’ failure to submit required records during a program-wide audit.
The suspensions represent about one-quarter of the roughly 4,300 companies participating in the 8(a) program, which provides contracting assistance to small businesses designated as socially and economically disadvantaged, including tribally owned enterprises, Alaska Native corporations and Native Hawaiian organizations.
In December 2025, SBA ordered all active 8(a) participants to submit three years of financial and operational records by Jan. 5, 2026 as part of the audit. That deadline was later extended to Jan. 19.
The agency has not released a list of suspended firms or disclosed the dates individual suspensions were imposed, and federal procurement systems do not indicate the timing or cause of individual actions.
Contracting data reviewed Saturday morning by Tribal Business News showed 1,135 companies currently listed as suspended across federal procurement systems, though the data does not specify whether the listings stem from the December audit, earlier enforcement actions or other administrative issues.
Within that total, the data includes about 212 suspension records tied to about 104 unique businesses that self-identify as Native-owned or Native-affiliated, according to market intelligence firm HigherGov. Among those records, 195 involve American Indian enterprises, including tribally owned companies, Indian Economic Enterprises and Indian Small Businesses. The data also shows six Alaska Native Corporation-owned firms and 11 Native Hawaiian Organization-owned firms listed as suspended. Some firms appear more than once due to multiple unique entity identifiers.
SBA did not provide a demographic breakdown of the suspended firms.
Federal contracting experts said the action represents an unusually severe enforcement step for what, in some cases, may have involved procedural noncompliance rather than allegations of fraud or misconduct.
“Suspension is a serious agency action that brands the contractor as an imminent risk to the government,” Matt Feinberg, an attorney at PilieroMazza who represents 8(a) firms, told Tribal Business News in an email. Suspensions under SBA regulations are typically reserved for cases involving fraud, false statements or serious questions about a contractor’s integrity, he said.
Feinberg said SBA suspended some contractors that submitted audit materials shortly after the deadline, including cases involving technical problems with SBA’s MySBA portal around the Jan. 19 deadline, which fell on a federal holiday. He said SBA has not issued guidance indicating whether late submissions could result in reinstatement.
A suspension under the 8(a) program does not terminate a company’s existing federal contracts or bar it from federal contracting outside the program. Suspended firms may continue performing existing 8(a) contracts, and federal agencies may exercise contract options unless otherwise prohibited by law or regulation.
“Suspended firms have 45 days to appeal the suspension,” SBA spokesperson Maggie Clemmons told Federal News Network. The agency said it plans to release additional information on the suspensions.
Feinberg said that while suspended firms are permitted to continue performing existing contracts, federal agencies retain discretion to issue stop-work orders or terminate contracts for convenience, and suspended firms are barred from receiving new 8(a) awards while appeals are pending.
The suspensions come amid heightened scrutiny of the 8(a) program from Congress and multiple federal agencies, including Treasury and the Department of Defense. In December, SBA extended the audit deadline to Jan. 19 after issuing clarifying guidance in response to concerns from contractors about fiscal year reporting, contract disclosure and documentation requirements, according to prior Tribal Business News reporting.
Native-owned enterprises play a central role in the 8(a) program. According to data provided to Tribal Business News by market intelligence firm HigherGov, Native entities received $16.1 billion in 8(a) contract awards in fiscal 2024, including $14.9 billion in sole-source awards, accounting for nearly two-thirds of total program spending.
