09/29/2026
๐๐ฟ๐ผ๐บ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐ฒ๐๐ธ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฃ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ป๐: ๐๐ฒ๐ป๐ฑ๐ฟ๐ฎ ๐๐ฟ๐ผ๐ป
I recently made my fifth annual visit to our nationโs capital with the Minnesota Transportation Alliance, representing the Association of Women Contractors (AWC) and Minnesotaโs small-business community.
This year, our advocacy focused on two critical issues:
โข Reauthorizing the Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) Program
โข Combating the proposed astronomical increases to the SBA size standards, which would effectively eliminate the distinction of a true small business eligible to perform federal work in Minnesota
๐๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐จ๐ถ๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด, 99.1% ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐๐ช๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฐ๐ต๐ข ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ถ๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ข๐ฏ๐ช๐ฆ๐ด ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ญ๐ข๐ด๐ด๐ช๐ง๐ช๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ด โ๐ด๐ฎ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ด๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด๐ฆ๐ด.โ This would force genuinely small companies to compete against significantly larger firms for opportunities intended to support small businesses.
๐๐ณ ๐๐ผ๐โ๐ฑ ๐น๐ถ๐ธ๐ฒ ๐๐ผ ๐น๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ป ๐บ๐ผ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐ฏ๐ผ๐๐ ๐๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฆ๐๐ ๐ถ๐ ๐ฝ๐ฟ๐ผ๐ฝ๐ผ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด, ๐๐ถ๐๐ถ๐ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐น๐ถ๐ป๐ธ ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐น๐ผ๐ ๐๐ผ ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฑ ๐๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฏโ๐ ๐๐น๐ผ๐ด, โ๐ฆ๐๐ ๐ข๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ต๐ฎ๐๐น๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ฆ๐บ๐ฎ๐น๐น ๐๐๐๐ถ๐ป๐ฒ๐๐ ๐๐น๐ฎ๐๐๐ถ๐ณ๐ถ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป๐.โ
https://awcmn.org/sba-overhauling-small-business-classifications/
๐๐ฒ๐ ๐๐ผ๐๐ฟ ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฝ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐๐ฒ๐ป๐๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐๐ฒ๐ ๐ต๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฟ ๐ผ๐๐ฟ ๐๐ผ๐ถ๐ฐ๐ฒ๐! ๐ฃ๐๐ฏ๐น๐ถ๐ฐ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐บ๐บ๐ฒ๐ป๐ ๐ถ๐ ๐ผ๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ป ๐๐ต๐ฟ๐ผ๐๐ด๐ต ๐ก๐ผ๐๐ฒ๐บ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ฎ๐ฌ, ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ฒ. Link is in the comments!