8(a) Joint Venture Regulations Revised

October 31, 2016

SBA Revises 8(a) JV Regulation–But Confusion Remains

Source: SmallGovCon, Steven Koprince, October 19, 2016U.S. SBA

Stating that populated joint ventures have now been eliminated, the SBA has revised its 8(a) joint venture regulations to reflect that change.

In a technical correction published today in the Federal Register, the SBA flatly states that an earlier major rulemaking eliminated populated joint venture, and tweaks the profit-sharing piece of its 8(a) joint venture regulation to remove an outdated reference to populated joint ventures.  But even following this technical correction, there are three important points of potential confusion that remain (at least in my mind) regarding the SBA’s new joint venture regulations.

If you’re a SmallGovCon reader (and I’m assuming you are, since you’re here), you know that the SBA made some major adjustments to its rules regarding joint ventures earlier this year.  Among those changes, the SBA amended the definition of a joint venture to state that, among other things, a joint venture “may be in the form of a formal or informal partnership or exist as a separate legal entity.”  If the joint venture is a separate legal entity, it “may not be populated with individuals intended to perform contracts,” although the joint venture may still be populated with one or more administrative personnel.

When the SBA made this change, it apparently forgot to adjust its 8(a) joint venture regulation to reflect the elimination of “separate legal entity” populated joint ventures.  The 8(a) joint venture regulation, 13 C.F.R. 124.513, continued to provide that each 8(a) joint venture agreement must contain a provision “Stating that the 8(a) Participant(s) must receive profits from the joint venture commensurate with the work performed by the 8(a) Participant(s), or in the case of a populated separate legal entity joint venture, commensurate with their ownership interests in the joint venture.”  READ MORE….

Contact your nearest PTAC to learn more about the revised 8(a) regulations.

 

Keep up to date follow us on Twitter, LinkedIN or Facebook!


 For help with Government Contracting: contact your nearest Procurement Technical Assistance Center (PTAC). Funded through Cooperative Agreements between the U.S. Department of Defense and state and local governments/institutions, PTACs provide free and low-cost assistance in virtually all areas of government contracting.