Sam; As you know, the history of the 8a program is long and interesting, one little known part was the press announcement in 1972 by the SBA Administrator with the VA Administrator that Vietnam Era and Disabled veteran small businesses were to become eligible for 8a program participation. SBA implementation lagged, but historically, veterans have always been part of the 8a program, based on their eligibility other than their unique federal status as veterans.
No disagreement with your queries here about "what is going on?" except that I'm glad the bona fide office rule returned (what you mentioned here as negatively inpactimg the program: "reinstituting the “bona fide place of business” rule, which requires that 8(a) construction contracts be performed by local contractors") because it was changed to benefit the larger 8(a)s that are already getting the most benefit anyway. Meaning, it only further hurt individually-owned firms who can't fairly compete with Native owned firms (the larger 8(a)s).
Sam; As you know, the history of the 8a program is long and interesting, one little known part was the press announcement in 1972 by the SBA Administrator with the VA Administrator that Vietnam Era and Disabled veteran small businesses were to become eligible for 8a program participation. SBA implementation lagged, but historically, veterans have always been part of the 8a program, based on their eligibility other than their unique federal status as veterans.
No disagreement with your queries here about "what is going on?" except that I'm glad the bona fide office rule returned (what you mentioned here as negatively inpactimg the program: "reinstituting the “bona fide place of business” rule, which requires that 8(a) construction contracts be performed by local contractors") because it was changed to benefit the larger 8(a)s that are already getting the most benefit anyway. Meaning, it only further hurt individually-owned firms who can't fairly compete with Native owned firms (the larger 8(a)s).