The leadership of the Small Business Administration (SBA) under President Donald Trump is prepared to make major changes to the rules for getting loans and contracts.
Under the proposed changes, mom-and-pop operations and small startups would have to compete with companies that pull down "$1 billion or employ more than 3,000 people, more than some publicly traded corporations," the New York Times is reporting.
The proposal, which the Trump administration says would allow businesses to continue to benefit from the agency's programs as they grow, represents a major overhaul of standards that have remained relatively unchanged for decades.
Many business owners support some increase in the revenue and employee limits that define what qualifies as a small business. However, the magnitude of the proposed increase would force small businesses into direct competition with significantly larger rivals for contracts and loans, prompting concerns that the agency could undermine the businesses it was designed to protect.
The SBA, headed by former Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-GA), who is married to Jeffrey Sprecher, chairman of the New York Stock Exchange, would allow newly eligible companies already receiving federal contracts worth $71 billion in fiscal year 2025 to benefit from the changes.
Sam Le, who served as director of policy, planning and liaison at the Small Business Administration from 2020 to 2025, called the proposed changes unprecedented. "These are the biggest size standard changes in history, no question in my mind about that," Le told the Times.
Le noted that smaller businesses would face "increased competition for federal contracts and reduced opportunities for subcontracts." Larger companies that previously had to share work with smaller competitors would now qualify as small businesses and could take on contracts independently.