The SBA has recently changed its method for submitting your 8(a) Application supporting documents.
On August 24, 2016, the SBA updated Title 13 of the Code of Federal Regulations (C.F.R.) Part 124. Among one of the updates, the SBA included a requirement that all 8(a) Applications along with supporting documentation must now be filed electronically.
Because of this change, the SBA now (as of February 10, 2017) requires that you submit your entire 8(a) Application electronically instead of mailing the completed 8(a) Application and supporting documentation to them. Please note, this has been noted as an interim process therefore please stay tuned to our blog for further updates to the submission process.
(You can download the Interim Process Guide by visiting https://certify.sba.gov/8a-docs). Please review the process in detail before submitting your 8(a) Application to the SBA. Here are the basic steps from the guide:
- You will still need to complete your 8(a) Application forms within the BDMIS system or via your SBA GLS account.
- To upload your supporting documents to the SBA, you will now need to establish an account with certify.sba.gov. Once you have established an account with certify.sba.gov and have selected the option for 8(a) Document upload under the Programs option within this system:
You must use the following naming convention when saving and uploading your 8(a) documents to the SBA: FIRM NAME_DUNS NUMBER_TYPE OF FILE.PDF.
For example, if you are uploading your 2015 personal tax returns, the PDF file should be named: ABC LLC_123456789_2015 Personal Federal Tax Return.PDF
All files must be uploaded as separate documents.
- You will also need to upload your BDMIS Application completed through your SBA GLS account with all executed signature pages.
- For all further instructions, please review the guide mentioned above.
