FAR Part 19 (Small Business Programs): what it covers and who it binds
Source last checked: 1 September 2026. Quoted from FAR Part 19 as published in FAC 2026-01, effective 13 March 2026.
FAR Part 19 is written at the buyer, not the bidder. It tells a US federal contracting officer which small business programs exist, when to reserve work for them and in what order to consider them. Your own eligibility is decided elsewhere, by the Small Business Administration under 13 CFR.
What Part 19 is
It is the chapter of the Federal Acquisition Regulation that implements the acquisition parts of the Small Business Act, together with sections of the Armed Services Procurement Act, 41 U.S.C. 3104 and Executive Order 12138. Everything in it is an instruction to a federal buyer. FAR 19.000(a) lists what it covers: deciding that a firm is eligible, the respective roles of agencies and the SBA, setting acquisitions aside in total or in part, the certificate of competency program, the subcontracting assistance program, the 8(a) business development program, the HUBZone price evaluation preference, the use of veteran-owned small business concerns, and sole source awards under three of the programs. FAR 19.000(a), FAR Part 19
The eight subparts, and what each one is for
Reading Part 19 as one document is a waste of an afternoon. It is really eight separate machines that share a definitions section.
| Subpart | What it governs |
|---|---|
| 19.1 | Size standards and NAICS codes: which code the buyer assigns, and how it is appealed |
| 19.2 | Agency policy and duties, including the Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization |
| 19.3 | Representation of size and socioeconomic status, rerepresentation, and protests |
| 19.4 | Cooperation with the SBA and the role of its procurement center representative |
| 19.5 | Set-asides, partial set-asides and reserves for small business |
| 19.6 | Certificates of Competency and determinations of responsibility |
| 19.7 | The small business subcontracting program, which binds large prime contractors |
| 19.8, 19.13, 19.14, 19.15 | The 8(a), HUBZone, SDVOSB and WOSB programs, each with its own eligibility, set-aside and sole-source rules |
Who it binds
The contracting officer, on US soil, without discretion; elsewhere, at discretion. FAR 19.000(b)(1) says contracting officers shall apply this part in the United States and its outlying areas and may apply it outside them — with subpart 19.6 and subpart 19.7 carved out of that limitation. The obligation to run the small business machinery therefore follows the buyer, not the money and not the place of performance.
It also binds you, but only in one narrow way: FAR 19.000(b)(2) requires an offeror participating in any procurement under this part to meet the definition of “small business concern” at FAR 2.101 and of “concern” at FAR 19.001. A concern must be organised for profit, have a place of business in the United States or its outlying areas, and make a significant contribution to the US economy through taxes or the use of American products, material or labour. A foreign firm with a US address that does neither is not a concern, and the rest of the part never reaches it. FAR 19.000(b) and 19.001, FAR Part 19
It is the policy of the Government to provide maximum practicable opportunities in its acquisitions to small business, veteran-owned small business, service-disabled veteran-owned small business, HUBZone small business, small disadvantaged business, and women-owned small business concerns. Such concerns must also have the maximum practicable opportunity to participate as subcontractors in the contracts awarded by any executive agency, consistent with efficient contract performance.
FAR 19.201(a)
The buyer decides the route; the SBA decides who you are
This split is the single most useful thing to understand about Part 19, and it is not stated anywhere in one sentence. The contracting officer chooses whether an acquisition is set aside and under which program. Whether your firm qualifies for that program is not theirs to decide.
- HUBZone. Status is determined by the SBA under 13 CFR part 126, and only firms designated in the Dynamic Small Business Search and in SAM are eligible for HUBZone preferences. Those preferences are not contingent on where the work is performed. FAR 19.1303(a) and (b).
- SDVOSB. Since 1 January 2024 the contracting officer must verify that the offeror is designated in SAM as certified by the SBA. A firm whose certification is refused must update its SAM status within two days of the decision; if it does not, the SBA updates it within two days. FAR 19.1403(b) and (c).
- WOSB and EDWOSB. Determined by the SBA under 13 CFR part 127, verified in SAM. If an eligibility examination later finds the firm did not qualify, FAR 19.1503(c) allows the contracting officer to terminate the contract, forbids exercising options or issuing further orders, and requires the award to be removed from the agency's small business goals in FPDS.
- 8(a). A different shape entirely. Under FAR 19.800(a) the SBA itself contracts with the agency and subcontracts the work to a participant. Once the SBA has accepted a requirement into the program, FAR 19.203(c) keeps it there unless the SBA agrees to release it.
The practical consequence: a registration that is pending is not a registration. Fixing your SAM record is not paperwork you do after winning. FAR 19.1303, 19.1403, 19.1503, 19.800(a) and 19.203(c), FAR Part 19
Two people who shape the solicitation before you ever see it
Part 19 creates two roles that decide, quietly, whether a requirement reaches firms your size at all.
The first is the agency Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization — the Office of Small Business Programs at the Department of Defense. FAR 19.201(c) puts its director outside the contracting chain, reporting to the agency head, and gives them eighteen duties. Among them: recommending which subpart an acquisition should go out under, reviewing every subcontracting plan required by FAR 19.702(a), and conducting an annual assessment of whether small businesses are getting a fair share, which goes to the agency head and the SBA Administrator.
The second is the SBA procurement center representative. Under FAR 19.202-1(e) the contracting officer must hand the PCR the proposed acquisition package at least 30 days before the solicitation issues when the requirement is currently supplied by a small business and is being bought at a size that makes small business competition unlikely, when discrete construction projects are being packaged together, or when the requirement is consolidated or bundled. FAR 19.402(c)(2) gives the PCR 15 days to recommend an alternative contracting method. If the contracting officer rejects that recommendation, the PCR may appeal it in writing under FAR 19.502-8. FAR 19.201(c), 19.202-1(e), 19.402(c) and 19.502-8, FAR Part 19
The part reaches large contractors too
Subpart 19.7 is the half of Part 19 that binds firms which are not small at all. FAR 19.702(a) requires a solicitation expected to exceed 900,000 dollars, or 2 million dollars for construction, with subcontracting possibilities, to make the apparently successful offeror submit an acceptable subcontracting plan; failure to negotiate one within the time the contracting officer sets makes the offeror ineligible for award. A modification that pushes a plan-free contract past that value triggers the same requirement.
FAR 19.702(b) then removes the requirement for small business concerns, for personal services contracts, for work performed entirely outside the United States and its outlying areas, and for in-scope modifications to contracts that never carried the utilisation clause at FAR 52.219-8. FAR 19.702(a) and 19.702(b), FAR Part 19
What Part 19 does not decide
- Whether you are small. The employee and revenue thresholds are at 13 CFR 121.201 and change on the SBA's schedule, not the FAR's.
- Eligibility for the socioeconomic programs. That lives at 13 CFR parts 124, 126, 127 and 128. Part 19 tells the buyer to check a database; it does not tell you how to get into it.
- Anything outside US federal buying. Neither Directive 2014/24/EU nor the UK regime reserves contracts by firm size in this way. Nothing here transfers to a TED or Find a Tender notice.
- Current agency practice. See the note on the FAR rewrite below.
It also does not, on its own, tell you how a set-aside works once one exists. For the rule of two that triggers it, how size is judged at the moment of your offer, and the subcontracting limits that bind you after you win, see what a small business set-aside is, and whether your firm qualifies. That page answers one question inside subpart 19.5; this one covers the whole part and who it binds.
Common questions
Does FAR Part 19 apply to my company?
Not directly. It binds the contracting officer, who under FAR 19.000(b)(1) shall apply the part in the United States and its outlying areas and may apply it elsewhere. What it does to you is decide whether a given solicitation is open to everyone or reserved. Your own eligibility is decided by the SBA under 13 CFR, not by this part.
How many programs does Part 19 set up?
Five procurement preference programs plus two support mechanisms. The programs are the general small business set-aside (subpart 19.5), 8(a) business development (19.8), HUBZone (19.13), service-disabled veteran-owned small business (19.14) and the women-owned small business program (19.15). The support mechanisms are Certificates of Competency (19.6) and the subcontracting program (19.7).
Which program comes first?
Above the simplified acquisition threshold, FAR 19.203(c) requires the contracting officer to consider the 8(a), HUBZone, SDVOSB and WOSB programs before a general small business set-aside. There is no order of precedence among those four, per FAR 19.203(a). At or below that threshold the sequence relaxes, per FAR 19.203(b).
Who decides whether I am a HUBZone, SDVOSB or WOSB firm?
The SBA, and the decision has to be visible in a database before it counts. FAR 19.1303(b) says only firms designated in the Dynamic Small Business Search and in SAM are eligible for HUBZone preferences. Since 1 January 2024, FAR 19.1403(b) requires an SDVOSB to be designated in SAM as certified by SBA. FAR 19.1503(b) requires the same for WOSB and EDWOSB.
Does Part 19 do anything for me if the prime contractor is large?
Yes, through subpart 19.7. FAR 19.702(a) requires any contract expected to exceed 900,000 dollars, or 2 million dollars for construction, that has subcontracting possibilities, to carry an acceptable subcontracting plan before award. An offeror who fails to negotiate one is ineligible for award.
A solicitation looks written to exclude firms my size. Is there anything in Part 19 about that?
There is, and it is easy to miss. FAR 19.201(c)(14) requires the agency Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization, notified by a small business before award that a solicitation unduly restricts its ability to compete, to pass that notification to the contracting officer, recommend changes, and inform the agency advocate for competition. It is a named route with a named recipient, not a general complaints box.
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Start the 14-day trialSource: FAR Part 19, Small Business Programs, acquisition.gov/far/part-19. Corpus last fetched 1 September 2026; edition verified 4 September 2026 as FAC 2026-01, effective 13 March 2026. The FAR is being rewritten under Executive Order 14275. Agencies may be operating under class deviations that differ from the codified text quoted here. Section numbers are given as they appear on acquisition.gov; this page quotes the regulation and does not give legal advice.