On August 31, 2026, the Small Business Administration published a final rule ending a policy it had kept since 1974. Under that policy, SBA collected public comment before changing rules about contracts, benefits, and loans, even in cases where federal law did not require it to. Going forward, SBA will follow what the law requires and decide case by case whether to ask for comment beyond that.
Nothing about your certifications, your size standard, or your set-aside eligibility changed. This is a change to SBA's rulemaking process, not to any program.
Here is what it actually means.
The short version
Federal agencies normally follow a process set out in a law called the Administrative Procedure Act. The agency publishes a draft rule, the public gets a window to respond, and the agency answers that feedback when it issues the final version. That process is why contractors usually see a rule coming months before it takes effect.
That law has exceptions built into it. One of them says the draft-and-comment steps do not apply to rules about "public property, loans, grants, benefits, or contracts."
In 1974, SBA decided not to use that exception. It wrote a rule for itself, later numbered 13 CFR 101.108, saying it would collect public comment on those topics anyway. That self-imposed rule is what the agency has now removed.
So the change is narrow but real. Where the law requires a comment period, SBA still runs one. Where SBA's own 1974 policy was the only reason for a comment period, it is now the agency's choice.
Why SBA says it made the change
The agency gave its reasoning in the rule itself. It described a "new policy of acting more nimbly in response to changing circumstances," and said the old requirement slowed down both new regulations and the removal of old ones. It also cited a February 2025 executive order directing agencies to review their regulations and identify ones to repeal or change.
SBA published its cost estimate too. It proposed 33 rules between 2021 and 2025. It figures each comment period takes about 40 hours of staff time to work through, or roughly $4,247 per rule, which comes to about $28,029 a year. It added an estimate for the public as well: about 20 hours per comment at an average wage of $32.66 an hour, or $4,311 a year of time the public no longer spends. Total estimated savings: $32,340 a year.
The agency also named the tradeoff in its own words. There "may be potential disbenefits of avoiding the public comment period, if the public comments offer information and suggestions that improve the SBA's regulations." SBA considers those effects minor, on the reasoning that it can still ask for comment whenever it decides the input is worth having.
Worth noting: SBA issued this rule the same way. There was no draft and no comment period on it, and it took effect the day it was published. The law allows that for a rule about an agency's own procedures.
What still gets a comment period
Three things are unaffected.
Anything the law itself covers. SBA said it "will continue to comply with the APA's notice and comment requirements where required." Rules that fall outside those built-in exceptions work exactly as before.
Size standards, because Congress requires it. This one is not up to SBA. The Small Business Act says no federal agency may set a small business size standard unless it "is proposed after an opportunity for public notice and comment." That is a statute, and an agency cannot set aside a statute with a policy change.
Anything SBA chooses to open. The agency kept the option to run a comment period case by case where it decides the feedback is worth the time.
If you were planning to comment on the size standards proposal, still do
Last week we covered SBA's proposed rewrite of small business size standards, which is open for comment through September 21, 2026. Because the two items landed eleven days apart, it is a fair question whether one affects the other.
It does not. They are separate rulemakings, the September 21 window is open and unchanged, and size standards are the one area Congress specifically protected. A comment filed by September 21 carries exactly the weight it did before.
Where the change could show up
The useful distinction is between the limits themselves and the rules about how those limits get applied.
The dollar and employee limits are size standards, and those keep their comment period by law. But the rules that determine how a size standard affects your company are written separately: recertification, the 8(a) program, HUBZone, WOSB, and the limits on how much of a contract a prime can subcontract. Those sit in different parts of SBA's regulations, parts 124 through 127 rather than part 121. They do not set size standards, so the statute protecting size standards does not cover them, and they fall into the category the 1974 policy used to cover.
That matters because big changes tend to produce follow-up rules. The size standards proposal would eliminate 18 special exceptions and move much of construction from a revenue test to an employee count. Sorting out how that works in practice, including what happens to a company mid-contract when its standard moves, is the kind of detail that gets handled in exactly those other parts.
There is a related effect worth knowing about. A separate law, the Regulatory Flexibility Act, requires an agency to analyze how a rule will affect small businesses, but only when a comment period is required. SBA noted this in the rule and did not prepare that analysis. So the comment period and the published small business impact analysis tend to travel together.
SBA is not the only agency doing this
This is part of a broader pattern rather than a one-off. The Department of Labor published a rule with the same title, Rescinding Unnecessary Notice and Comment Procedures, in July 2025. Health and Human Services did the same in March 2025, ending a 1971 policy that had committed it to public comment on grants and benefits rules.
If you work with several agencies, this is a change in practice you may see in more than one place.
Four practical things to do
Watch the Federal Register yourself. Every rule SBA issues is published there, whether or not there was a draft first. SBA's page at federalregister.gov/agencies/small-business-administration lists everything, and free email alerts are available from that page. Ten minutes a week covers it.
Read SBA's regulatory agenda. SBA publishes a list of rules it is working on twice a year, and the latest came out August 14, 2026. With fewer draft rules in circulation, this becomes a more useful early look at what is coming.
Use the comment periods you get. Size standards close September 21. Specific comments with your own numbers carry more weight than general ones.
Keep your size math and certifications current. Know your five-year average revenue and your 24-month average headcount for every code you bid under, and know where you stand on recertification. This was already good practice. It matters more when a rule can arrive as a final rule rather than a draft.
The bottom line
SBA set aside a legal exception in 1974 and has now taken it back. Where the law requires public comment, including on size standards, nothing changes. Where SBA's own policy was the reason for the comment period, it becomes the agency's call.
For most small businesses, the practical effect is about timing rather than substance. A rule that would once have appeared as a draft several months ahead may now appear as a final rule. Reading the Federal Register is the fix, and it costs nothing.
If you are not sure which SBA rules govern the certifications and set-asides your pipeline depends on, that is a worthwhile conversation to have. Talk to a FEDCON advisor.