8(a) eligibility appeals

You must file your 8(a) appeal with the Office of Hearings and Appeals (OHA) within 45 calendar days of receiving the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) determination being appealed. Review 13 C.F.R. § 134.404. OHA must receive your appeal by 5 p.m. ET on the 45th business day.

We accept appeals by email at ohafilings@sba.gov. Appeals sent to other email addresses are not formal filings.

We also accept appeals via the Hearing and Appeals Submission Upload (HASU) Application. Please note that submitting an appeal using HASU is not required and HASU is only used to transmit the appeal to OHA. The submitter is responsible for serving a copy of the appeal to all appropriate parties. If you submitted your appeal using another method (email, fax, mail), you do not need to submit the appeal using HASU.

Submissions via HASU must be in PDF format and cannot be larger than 100 MB. Please call OHA at 202-401-8200 to confirm that we received your filing.

If filing an early graduation or termination appeal, in addition to OHA, you must also send your appeal to:

• SBA’s Director of Business Development, and
• SBA’s Office of General Counsel, Associate General Counsel for Litigation, 13 C.F.R. § 134.403(b)(1)

If filing an appeal of denial of program admission, suspension of program assistance, or denial of a request for waiver, in addition to OHA, you must also send your appeal to:

• SBA’s Director of Business Development, and
• SBA’s Office of General Counsel, Associate General Counsel for Procurement Law, 13 C.F.R. § 134.403(b)(2)

• A certificate of service. 13 C.F.R. § 134.204(d). The certificate of service shows that you sent a copy of your appeal to the people in the paragraph above. View sample certificates of service for an appeal of eligibility denial, an appeal of early graduation/termination, and an appeal of suspension of program assistance.
• A copy of the SBA determination being appealed.

Your appeal should contain:

• The full name of the company (the petitioner)
• A statement of basis for OHA’s jurisdiction (for example, denial of program entry under 13 C.F.R. §§ 124.206 and 134.102(j)(1))
• An allegation that SBA acted arbitrarily, capriciously, or contrary to law in reaching its decision
• A clear and concise statement of the facts which, if true, would warrant reversal or modification of the determination
• The reason(s) why SBA’s determination is arbitrary, capricious, or contrary to law
• The relief being sought (for example, that the judge should find SBA acted arbitrarily, capriciously, or contrary to law in denying the company admission into the 8(a) Business Development program)
• Name, address, email, and telephone and facsimile numbers of petitioner or its attorney
• Signature of petitioner’s owner, officer, or attorney

The 8(a) program regulations are available at 13 C.F.R. Part 124. OHA’s regulations are available at 13 C.F.R. §§ 134.101-229 and 401-09. You can search OHA’s decisions interpreting these regulations in our database and cite these decisions in your appeal.

If practicable, the judge will issue a written decision within 90 calendar days of the date you filed your appeal.