Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 62 / Thursday, March 31, 2022 / Rules and Regulations 18607 

1On December 21, 2021, the U.S. Office of 

Management and Budget (OMB) published its 

‘‘Notice of NAICS 2022 Final Decisions . . .’’ (86 

FR 72277), accepting the Economic Classification 

Policy Committee (ECPC) recommendations, as 

outlined in the July 2, 2021, Federal Register notice 

(86 FR 35350), for the 2022 revisions to the North 

American Industry Classification System (NAICS), 

. . . .’’ In the near future, SBA will issue a proposed 

rule to adopt the OMB NAICS 2022 revisions for its 

table of size standards. SBA anticipates updating its 

size standards with the NAICS 2022 revisions, 

effective October 1, 2022. 

Lone Star College System 

McLennan Community College 

Northeast Texas Community College 

Odessa College 

Palo Alto College 

Richland College 

Saint Edward’s University 

San Antonio College 

South Plains College 

Southwest Texas Junior College 

St. Mary’s University 

Sul Ross State University 

Tarrant County College District 

Texas A & M University—Corpus Christi 

Texas A & M University—Kingsville 

Texas State Technical College 

Texas State University 

Texas Tech University 

Texas Woman’s University 

The University of Texas at Arlington 

The University of Texas at Austin 

The University of Texas at El Paso 

The University of Texas at San Antonio 

The University of Texas Health Science 

Center at Houston 

The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley 

University of Houston 

University of Houston—Clear Lake 

University of North Texas 

University of St Thomas 

University of the Incarnate Word 

Vernon College 

Wayland Baptist University 

West Texas A & M University 

Western Texas College 

Washington (4) 

Big Bend Community College 

Heritage University 

Wenatchee Valley College 

Yakima Valley College 

Wisconsin (1) 

Mount Mary University 

Done at Washington, DC, this day of March 

24, 2022. 

Carrie L. Castille, 

Director, National Institute of Food and 

Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture. 

[FR Doc. 2022–06764 Filed 3–30–22; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3410–22–P 

SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION 

13 CFR Part 121 

RIN 3245–AG89 

Small Business Size Standards: 

Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing and 

Hunting; Mining, Quarrying, and Oil 

and Gas Extraction; Utilities; 

Construction 

AGENCY: U.S. Small Business 

Administration. 

ACTION: Final rule. 

SUMMARY: The U.S. Small Business 

Administration (SBA) is increasing its 

receipts-based small business size 

definitions (commonly referred to as 

‘‘size standards’’) for North American 

Industry Classification System (NAICS) 

Sectors related to Agriculture, Forestry, 

Fishing and Hunting; Mining, 

Quarrying, and Oil and Gas Extraction; 

Utilities; and Construction. Specifically, 

SBA is increasing size standards for 68 

industries in those sectors, including 58 

industries and two subindustries 

(‘‘exceptions’’) in NAICS Sector 11 

(Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing and 

Hunting), three industries in Sector 21 

(Quarrying, and Oil and Gas Extraction), 

three industries in Sector 22 (Utilities), 

and one industry and one subindustry 

(‘‘exception’’) in Sector 23 

(Construction). 

DATES: This rule is effective May 2, 

2022. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Samuel Castilla, Economist, Office of 

Size Standards, (202) 205–6618, or 

sizestandards@sba.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Discussion of Size Standards 

To determine eligibility for Federal 

small business assistance, SBA 

establishes small business size 

definitions (usually referred to as ‘‘size 

standards’’) for private sector industries 

in the United States. SBA uses two 

primary measures of business size for 

size standards purposes: Average annual 

receipts and average number of 

employees. SBA uses financial assets for 

certain financial industries and refining 

capacity, in addition to employees, for 

the petroleum refining industry to 

measure business size. In addition, 

SBA’s Small Business Investment 

Company (SBIC), Certified Development 

Company (CDC/504), and 7(a) Loan 

Programs use either the industry-based 

size standards or tangible net worth and 

net income-based alternative size 

standards to determine eligibility for 

those programs. 

In September 2010, Congress passed 

the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010 

(Pub. L. 111–240, 124 Stat. 2504, 

September 27, 2010) (‘‘Jobs Act’’), 

requiring SBA to review all size 

standards every five years and make 

necessary adjustments to reflect current 

industry and market conditions. In 

accordance with the Jobs Act, in early 

2016, SBA completed the first five-year 

review of all size standards—except 

those for agricultural enterprises for 

which size standards were previously 

set by Congress—and made appropriate 

adjustments to size standards for a 

number of industries to reflect current 

industry and Federal market conditions. 

Section 1831 of the National Defense 

Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017 

(‘‘NDAA 2017’’), Public Law 114–328 

(December 23, 2016) directed SBA to 

establish size standards for all 

agricultural enterprises in the same 

manner as for other industries and to 

include them in the five-year rolling 

review procedures established under 

section 1344(a) of the Jobs Act. 

Accordingly, in this final rule, SBA has 

evaluated the size standards for all 

agricultural industries, including 46 

industries that are being reviewed for 

the first time. As stated above, 

historically, the size standards for most 

agricultural industries were established 

by statute. 

In addition to the comprehensive 

review of size standards, SBA also 

adjusts its monetary-based size 

standards for inflation at least once 

every five years. An interim final rule 

on SBA’s latest inflation adjustment to 

size standards, effective August 19, 

2019, was published in the Federal 

Register on July 18, 2019 (84 FR 34261). 

SBA also updates its size standards 

every five years to adopt the Office of 

Management and Budget’s (OMB) 

quinquennial North American Industry 

Classification System (NAICS) revisions 

to its table of small business size 

standards. Effective October 1, 2017, 

SBA adopted the OMB’s 2017 NAICS 

revisions to its size standards (82 FR 

44886 (September 27, 2017)).1

This final rule is one of a series of 

final rules that will revise size standards 

of industries grouped by various NAICS 

sectors. Rather than revise all size 

standards at one time, SBA is revising 

size standards by grouping industries 

within various NAICS sectors that use 

the same size measure (i.e., employees 

or receipts). In the prior review, SBA 

revised size standards mostly on a 

sector-by-sector basis. As part of second 

five-year review of size standards under 

the Jobs Act, SBA reviewed all receiptbased size standards in NAICS Sectors 

11, 21, 22, and 23 to determine whether 

the existing size standards should be 

retained or revised based on the current 

industry and Federal market data. After 

its review, SBA published a proposed 

rule in the October 2, 2020 issue of the 

Federal Register (85 FR 62239) which 

proposed to increase the size standards 

for 68 industries in the above sectors, 

including 58 industries and two 


jspears on DSK121TN23PROD with RULES1
18608 Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 62 / Thursday, March 31, 2022 / Rules and Regulations 

subindustries (‘‘exceptions’’) in NAICS 

Sector 11 (Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing 

and Hunting), three industries in Sector 

21 (Quarrying, and Oil and Gas 

Extraction), three industries in Sector 22 

(Utilities), and one industry and one 

subindustry (‘‘exception’’) in Sector 23 

(Construction). In this final rule, SBA is 

adopting the proposed size standards 

from the October 2020 proposed rule 

without change, except for a further 

increase to the size standard for the 

Forest Fire Suppression and Fuel 

Management Services exceptions to 

NAICS 115310 based on public 

comments and the latest available data. 

For these exceptions, SBA is adopting a 

higher size standard of $30 million 

instead of the proposed $25 million. 

In conjunction with the current 

comprehensive size standards review, 

SBA developed a revised ‘‘Size 

Standards Methodology’’ (Methodology) 

for developing, reviewing, and 

modifying size standards, when 

necessary. SBA’s revised Methodology 

provides a detailed description of its 

analyses of various industry and 

program factors and data sources, and 

how the agency uses the results to 

establish and revise size standards. In 

the proposed rule itself, SBA detailed 

how it applied its revised Methodology 

to review and modify where necessary, 

the existing size standards for industries 

covered in this final rule. Prior to 

finalizing the revised Methodology, SBA 

issued a notification in the April 27, 

2018, edition of the Federal Register (83 

FR 18468) to solicit comments from the 

public and notify stakeholders of the 

proposed changes to the Methodology. 

SBA considered all public comments in 

finalizing the revised Methodology. For 

a summary of comments and SBA’s 

responses, refer to the SBA’s April 11, 

2019, Federal Register notification (84 

FR 14587) of the issuance of the final 

revised Methodology. SBA’s Size 

Standard Methodology is available on 

its website at www.sba.gov/size. 

In evaluating an industry’s size 

standard, SBA examines its 

characteristics (such as average firm 

size, startup costs and entry barriers, 

industry competition and distribution of 

firms by size) and the small business 

level and share of Federal contract 

dollars in that industry. SBA also 

examines the potential impact a size 

standard revision might have on its 

financial assistance programs, and 

whether a business concern under a 

revised size standard would be 

dominant in its industry. SBA analyzed 

the characteristics of each receipt-based 

industry in NAICS Sectors 11 (except 

industries under Subsectors 111 and 

112), 21, 22, and 23, mostly using a 

special tabulation obtained from the 

U.S. Bureau of the Census from its 2012 

Economic Census (the latest available). 

The 2012 Economic Census special 

tabulation contains information for 

different levels of NAICS categories on 

average and median firm size in terms 

of both receipts and employment, total 

receipts generated by the four and eight 

largest firms, the Herfindahl-Hirschman 

Index (HHI), the Gini coefficient, and 

size distributions of firms by various 

receipts and employment size 

groupings. To evaluate industries under 

Subsectors 111 and 112, SBA used the 

special tabulation of the 2012 Census of 

Agriculture obtained from the USDA’s 

National Agricultural Statistics Service 

(NASS). To evaluate average asset size, 

SBA combines the sales to total assets 

ratios by industry, obtained from the 

Risk Management Association’s (RMA) 

Annual eStatement Studies (http://

www.rmahq.org/estatement-studies/) 

with the simple average receipts size by 

industry from the 2012 Economic 

Census tabulation to estimate the 

average assets size for each industry. 

SBA also evaluated the small business 

level and share of Federal contracts in 

each of the industries using data from 

the Federal Procurement Data System— 

Next Generation (FPDS–NG) for fiscal 

years 2016–2018. Table 4 of the October 

2020 proposed rule, Size Standards 

Supported by Each Factor for Each 

Industry (Receipts), shows the results of 

analyses of industry and Federal 

contracting factors for each industry and 

subindustry (exception) covered by the 

proposed rule. Of the 100 industries and 

three subindustries (exceptions) 

reviewed in the proposed rule, the 

results from analyses of the latest 

available data on the five primary 

factors from Table 4 of the proposed 

rule supported increasing size standards 

for 65 industries and three 

subindustries, and decreasing size 

standards for 35 industries. Table 1, 

Summary of Calculated Size Standards, 

summarizes the analytical results from 

the proposed rule by NAICS sector. 

TABLE 1—SUMMARY OF CALCULATED SIZE STANDARDS

NAICS sector Sector name 

Number of 

size standards 

reviewed 

Number of 

size standards 

increased 

Number of 

size standards 

decreased 

Number of 

size standards 

unchanged 

11 ......................... Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing and Hunting .................... 64 60 4 0 

21 ......................... Mining, Quarrying, and Oil and Gas Extraction ............ 4 3 1 0 

22 ......................... Utilities ........................................................................... 3 3 0 0 

23 ......................... Construction ................................................................... 32 2 30 0 

All Sectors .... ........................................................................................ 103 68 35 0 

In the October 2020 proposed rule, 

SBA discussed the impacts of the 

COVID–19 pandemic on small 

businesses and greater society. 

Recognizing the wide-ranging economic 

impacts of the pandemic, SBA decided 

not to lower any size standards for 

which the analysis suggested lowering 

them. Instead, SBA proposed to 

maintain all size standards for 

industries in which the analytical 

results supported a decrease or no 

change to size standards and adopt all 

size standards for which the analytical 

results supported an increase to size 

standards. To evaluate the impact of the 

changes to size standards adopted in 

this final rule on the Federal contracting 

market and SBA’s loan programs, SBA 

analyzed FPDS–NG data for fiscal years 

2018–2020 and internal data on its 

guaranteed loan programs for fiscal 

years 2018–2020. The results of this 

analysis can be found in the Regulatory 

Impact Analysis section of this final 

rule. 

In the proposed rule, SBA sought 

comments on its proposal to increase 

size standards for 68 industries and 

subindustries and retain the current size 

standards for the remaining 35 

industries in NAICS Sectors 11, 21, 22 

and 23. Specifically, SBA requested 

comments on whether the proposed 

revisions are appropriate for the 

industries covered by the proposed rule, 

whether the decision not to lower any 

size standards is justified by the 

COVID–19 pandemic, whether the equal 


jspears on DSK121TN23PROD with RULES1
Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 62 / Thursday, March 31, 2022 / Rules and Regulations 18609 

weighting of individual factors to derive 

an industry size standard is appropriate, 

and whether the data sources used were 

appropriate or sufficient. 

Discussion of Comments 

SBA received a total of 1,021 

comments to the proposed rule from a 

wide range of entities, including 

individuals, businesses, organizations, 

and trade associations. Of the 1,021 

comments received, 1,013 comments 

pertained to Sector 11—including 942 

comments that pertained to the animal 

production industries and 71 comments 

that pertained to the Agricultural 

(Sector 11) industry generally. SBA also 

received three comments on NAICS 

115310 (Support Activities for Forestry) 

and its two exceptions, and one 

comment each on NAICS codes 237990 

(the dredging exception), 236220 and 

NAICS Sector 23. SBA received one 

comment that was not relevant to the 

proposed rule and 1 comment that 

voiced a general objection to the 

proposed rule without providing any 

rationale. The comments to the 

proposed rule are available at 

www.regulations.gov (RIN 3245–AG89) 

and are summarized and discussed 

below. 

Comments on Proposed Changes to 

Sector 11—Agriculture, Forestry, 

Fishing and Hunting 

SBA received a total of 1,013 

comments to its proposed changes to 

size standards for industries in Sector 

11. Of the 1,013 comments received, 942 

comments, many of which were nearly 

identical, objected to the proposed rule 

on the grounds that it would result in 

Federal funding for corporate animal 

agribusiness, including concentrated 

animal feeding operations (CAFOs). 

These commenters stated that the 

increase of certain agricultural size 

standards would result in large 

corporate agricultural concerns with 

potentially abusive animal practices 

qualifying as small for SBA’s financial 

assistance programs. Most of these 

commenters did not identify a particular 

NAICS code or set of NAICS codes, but 

the SBA assumes they most likely 

referred to NAICS codes 112111 through 

112519, which correspond to the animal 

production industries. The remaining 71 

comments objected to the proposed 

changes to the size standards on the 

grounds that it would unfairly benefit 

larger businesses and farms. These 

comments emphasized the historical 

consolidation in the agricultural sector 

as well as larger farms receiving the 

majority of Federal assistance and 

subsidies. One commenter also cited the 

difficulty for smaller farms to enter the 

market and the prevalence of vertical 

integration for concentrated animal 

feeding operations (CAFOs) as reasons 

not to raise agricultural size standards. 

SBA Response 

SBA disagrees with commenters that 

the proposed regulations will allow a 

significant number of large firms to 

qualify as small in the animal 

production industries, namely NAICS 

codes 112111, 112112, 112120, 112310, 

112320, 112330, 112340, 112390, 

112410, 112420, 112511, 112512 and 

112519. Based on data from the 2012 

Agricultural Census, SBA determined 

that if the proposed size standards were 

adopted, the number of small firms in 

these industries would increase from 

801,603 to 821,632, an increase of 

20,029 firms or 2.5%. The percentage of 

small firms in these industries would 

increase from 96.5% under current size 

standards to 98.9% under the proposed 

size standards. SBA also analyzed its 

internal data on 7(a) and 504 loans to 

determine the impact of increases to 

size standards on SBA’s financial 

assistance programs for these industries. 

As discussed in the proposed rule, the 

majority of the animal production 

industries previously had a $750,000 

receipts-based size standard, which was 

established directly by Congress in 

section 806 of the Small Business 

Reauthorization Act of 2000, Appendix 

I, Public Law 106–554, 114 Stat. 2763, 

(December 21, 2000). In 2016, Congress 

passed NDAA 2017, directing SBA to 

establish size standards for these 

industries in the same manner that the 

agency establishes the size standards for 

other industries and to include them in 

the five-year rolling review under the 

Jobs Act. Effective August 19, 2019, SBA 

raised the $750,000 receipts-based size 

standard for these industries to $1 

million in an interim final rule, 

adjusting all monetary size standards for 

inflation (84 FR 34261 (July 18, 2019)). 

Based on the data for fiscal years 

2019–2020, the time period when the 

higher $1 million size standard was 

effective, SBA did not see any increase 

to the total number of firms receiving 

loans in the animal production 

industries identified above. Recognizing 

that firms may have qualified for SBA’s 

financial assistance programs under the 

tangible net worth and net income based 

alternative size standard, and thus, may 

have exceeded the industry size 

standard, SBA also analyzed the 

distribution of loans by revenue and 

determined that there was not an 

increase in the number of loans to firms 

with revenues between $0.75 million 

and $1 million during fiscal years 2019– 

2020. SBA found that the average firm 

size of businesses receiving loans was 

much smaller than the current $1 

million industry size standard, 

indicating that larger small firms are not 

the primary beneficiaries of SBA’s 

financial assistance programs. 

Generally, the majority of loans 

guaranteed by SBA through its 7(a) and 

CDC/504 loan programs are disbursed to 

firms that are much smaller than the 

industry size standard, in part due to 

the SBA’s ‘‘credit elsewhere’’ test (13 

CFR 120.101). This test requires lenders 

to certify that an applicant to the SBA’s 

loan program is unable to obtain a loan 

on reasonable terms without a Federal 

Government guaranty, and that some or 

all of the loan is not available from the 

resources of the applicant business or 

the personal resources of the principals 

of the applicant business. SBA’s 

proposed changes to size standards do 

not impact this requirement; thus, 

smaller small firms are more likely to 

remain the primary beneficiaries of 

SBA’s financial assistance programs as 

firms at the margin of SBA’s industry 

size standards are more likely to be able 

to obtain credit elsewhere. 

For the above reasons, SBA does not 

anticipate that a 2.5% increase to the 

total number of small firms in the 

animal production industries will 

unfairly favor larger small firms in those 

industries, particularly those that may 

be classified as CAFOs, to the detriment 

of smaller small firms in accessing 

SBA’s financial assistance. Therefore, 

SBA is adopting the size standards for 

the animal production industries 

identified above, as proposed. 

Comments on Proposed Changes to 

NAICS 115310—Support Activities for 

Forestry and Its Forest Fire Suppression 

and Fuel Management Services 

Exceptions 

SBA received three comments 

generally supporting the proposed 

increase to the size standard for NAICS 

115310 and its two exceptions. SBA 

proposed to increase the size standard 

for the overall NAICS 115310 (Support 

Activities for Forestry) from $8 million 

to $10 million and the size standard for 

the Forest Fire Suppression and Fuel 

Management Services exceptions to that 

NAICS code from $20.5 million to $25 

million. These comments listed a 

number of factors in support of the 

proposed increases, including increased 

costs, increased size of Federal 

contracts, increased length, frequency 

and severity of wildfires, and 

Government’s encouragement to use 

wood biproducts to generate further 

receipts. The commenters stressed that 

if the size standard is not raised, they 

would be forced to cut back on growth 


jspears on DSK121TN23PROD with RULES1
18610 Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 62 / Thursday, March 31, 2022 / Rules and Regulations 

to stay small and possibly lay off 

employees. Two of these commenters 

petitioned SBA to raise the size 

standard for the two exceptions to 

between $35 million and $41.5 million, 

with one commenter requesting that 

SBA immediately increase the size 

standard to at least $22 million until a 

final determination can be made. 

SBA Response 

SBA agrees with commenters that a 

higher size standard better reflects the 

economic characteristics of the firms 

within NAICS 115310 and its two 

exceptions. In the proposed rule, SBA’s 

calculated size standard for the Forest 

Fire Suppression and Fuel Management 

Services exceptions was $23.5 million. 

However, in view of the inherent 

uncertainty of occurrences of forest fires 

and recent surges in forest fire incidents 

and extended fire seasons, SBA believes 

that contracting officers need to have 

better flexibility to be able to hire 

enough small businesses, especially in 

the worst-case scenario. In the proposed 

rule, SBA estimated that in a very busy 

fire season, it is not implausible to 

assume the length of fire season to be 

120 days with 14 hours work shifts of 

fire crews. Based on a review of the 

latest available data, SBA determined 

that the length of the average fire season 

has increased in recent years as well as 

the severity of fires in terms of total 

acreage burned. For example, based on 

data from the National Interagency Fire 

Center (https://www.nifc.gov/fireinformation/statistics/wildfires), SBA 

determined that two of the three fire 

seasons with total acres burned above 

ten million have occurred in the past 

five years, and all of them within the 

past seven years. Based on recent data, 

SBA estimates that a very busy fire 

season could last as long as seven 

months. Assuming an average price of 

$43 dollars per person per hour, a total 

amount of about $9 million could be 

awarded to a firm with an average 

number of four crews (one crew 

comprises 20 firefighters) during a 

longer, more severe fire season. In the 

case of the largest firms with 15–20 

crews, the amount could reach up to 

$43 million. Both figures include only 

payments to firefighters for direct fire 

suppression activities and do not cover 

additional payments, such as payments 

for fire engines, water tenders, etc. With 

the reality of a longer and more severe 

average fire season in mind, in the 

proposed rule, SBA proposed to 

increase the size standard for the Forest 

Fire Suppression and Fuels 

Management Services exceptions to $25 

million, above the current size standard 

of $20.5 million and the calculated size 

standard of $23.5 million. However, in 

light of public comments and more 

recent data demonstrating the increasing 

severity and length of wildfires and the 

growing costs to suppress them, in this 

final rule, SBA is adopting a higher size 

standard of $30 million. In addition to 

the comprehensive review of size 

standards, SBA also adjusts its 

monetary-based size standards for 

inflation at least once every five years 

but may choose to adjust them more 

frequently if economic conditions 

warrant an increase during the five-year 

period. 

SBA reviewed the arguments and data 

provided by commenters requesting that 

SBA establish an even higher size 

standard for the Forest Fire Suppression 

and Fuel Management Services 

exceptions in the range of $35 million 

to $41.5 million. SBA believes that the 

arguments and data provided by 

commenters were not sufficient to 

support a size standard higher than $30 

million because the economic 

characteristics of firms in this industry 

do not support a size standard near the 

SBA’s maximum receipts-based size 

standard. Specifically, while two 

commenters maintained that increased 

operational costs, longer fire seasons 

and the almost exclusive use of setasides by the Federal government in the 

industry exceptions have caused many 

firms to cut back on growth to stay 

small, SBA determined that only a very 

few firms providing services under the 

industry exceptions may face a scenario 

where they would need to downsize or 

reject work in order to remain small. 

The average firm size of firms 

participating in the Forest Fire 

Suppression and Fuel Management 

Services is $3.7 million, far below SBA’s 

proposed size standard of $25 million 

and much lower than the adopted size 

standard of $30 million. Generally, SBA 

would expect to see a larger average 

firm size for the industry if a large 

number of firms were approaching the 

size standard and having to downsize or 

reject work in order to remain small. 

Based on SBA’s analysis of the five 

primary factors for the Forest Fire 

Suppression and Fuel Management 

Services exceptions, provided in Table 

4 of the October 2020 proposed rule, a 

size standard in the range of $35 million 

to $41.5 million recommended by the 

commenters would be supported by 

only one factor. Only the Gini 

coefficient factor supported a $41 

million size standard for these 

exceptions. All other factors supported 

$23.5 million or less. SBA’s decision to 

adopt a higher $30 million size standard 

was influenced by information 

submitted by three commenters, our 

communications with Forest Service 

officials, and review of updated 

information on firms involved in forest 

fire suppression. All these indicated 

that forest fire seasons have become 

longer and more severe and fire 

suppression (including wages to fire 

crews) and equipment costs have 

increased from the time when the $25 

million size standard was proposed. 

Thus, SBA believes that a size standard 

of $30 million is appropriate for this 

industry and will benefit small 

businesses of all sizes as well as the 

Federal Government in terms of access 

to an expanded pool of small businesses 

to draw from for small business setasides in case of unexpected surges in 

forest fires. The inherent uncertainty of 

occurrences of forest fires and recent 

surges in forest fire incidents and 

extended fire seasons and the 

contracting officers’ need to have 

flexibility to be able to hire enough 

small businesses, especially in the worst 

case scenario, also supports a higher $30 

million size standard. SBA believes that 

competition within the industry will 

improve as more set-aside opportunities 

are created, and businesses have a 

longer runway to gain experience and 

compete with larger firms whose 

primary services are outside of NAICS 

115310. Given the above reasons, SBA 

is adopting $10 million as the size 

standard for NAICS 115310 and $30 

million as the size standard for Forest 

Fire Suppression and Fuel Management 

Services exceptions under that NAICS 

industry. 

Comments on Proposed Changes to the 

Dredging and Surface Cleanup 

Activities Exception to NAICS 237990— 

Other Heavy and Civil Engineering 

Construction 

SBA received one comment 

expressing support for SBA’s approach 

to calculating the size standard for the 

Dredging and Surface Cleanup 

Activities (Dredging) exception under 

NAICS 237990 (Other Heavy and Civil 

Engineering Construction). Specifically, 

the commenter supported the SBA’s 

proposal to increase the size standard 

for Dredging from $30 million to $32.5 

million in average annual receipts. This 

comment also supported keeping the 

40% equipment requirement for this 

exception as outlined in Footnote 2 

under the SBA’s Table of Size 

Standards, or perhaps even raising it to 

higher than 40%. The commenter 

expressed that any alternative to the 

equipment requirement found in 

footnote 2, such as basing the 

requirement on contract dollar value or 

the number of personnel involved, 

would not be as effective at preventing 


jspears on DSK121TN23PROD with RULES1
Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 62 / Thursday, March 31, 2022 / Rules and Regulations 18611 

large firms from accessing small 

business set-aside opportunities. 

SBA Response 

SBA agrees with the commenter that 

SBA’s proposed size standard better 

reflects the economic characteristics of 

the firms within the Dredging industry. 

SBA believes that the proposed size 

standard will benefit all small firms as 

a larger size standard extends the time 

that small firms can remain small and 

compete for larger Dredging contracts. 

As a result of this expanded runway, 

small firms will be able to acquire more 

experience and technical capabilities in 

order to compete with larger firms once 

they exceed the size standard. 

Moreover, with an expanded pool of 

small businesses, the Federal 

Government will have more qualified 

small businesses to choose from, and as 

a result, likely will set aside more 

contracts for all small businesses. SBA 

agrees with the commenter that the 40% 

equipment requirement for this 

exception as outlined in footnote 2 of 

the SBA’s Table of Size Standards is 

appropriate. Given the expressed 

support for SBA’s proposed increase to 

the size standard for the Dredging 

exception to NAICS 237990 and the 

absence of any significant adverse 

comments opposing the increase, SBA is 

adopting $32.5 million as the size 

standard for Dredging, as proposed. 

Comments on Proposed Changes to 

NAICS 236220—Commercial and 

Institutional Building Construction 

SBA received one comment regarding 

SBA’s proposal to maintain the size 

standard for NAICS 236220 

(Commercial and Institutional Building 

Construction) at $39.5 million. The 

analytical results supported a lower 

$25.5 million size standard for NAICS 

236220, but considering the impact of 

the COVID–19 pandemic and 

Government response, SBA proposed to 

retain the current $39.5 million size 

standard. The commenter argued that 

the size standard for NAICS 236220 

should be increased to help small firms 

overcome the government’s overly 

restrictive contracting practices in this 

industry which results in disadvantages 

to truly small firms. The commenter 

cited such practices as excessive and 

high threshold past performance 

requirements as well as a general rise in 

overall project size requirements. The 

commenter also emphasized that the 

COVID–19 pandemic has resulted in a 

contraction of the pool of small 

businesses able to contract with the 

government. The commenter believes 

that the result of these circumstances is 

that only mentor-prote ́ge ́ firms will be 

able to qualify under these very 

restrictive contracting opportunities. 

SBA Response 

In response to comments that the 

Federal government’s contracting 

practices in NAICS 236220 disadvantage 

small firms and that the COVID–19 

pandemic has resulted in a contraction 

of the pool of small businesses able to 

contract with the Government SBA 

analyzed data from FPDS–NG during 

fiscal years 2018–2020 to evaluate the 

number and size of Federal contracting 

opportunities available to small firms. 

Based on an analysis of this data, SBA 

determined that there was an increase in 

dollars obligated to small businesses 

during fiscal years 2018–2020, which 

suggests that small firms have continued 

to do well in the Federal marketplace 

while providing valuable services to the 

Federal government during the COVID– 

19 related economic crisis. Table 2, 

Dollars Obligated to Small Businesses 

under NAICS 236220, shows the count 

of small business contracts under this 

NAICS code, the dollars obligated to 

small businesses, and the annual growth 

rate in small business dollars obligated 

during fiscal years 2018–2020. 

TABLE 2—DOLLARS OBLIGATED TO SMALL BUSINESSES UNDER NAICS 236220 

Fiscal year 

Count of small 

businesses 

contracts 

Dollars 

obligated 

to small 

businesses 

($ million) 

Annual growth 

rate in dollars 

obligated 

to small 

businesses 

2018 ............................................................................................................................................. 38,498 $9,444.9 

2019 ............................................................................................................................................. 38,702 9,883.4 4.6% 

2020 ............................................................................................................................................. 40,888 10,088.9 2.1% 

In the proposed rule, SBA used 

FPDS–NG data from fiscal years 2016– 

2018 to evaluate small business 

participation in the Federal contracting 

market in terms of the share of total 

Federal contract dollars awarded to 

small businesses relative to the small 

business share of an industry’s total 

receipts. In general, if the share of 

Federal contract dollars awarded to 

small businesses in an industry is 

significantly smaller than the small 

business share of the total industry’s 

receipts, all else remaining the same, a 

justification would exist for considering 

a size standard higher than the current 

size standard. In cases where the small 

business share of the Federal market is 

already appreciably high relative to the 

small business share of the overall 

market, SBA generally assumes that the 

existing size standard is adequate with 

respect to the Federal contracting factor. 

Regarding NAICS 236220 specifically, 

SBA calculated a Federal contracting 

factor of 9.4%, which indicates that the 

small business share of federal 

contracting dollars is higher than the 

small business share of industry 

receipts. Thus, the Federal contracting 

factor supports maintaining the size 

standard at the current $39.5 million 

level. Using the FPDS–NG data from 

fiscal years 2018–2020, SBA found that 

the small business share of federal 

contracting dollars is still higher than 

the share of industry receipts. As such, 

SBA disagrees with the commenter that 

the Federal government’s contracting 

practices in this industry disadvantage 

small firms and that the COVID–19 

pandemic has resulted in a contracted 

pool of small businesses able to contract 

with the government and is adopting 

$39.5 million as the size standard for 

NAICS 236220, as proposed. 

Comments on Proposed Changes to 

Sector 23—Construction 

SBA received one comment to the 

proposed rule that petitioned SBA to 

change the measure of size for 

construction industries from average 

annual receipts to full time equivalent 

(FTE) employees. This comment argued 

that receipts is a misleading measure of 

size for these industries due to 

increasing costs for materials, supplies, 

and labor. 

SBA Response 

SBA disagrees that receipts-based 

standards do not properly reflect the 

size of companies in the construction 

industry. SBA believes that receipts, 

which represent the value of a 


jspears on DSK121TN23PROD with RULES1
18612 Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 62 / Thursday, March 31, 2022 / Rules and Regulations 

company’s entire portfolio of completed 

work in a given period of time, is a 

better measure of the size of a 

construction company to determine its 

eligibility for Federal contracts set aside 

for small businesses than the number of 

employees. Moreover, under SBA’s 

prime contractor performance 

requirements (see 13 CFR 125.6, 

limitations on subcontracting), a general 

construction company must perform as 

little as 15% of value of work with its 

own resources, and a specialty trade 

contractor may perform as little as 25% 

of work with its own resources. SBA is 

concerned that employee-based size 

standards for construction industries 

could encourage a construction 

company near the size standard to 

subcontract more work to others to 

bypass the limitations on subcontracting 

and remain technically a small business. 

Regardless of the amount of work a 

company subcontracts, it is part of its 

annual revenue, because the company is 

responsible for the entire project. In 

other words, under a receipts-based size 

standard, the company is not allowed to 

deduct subcontracting costs from the 

average annual receipts-based 

calculation. Under the employee-based 

size standard, companies would not 

count their subcontractors’ employees to 

calculate their total number of 

employees. A company that 

subcontracts a great deal can have a 

considerably fewer employees than one 

that performs more of its work in-house. 

Furthermore, in 2004, SBA proposed 

to replace annual receipts with number 

of employees as the basis for size 

standards for most industries, including 

construction (see 69 FR 11129 (March 

19, 2004)). Commenters in the 

construction industry generally opposed 

SBA’s proposal for a number of reasons, 

such as those SBA provides above. In 

addition, because employee-based size 

standards represent the average number 

of employees per pay period for the 

firm’s immediately preceding 12 

calendar months, businesses would 

have to recalculate their size on a 

monthly basis. Receipts, on the other 

hand, are calculated over the last five 

fiscal years for all SBA’s programs, 

except for the loan programs for which 

receipts are calculated over the last 

three years. This allows for changes in 

the construction industry as well as 

fluctuations in sales due to economic 

conditions. 

Employment data by industry from 

Economic Census and County Business 

Patterns and Federal statistical agencies 

(such Bureaus of Economic Analysis 

and Labor Statistics) that SBA uses in its 

size standards analysis are based on 

total head counts of part-time, 

temporary, and full-time employees, not 

based on FTEs. In other words, parttime employees are counted the same as 

full-time employees. In addition, using 

FTEs as a basis of size measure may 

increase reporting and record keeping 

requirements for small businesses to 

qualify for Federal programs. For the 

reasons outlined above, in this final 

rule, SBA is not adopting employeebased size standards for the 

construction sector. 

Summary of Adopted Revisions to Size 

Standards 

Based on the evaluation of public 

comments it received on the proposed 

rule and given the expressed support for 

SBA’s proposed increases and the 

absence of any significant adverse 

comments opposing the proposed 

increases, SBA is adopting the size 

standards as proposed in the October 

2020 proposed rule, except for the 

Forest Fire Suppression and Fuel 

Management exceptions under NAICS 

115310. For these exceptions, SBA is 

adopting a higher size standard of $30.0 

million based on public comments and 

evaluation of newly available 

information regarding the industry and 

firms participating in the fire 

suppression and related activities. Thus, 

SBA is increasing size standards for 68 

industries in NAICS sectors 11, 21, 22, 

and 23. This includes 58 industries and 

two subindustries (‘‘exceptions’’) in 

NAICS Sector 11 (Agriculture, Forestry, 

Fishing and Hunting), three industries 

in Sector 21 (Quarrying, and Oil and 

Gas Extraction), three industries in 

Sector 22 (Utilities), and one industry 

and one subindustry (‘‘exception’’) in 

Sector 23 (Construction). A summary of 

SBA’s size standards revisions in this 

rule can be found below in Table 3, 

Summary of Size Standards Revisions in 

NAICS Sectors 11, 21, 22, and 23. 

TABLE 3—SUMMARY OF SIZE STANDARDS REVISIONS IN NAICS SECTORS 11, 21, 22, AND 23 

NAICS code NAICS U.S. industry title 

Current size 

standard 

($ million) 

Calculated 

size standard 

($ million) 

Adopted size 

standard 

($ million) 

111110 ................................... Soybean Farming ................................................................... $1.0 $2.0 $2.0 

111120 ................................... Oilseed (except Soybean) Farming ........................................ 1.0 2.0 2.0 

111130 ................................... Dry Pea and Bean Farming .................................................... 1.0 2.5 2.5 

111140 ................................... Wheat Farming ....................................................................... 1.0 2.0 2.0 

111150 ................................... Corn Farming .......................................................................... 1.0 2.25 2.25 

111160 ................................... Rice Farming ........................................................................... 1.0 2.25 2.25 

111191 ................................... Oilseed and Grain Combination Farming ............................... 1.0 2.0 2.0 

111199 ................................... All Other Grain Farming .......................................................... 1.0 2.0 2.0 

111211 ................................... Potato Farming ....................................................................... 1.0 3.75 3.75 

111219 ................................... Other Vegetable (except Potato) and Melon Farming ........... 1.0 3.25 3.25 

111310 ................................... Orange Groves ....................................................................... 1.0 3.5 3.5 

111320 ................................... Citrus (except Orange) Groves ............................................... 1.0 3.75 3.75 

111331 ................................... Apple Orchards ....................................................................... 1.0 4.0 4.0 

111332 ................................... Grape Vineyards ..................................................................... 1.0 3.5 3.5 

111333 ................................... Strawberry Farming ................................................................ 1.0 4.75 4.75 

111334 ................................... Berry (except Strawberry) Farming ........................................ 1.0 3.25 3.25

111335 ................................... Tree Nut Farming .................................................................... 1.0 3.25 3.25 

111336 ................................... Fruit and Tree Nut Combination Farming ............................... 1.0 4.5 4.5 

111339 ................................... Other Noncitrus Fruit Farming ................................................ 1.0 3.0 3.0 

111411 ................................... Mushroom Production ............................................................. 1.0 4.0 4.0 

111419 ................................... Other Food Crops Grown Under Cover ................................. 1.0 4.0 4.0 

111421 ................................... Nursery and Tree Production ................................................. 1.0 2.75 2.75 

111422 ................................... Floriculture Production ............................................................ 1.0 3.25 3.25 

111910 ................................... Tobacco Farming .................................................................... 1.0 2.25 2.25 

111920 ................................... Cotton Farming ....................................................................... 1.0 2.75 2.75 


jspears on DSK121TN23PROD with RULES1
Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 62 / Thursday, March 31, 2022 / Rules and Regulations 18613 

TABLE 3—SUMMARY OF SIZE STANDARDS REVISIONS IN NAICS SECTORS 11, 21, 22, AND 23—Continued 

NAICS code NAICS U.S. industry title 

Current size 

standard 

($ million) 

Calculated 

size standard 

($ million) 

Adopted size 

standard 

($ million) 

111930 ................................... Sugarcane Farming ................................................................ 1.0 4.5 4.5 

111940 ................................... Hay Farming ........................................................................... 1.0 2.25 2.25 

111991 ................................... Sugar Beet Farming ................................................................ 1.0 2.25 2.25 

111992 ................................... Peanut Farming ...................................................................... 1.0 2.25 2.25 

111998 ................................... All Other Miscellaneous Crop Farming ................................... 1.0 2.25 2.25 

112111 ................................... Beef Cattle Ranching and Farming ........................................ 1.0 2.25 2.25 

112112 ................................... Cattle Feedlots ........................................................................ 8.0 19.5 19.5 

112120 ................................... Dairy Cattle and Milk Production ............................................ 1.0 3.25 3.25 

112210 ................................... Hog and Pig Farming .............................................................. 1.0 3.5 3.5 

112310 ................................... Chicken Egg Production ......................................................... 16.5 15.5 16.5 

112320 ................................... Broilers and Other Meat Type Chicken Production ................ 1.0 3.0 3.0 

112330 ................................... Turkey Production ................................................................... 1.0 3.25 3.25 

112340 ................................... Poultry Hatcheries .................................................................. 1.0 3.5 3.5 

112390 ................................... Other Poultry Production ........................................................ 1.0 3.25 3.25 

112410 ................................... Sheep Farming ....................................................................... 1.0 3.0 3.0 

112420 ................................... Goat Farming .......................................................................... 1.0 2.25 2.25 

112511 ................................... Finfish Farming and Fish Hatcheries ...................................... 1.0 3.25 3.25

112512 ................................... Shellfish Farming .................................................................... 1.0 3.25 3.25 

112519 ................................... Other Aquaculture ................................................................... 1.0 3.25 3.25 

112910 ................................... Apiculture ................................................................................ 1.0 2.75 2.75 

112920 ................................... Horses and Other Equine Production ..................................... 1.0 2.5 2.5 

112930 ................................... Fur-Bearing Animal and Rabbit Production ............................ 1.0 3.25 3.25 

112990 ................................... All Other Animal Production ................................................... 1.0 2.5 2.5 

113110 ................................... Timber Tract Operations ......................................................... 12.0 16.5 16.5 

113210 ................................... Forest Nurseries and Gathering of Forest Products .............. 12.0 18.0 18.0 

114111 ................................... Finfish Fishing ......................................................................... 22.0 20.5 22.0 

114112 ................................... Shellfish Fishing ...................................................................... 6.0 12.5 12.5 

114119 ................................... Other Marine Fishing .............................................................. 8.0 10.0 10.0 

114210 ................................... Hunting and Trapping ............................................................. 6.0 7.5 7.5 

115111 ................................... Cotton Ginning ........................................................................ 12.0 14.0 14.0 

115112 ................................... Soil Preparation, Planting, and Cultivating ............................. 8.0 8.5 8.5 

115113 ................................... Crop Harvesting, Primarily by Machine .................................. 8.0 12.0 12.0 

115114 ................................... Postharvest Crop Activities (except Cotton Ginning) ............. 30.0 27.5 30.0 

115115 ................................... Farm Labor Contractors and Crew Leaders ........................... 16.50 12.5 16.5 

115116 ................................... Farm Management Services ................................................... 8.0 13.5 13.5 

115210 ................................... Support Activities for Animal Production ................................ 8.0 9.5 9.5 

115310 ................................... Support Activities for Forestry ................................................ 8.0 10.0 10.0 

115310 (Exception 1) ............. Forest Fire Suppression Services .......................................... 20.5 23.5 30.0 

115310 (Exception 2) ............. Fuels Management Services .................................................. 20.5 23.5 30.0 

213112 ................................... Support Activities for Oil and Gas Operations ....................... 41.5 38.0 41.5 

213113 ................................... Support Activities for Coal Mining .......................................... 22.0 24.0 24.0 

213114 ................................... Support Activities for Metal Mining ......................................... 22.0 36.0 36.0 

213115 ................................... Support Activities for Nonmetallic Minerals (except Fuels) 

Mining.

8.0 18.0 18.0 

221310 ................................... Water Supply and Irrigation Systems ..................................... 30.0 36.0 36.0

221320 ................................... Sewage Treatment Facilities .................................................. 22.0 31.0 31.0 

221330 ................................... Steam and Air-Conditioning Supply ........................................ 16.5 26.5 26.5 

236115 ................................... New Single-Family Housing Construction (except For-Sale 

Builders).

39.5 8.0 39.5 

236116 ................................... New Multifamily Housing Construction (except For-Sale 

Builders).

39.5 25.5 39.5 

236117 ................................... New Housing For-Sale Builders ............................................. 39.5 27.5 39.5 

236118 ................................... Residential Remodelers .......................................................... 39.5 13.5 39.5 

236210 ................................... Industrial Building Construction .............................................. 39.5 29.0 39.5 

236220 ................................... Commercial and Institutional Building Construction ............... 39.5 25.5 39.5 

237110 ................................... Water and Sewer Line and Related Structures Construction 39.5 20.0 39.5 

237120 ................................... Oil and Gas Pipeline and Related Structures Construction ... 39.5 33.0 39.5 

237130 ................................... Power and Communication Line and Related Structures 

Construction.

39.5 31.0 39.5 

237210 ................................... Land Subdivision .................................................................... 30.0 22.0 30.0 

237310 ................................... Highway, Street, and Bridge Construction ............................. 39.5 28.5 39.5 

237990 ................................... Other Heavy and Civil Engineering Construction ................... 39.5 29.5 39.5 

237990 (Exception) ................ Dredging and Surface Clean-Up Activities ............................. 30.0 32.5 32.5 

238110 ................................... Poured Concrete Foundation and Structure Contractors ....... 16.5 12.5 16.5 

238120 ................................... Structural Steel and Precast Concrete Contractors ............... 16.5 13.0 16.5 

238130 ................................... Framing Contractors ............................................................... 16.5 8.5 16.5 

238140 ................................... Masonry Contractors ............................................................... 16.5 10.5 16.5 

238150 ................................... Glass and Glazing Contractors ............................................... 16.5 8.0 16.5 

238160 ................................... Roofing Contractors ................................................................ 16.5 10.0 16.5 

238170 ................................... Siding Contractors .................................................................. 16.5 7.0 16.5 


jspears on DSK121TN23PROD with RULES1
18614 Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 62 / Thursday, March 31, 2022 / Rules and Regulations 

TABLE 3—SUMMARY OF SIZE STANDARDS REVISIONS IN NAICS SECTORS 11, 21, 22, AND 23—Continued 

NAICS code NAICS U.S. industry title 

Current size 

standard 

($ million) 

Calculated 

size standard 

($ million) 

Adopted size 

standard 

($ million) 

238190 ................................... Other Foundation, Structure, and Building Exterior Contractors.16.5 13.0 16.5 

238210 ................................... Electrical Contractors and Other Wiring Installation Contractors.16.5 13.5 16.5 

238220 ................................... Plumbing, Heating, and Air-Conditioning Contractors ............ 16.5 12.0 16.5 

238290 ................................... Other Building Equipment Contractors ................................... 16.5 19.5 19.5 

238310 ................................... Drywall and Insulation Contractors ......................................... 16.5 11.5 16.5 

238320 ................................... Painting and Wall Covering Contractors ................................ 16.5 10.0 16.5 

238330 ................................... Flooring Contractors ............................................................... 16.5 10.5 16.5 

238340 ................................... Tile and Terrazzo Contractors ................................................ 16.5 7.5 16.5 

238350 ................................... Finish Carpentry Contractors .................................................. 16.5 7.5 16.5 

238390 ................................... Other Building Finishing Contractors ...................................... 16.5 11.0 16.5 

238910 ................................... Site Preparation Contractors .................................................. 16.5 12.0 16.5 

238990 ................................... All Other Specialty Trade Contractors .................................... 16.5 11.5 16.5 

Table 4, Summary of Adopted Size 

Standards Revisions by Sector, below, 

summarizes the adopted changes to size 

standards by NAICS sector. 

TABLE 4—SUMMARY OF ADOPTED SIZE STANDARDS REVISIONS BY SECTOR

NAICS sector Sector name 

Number of 

size 

standards 

reviewed 

Number of 

size 

standards 

increased 

Number of 

size 

standards 

decreased 

Number of 

size 

standards 

maintained 

11 ......................... Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing and Hunting .................... 64 60 0 4 

21 ......................... Mining, Quarrying, and Oil and Gas Extraction ............ 4 3 0 1 

22 ......................... Utilities ........................................................................... 3 3 0 0 

23 ......................... Construction ................................................................... 32 2 0 30 

All Sectors .... ........................................................................................ 103 68 0 35 

Evaluation of Dominance in Field of 

Operation 

SBA determined that for the 

industries evaluated under this final 

rule, no individual firm at or below the 

adopted size standards would be large 

enough to dominate its field of 

operation. At the size standard levels 

adopted in this final rule, the small 

business share of total industry receipts 

among those industries would be, on 

average, 0.63%, varying from 0.003% to 

22.3%. These market shares effectively 

preclude a firm at or below the adopted 

size standards from exerting control on 

any of the industries. 

Alternatives Considered 

In response to the unprecedented 

economic impacts of the COVID–19 

pandemic on small businesses and 

Government response, SBA is adopting 

increases to size standards where the 

data suggests increases are warranted 

and retaining all current size standards 

where the data suggested lowering is 

appropriate. SBA is also retaining all 

current size standards where the data 

suggested no changes to the current 

standards. 

Nonetheless, SBA considered two 

other alternatives. Alternative Option 

One was to adopt changes to size 

standards exactly as suggested by the 

analytical results. In other words, 

Alternative Option One would entail 

increasing size standards for 68 

industries and subindustries and 

decreasing them for 35 industries. 

Alternative Option Two was to retain all 

current size standards. 

SBA did not adopt Alternative Option 

One because it would cause a 

substantial number of currently small 

businesses to lose their small business 

status and hence to lose their access to 

Federal small business assistance, 

especially small business set-aside 

contracts and SBA’s financial assistance 

in some cases. Lowering size standards 

in the current environment would run 

counter to various measures the Federal 

Government has implemented to help 

U.S. small businesses and the overall 

economy recover from the ongoing 

COVID–19 pandemic. Considering the 

impacts of the Great Recession and 

Government actions that followed to 

support small businesses and the overall 

economy, SBA also adopted a similar 

policy of not decreasing size standards 

during the first five-year review of size 

standards, even though the data 

suggested decreases. 

Under Alternative Option Two, given 

the current COVID–19 pandemic, SBA 

considered retaining the current level of 

all size standards even though the 

analytical results suggested changing 

them. Under this option, as the current 

situation develops, SBA will be able to 

assess new data available on economic 

indicators, federal procurement, and 

SBA loans before adopting changes to 

size standards. However, SBA is not 

adopting Alternative Option Two either 

because the results discussed in the 

Regulatory Impact Analysis section, 

below, show that retaining all size 

standards at their current levels would 

cause otherwise qualified small 

businesses to forgo various small 

business benefits becoming available to 

them under the option of increasing 68 

and retaining 35 size standards adopted 

in this final rule. Such benefits would 

include access to Federal contracts set 

aside for small businesses and capital 

through SBA’s loan and SBIC programs, 

and exemptions from paperwork and 

other compliance requirements. 


jspears on DSK121TN23PROD with RULES1
Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 62 / Thursday, March 31, 2022 / Rules and Regulations 18615 

2The analysis of the disaster loan data excludes 

physical disaster loans that are available to anyone 

regardless of size, disaster loans issued to nonprofit 

entities, and EIDLs issued under the COVID–19 

relief program. Effective January 1, 2022, SBA 

stopped accepting applications for new COVID 

EIDL loans or advances. Thus, the disaster loan 

analysis presented here pertains to the regular EIDL 

loans only. 

SBA estimates impacts of size standards changes 

on EIDL loans by calculating the ratio of businesses 

getting EIDL loans to total small businesses (based 

on the Economic Census data) and multiplying it 

by the number of impacted small firms. Due to data 

limitations, for FY 2019–20, some loans with both 

physical and EIDL loan components could not be 

broken into the physical and EIDL loan amounts. 

Continued 

Compliance With Executive Orders 

12866, the Congressional Review Act (5 

U.S.C. 801–808), the Regulatory 

Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. 601–612), 

Executive Orders 13563, 12988, and 

13132, and the Paperwork Reduction 

Act (44 U.S.C. Ch. 35) 

Executive Order 12866 

The Office of Management and Budget 

(OMB) has determined that this rule is 

a significant regulatory action for 

purposes of Executive Order 12866. 

Accordingly, in the next section SBA 

provides a Regulatory Impact Analysis 

of this final rule, including: (1) A 

statement of the need for the action, (2) 

An examination of alternative 

approaches, and (3) An evaluation of the 

benefits and costs—both quantitative 

and qualitative—of the action and the 

alternatives considered. 

Regulatory Impact Analysis 

1. What is a need for this regulatory 

action? 

SBA’s mission is to aid and assist 

small businesses through a variety of 

financial, procurement, business 

development and counseling, and 

disaster assistance programs. To 

determine the actual intended 

beneficiaries of these programs, SBA 

establishes numerical size standards by 

industry to identify businesses that are 

deemed small. 

Under the Small Business Act (Act) 

(15 U.S.C. 632(a)), SBA’s Administrator 

is responsible for establishing small 

business size definitions (or ‘‘size 

standards’’) and ensuring that such 

definitions vary from industry to 

industry to reflect differences among 

various industries. The Jobs Act requires 

SBA to review every five years all size 

standards and make necessary 

adjustments to reflect current industry 

and Federal market conditions. This 

rule is part of the second five-year 

review of size standards in accordance 

with the Jobs Act. The first five-year 

review of size standards was completed 

in early 2016. Such periodic reviews of 

size standards provide SBA with an 

opportunity to incorporate ongoing 

changes to industry structure and 

Federal market environment into size 

standards and to evaluate the impacts of 

prior revisions to size standards on 

small businesses. This also provides 

SBA with an opportunity to seek and 

incorporate public input to the size 

standards review and analysis. SBA 

believes that size standards revisions for 

industries being adopted in this rule 

will make size standards more reflective 

of the current economic characteristics 

of businesses in those industries and the 

latest trends in the Federal marketplace. 

The revisions to the existing size 

standards for 68 industries in NAICS 

Sectors 11, 21, 22, and 23 are consistent 

with SBA’s statutory mandate to help 

small businesses grow and create jobs 

and to review and adjust size standards 

every five years. This regulatory action 

promotes the Administration’s goals and 

objectives as well as meets the SBA’s 

statutory responsibility. One of SBA’s 

goals in support of promoting the 

Administration’s objectives is to help 

small businesses succeed through fair 

and equitable access to capital and 

credit, Federal Government contracts 

and purchases, and management and 

technical assistance. Reviewing and 

modifying size standards, when 

appropriate, ensures that intended 

beneficiaries can access Federal small 

business programs that are designed to 

assist them to become competitive and 

create jobs. 

2. What are the potential benefits and 

costs of this regulatory action? 

OMB directs agencies to establish an 

appropriate baseline to evaluate any 

benefits, costs, or transfer impacts of 

regulatory actions and alternative 

approaches considered. The baseline 

should represent the agency’s best 

assessment of what the world would 

look like absent the regulatory action. 

For a new regulatory action 

promulgating modifications to an 

existing regulation (such as modifying 

the existing size standards), a baseline 

assuming no change to the regulation 

(i.e., making no changes to current size 

standards) generally provides an 

appropriate benchmark for evaluating 

benefits, costs, or transfer impacts of 

regulatory changes and their 

alternatives. 

Changes to Size Standards 

Based on the results from the analysis 

of the latest industry and Federal 

contracting data, evaluation of public 

comments and input to the proposed 

rule, as well as consideration of impact 

of size standards changes on small 

businesses and significant adverse 

impacts of the COVID–19 emergency on 

small businesses and the overall 

economic activity, of the total of 103 

industries in Sectors 11, 21, 22, and 23 

that have receipts-based size standards, 

SBA is increasing size standards for 68 

industries (including exceptions), and 

maintaining current size standards for 

the remaining 35 industries. 

The Baseline 

For purposes of this regulatory action, 

the baseline represents maintaining the 

‘‘status quo,’’ i.e., making no changes to 

the current size standards. Using the 

number of small businesses and levels 

of benefits (such as set-aside contracts, 

SBA’s loans, disaster assistance, etc.) 

they receive under the current size 

standards as a baseline, one can 

examine the potential benefits, costs, 

and transfer impacts of changes to size 

standards on small businesses and on 

the overall economy. 

Based on the 2012 Economic Census 

(the latest available when this 

rulemaking was developed), of a total of 

about 2.7 million businesses in 

industries in Sectors 11, 21, 22, and 23 

for which SBA is increasing their 

receipts-based size standards, 96.9% are 

considered small under the current size 

standards. That percentage varies from 

95.5% in Sector 21 to 98.5% in Sector 

23. Based on the data from FPDS–NG for 

fiscal years 2018–2020, about 15,567 

unique firms in those industries 

received at least one Federal contract 

during that period, of which 85% were 

small under the current size standards. 

A total of about $39 billion in average 

annual contract dollars were awarded to 

businesses in those industries during 

the period of evaluation, and 45.3% of 

the dollars awarded went to small 

businesses. For these sectors, providing 

contract dollars to small business 

through set-asides is quite important. 

From the total small business contract 

dollars awarded during the period 

considered, 81.8% were awarded 

through various small business set-aside 

programs and 18.2% were awarded 

through non-set aside contracts. 

Based on the SBA’s internal data on 

its loan programs for fiscal years 2018– 

2020, small businesses in those 

industries received, on an annual basis, 

a total of nearly 7,250 7(a) and 504 loans 

in that period, totaling about $2.3 

billion, of which 84.8% was issued 

through the 7(a) program and 15.2% 

was issued through the CDC/504 

program. During fiscal years 2018–2020, 

small businesses in those industries also 

received 174 loans through the SBA’s 

Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) 

program, totaling about $8 million on an 

annual basis.2 Table 5, Baseline for All 


jspears on DSK121TN23PROD with RULES1
18616 Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 62 / Thursday, March 31, 2022 / Rules and Regulations 

In such cases, SBA applied the ratio of EIDL 

amount to total (physical loan + EIDL) amount 

using FY 2016–18 data to the FY 2019–20 data to 

obtain the amount attributable to the EIDL loans. 

Industries, provides these baseline 

results by NAICS sector. 

TABLE 5—BASELINE FOR ALL INDUSTRIES

Sector 11 Sector 21 Sector 22 Sector 23 Total 

Baseline All Industries (current size standards) .................. 64 4 3 32 103 

Total firms (2012 Economic Census) .................................. 2,122,631 8,196 3,673 587,173 2,721,673 

Total small firms under current size standards (2012 Economic Census) ................................................................. 2,046,316 7,828 3,586 578,430 2,636,160 

Small firms as % of total firms ............................................. 96.4% 95.5% 97.6% 98.5% 96.9% 

Total contract dollars ($ million) (FPDS–NG, FY2018– 

2020) ................................................................................ $675 $111 $401 $37,913 $39,099 

Total small business contract dollars under current standards ($ million) (FPDS–NG, FY2018–2020) .................... $478 $25 $75 $17,119 $17,698 

Small business dollars as % of total dollars (FPDS–NG, 

FY2018–2020) .................................................................. 70.9% 22.5% 18.7% 45.2% 45.3% 

Total no. of unique firms getting contracts (FPDS–NG, 

FY2018–2020) .................................................................. 3,259 266 591 11,901 15,567 

Total no. of unique small firms getting small business contracts (FPDS–NG, FY2018–2020) ................................... 2,883 188 447 10,063 13,231 

Small business firms as % of total firms (FPDS–NG, 

FY2018–2020) .................................................................. 88.5% 70.7% 75.6% 84.6% 85.0% 

No. of 7(a) and 504/CDC loans (FY2018–2020) ................. 563 70 35 6,579 7,247 

Amount of 7(a) and 504 loans ($ million) (FY2018–2020) .. $350 $42 $11 $1,944 $2,347 

No. of EIDL loans (FY2018–2020) * .................................... 48 2 1 123 174 

Amount of EIDL loans ($ million) (FY2018–2020) * ............ $1.2 $0.1 $0.1 $6.6 $8.0 

* Excludes COVID–19 related EIDL loans due to their temporary nature. Effective January 1, 2022, SBA stopped accepting applications for 

new COVID EIDL loans or advances. 

Increases to Size Standards 

As stated above, of 103 receipts-based 

size standards in NAICS Sectors 11, 21, 

22, and 23 that are reviewed in this rule, 

based on the results from analyses of 

latest industry and Federal market data, 

impacts of size standards changes on 

small businesses as well as 

considerations of the impacts of the 

COVID–19 pandemic and public 

comments to the proposed rule, SBA is 

increasing 68 and maintaining 35 size 

standards. Below are descriptions of the 

benefits, costs, and transfer impacts of 

these increases to size standards 

adopted in this final rule. 

The results of regulatory impact 

analyses SBA provided in the October 

2020 proposed rule were based on the 

FPDS–NG and SBA loan data for fiscal 

years 2016–2018. In this final rule, SBA 

is updating the impact analysis results 

by using the FPDS–NG and SBA loan 

data for fiscal years 2018–2020. 

Accordingly, there can be some 

differences between the proposed rule 

and this final rule with respect to 

impacts of size standards changes on 

Federal contracts and SBA loans. 

Benefits of Increasing Size Standards 

The most significant benefit to 

businesses from increases to size 

standards is gaining eligibility for 

Federal small business assistance 

programs or retaining eligibility for a 

longer period. These include SBA’s 

business loan programs, Economic 

Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program, 

and Federal procurement programs 

intended for small businesses. Federal 

procurement programs provide targeted, 

set-aside opportunities for small 

businesses under SBA’s various 

business development and contracting 

programs. These include the 8(a)/ 

Business Development (BD) Program, 

the Small Disadvantaged Businesses 

(SDB) Program, the Historically 

Underutilized Business Zones 

(HUBZone) Program, the WomenOwned Small Businesses (WOSB) 

Program, the Economically 

Disadvantaged Women-Owned Small 

Businesses (EDWOSB) Program, and the 

Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small 

Businesses (SDVOSB) Program. 

Besides set-aside contracting and 

financial assistance discussed above, 

small businesses also benefit through 

reduced fees, less paperwork, and fewer 

compliance requirements that are 

available to small businesses through 

Federal Government programs. 

However, SBA has no data to estimate 

the number of small businesses 

receiving such benefits. 

Based on the 2012 Economic Census 

(latest available), SBA estimates that in 

68 industries in NAICS Sectors 11, 21, 

22, and 23 for which it is increasing size 

standards, more than 49,400 firms (see 

Table 6, below) not small under the 

current size standards will become 

small under the revised size standards 

and therefore become eligible for these 

programs. That represents about 2.4% of 

all firms classified as small under the 

current size standards in industries for 

which SBA is increasing size standards. 

The revised size standards will result in 

an increase to the small business share 

of total receipts in those industries from 

35.6% to 55.2%. 

With more businesses qualifying as 

small under the revised size standards, 

Federal agencies will have a larger pool 

of small businesses from which to draw 

for their small business procurement 

programs. Growing small businesses 

that are close to exceeding the current 

size standards will be able to retain their 

small business status for a longer period 

under the higher size standards, thereby 

enabling them to continue to benefit 

from the small business programs. 

Based on the FPDS–NG data for fiscal 

years 2018–2020, SBA estimates that 

about 90 firms that are active in Federal 

contracting in those industries will gain 

small business status under the revised 

size standards. Based on the same data, 

SBA estimates that those newly 

qualified small businesses under the 

increases to 68 size standards could 

receive Federal small business contracts 

totaling about $13 million annually. 

That represents a 1.9% increase to small 


jspears on DSK121TN23PROD with RULES1
Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 62 / Thursday, March 31, 2022 / Rules and Regulations 18617 

business dollars from the baseline. 

Table 6, Impacts of Increasing Size 

Standards, provides these results by 

NAICS sector. 

The added competition from more 

businesses qualifying as small can result 

in lower prices to the Federal 

Government for procurements set aside 

or reserved for small businesses, but 

SBA cannot quantify this impact. Costs 

could be higher when full and open 

contracts are awarded to HUBZone 

businesses that receive price evaluation 

preferences. However, with agencies 

likely setting aside more contracts for 

small businesses in response to the 

availability of a larger pool of small 

businesses under the revised size 

standards, HUBZone firms might end up 

getting more set-aside contracts and 

fewer full and open contracts, thereby 

resulting in some cost savings to 

agencies. SBA cannot estimate such 

costs savings as it is impossible to 

determine the number and value of 

unrestricted contracts to be otherwise 

awarded to HUBZone firms will be 

awarded as set-asides. However, such 

cost savings are likely to be relatively 

small as only a small fraction of full and 

open contracts are awarded to HUBZone 

businesses. 

Under SBA’s 7(a) and 504 loan 

programs, based on the data for fiscal 

years 2018–2020, SBA estimates up to 

about 15 7(a) and 504 loans totaling 

about $8.6 million could be made to 

these newly qualified small businesses 

in those industries under the revised 

size standards. That represents a 2.3% 

increase to the loan amount compared 

to the baseline. 

TABLE 6—IMPACTS OF INCREASING SIZE STANDARDS

Sector 11 Sector 21 Sector 22 Sector 23 Total 

No. of industries with increases to size standards .............. 60 3 3 2 68 

Total current small businesses in industries with increases 

to size standards (2012 Economic Census) .................... 2,016,066 536 3,586 5,413 2,025,601 

Additional firms qualifying as small under revised standards (2012 Economic Census) ......................................... 49,352 21 9 34 49,415 

% of additional firms qualifying as small relative to current 

small businesses in industries with increases to size 

standards .......................................................................... 2.4% 3.9% 0.2% 0.6% 2.4% 

No. of current unique small firms getting small business 

contracts in industries with increases to size standards 

(FPDS–NG, FY2018–2020) 1 ........................................... 2,866 141 447 501 3,919 

Additional small business firms getting small business status (FPDS–NG, FY2018–2020) 1 ..................................... 64 1 13 14 90 

% increase to small businesses relative to current unique 

small firms getting small business contracts in industries 

with increases to size standards (FPDS–NG, FY2018– 

2020) ................................................................................ 2.2% 0.7% 2.9% 2.8% 2.3% 

Total small business contract dollars under current standards in industries with increases to size standards ($ 

million) (FPDS–NG, FY2018–2020) ................................. $475.8 $4.7 $75.0 $113.4 $668.9 

Estimated small business dollars available to newly qualified small firms (Using avg dollars obligated to SBs) ($ 

million) FPDS–NG, FY 2018–2020) 2 ............................... $6.5 $0.0 $3.3 $3.0 $12.8 

% increase to small business dollars relative to total small 

business contract dollars under current standards in industries with increases to size standards ........................ 1.4% 0.4% 4.5% 2.6% 1.9% 

Total no. of 7(a) and 504 loans to small business in industries with increases to size standards (FY2018–2020) .... 512 5 35 84 636 

Total amount of 7(a) and 504 loans to small businesses in 

industries with increases to size standards ($ million) 

(FY2018–2020) ................................................................. $317.9 $2.0 $11.3 $33.7 $364.9 

Estimated no. of 7(a) and 504 loans to newly qualified 

small firms ........................................................................ 12 1 1 1 15 

Estimated 7(a) and 504 loan amount to newly qualified 

small firms ($ million) ....................................................... $7.5 $0.4 $0.3 $0.4 $8.6 

% increase to 7(a) and 504 loan amount relative to the 

total amount of 7(a) and 504 loans in industries with increases to size standards ................................................ 2.3% 20.0% 2.9% 1.2% 2.3% 

Total no. of EIDL loans to small businesses in industries 

with increases to size standards (FY2018–2020) 3 ......... 45 0 1 4 50 

Total amount of EIDL loans to small businesses in industries with increases to size standards ($ million) 

(FY2018–2020) 3 .............................................................. $1.5 $0.0 $0.1 $0.2 $1.8 

Estimated no. of EIDL loans to newly qualified small 

firms 3 ................................................................................ 1 0 1 1 3 

Estimated EIDL loan amount to newly qualified small firms 

($ million) 3 ........................................................................ $0.01 $0 $0.1 $0.01 $0.1 

% increase to EIDL loan amount relative to the total 

amount of EIDL loan amount in industries with increases to size standards 3 .............................................. 2.2% 0.0% 100.0% 25.0% 8.1% 

1Total impact represents total unique number of firms impacted to avoid double counting as some firms are participating in more than one industry. 2Additional dollars are calculated multiplying average small business dollars obligated per DUNS times change in number of firms. Numbers of 

firms are calculated using the SBA current size standard, not the contracting officer’s size designation. 


jspears on DSK121TN23PROD with RULES1
18618 Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 62 / Thursday, March 31, 2022 / Rules and Regulations 

3Excludes COVID–19 related EIDL loans due to their temporary nature. Effective January 1, 2022, SBA stopped accepting applications for 

new COVID EIDL loans or advances. 

Newly qualified small businesses will 

also benefit from the SBA’s EIDL 

program. Because the benefit provided 

through this program is contingent on 

the occurrence and severity of a disaster 

in the future, SBA cannot make a 

meaningful estimate of this impact. 

However, based on the historical trends 

of the EIDL loan data, SBA estimates 

that, on an annual basis, the newly 

defined small businesses under the 

increases of 68 size standards could 

receive three EIDL loans, totaling about 

$0.1 million. Additionally, the newly 

defined small businesses would also 

benefit through reduced fees, less 

paperwork, and fewer compliance 

requirements that are available to small 

businesses through the Federal 

Government, but SBA has no data to 

quantify this impact. 

Costs of Increasing Size Standards 

Besides having to register in sam.gov 

to be able to participate in Federal 

contracting and update the SAM profile 

annually, small businesses incur no 

direct costs to gain or retain their small 

business status because of increases to 

size standards. All businesses willing to 

do business with the Federal 

Government must register in SAM and 

update their SAM profiles annually, 

regardless of their size status. SBA 

believes that a vast majority of 

businesses that are willing to participate 

in Federal contracting are already 

registered in SAM and update their 

SAM profiles annually. This rule does 

not establish the new size standards for 

the very first time; rather it intends to 

modify the existing size standards in 

accordance with a statutory 

requirement, the latest data, and other 

relevant factors. 

To the extent that the newly qualified 

small businesses could become active in 

Federal procurement, the increases to 

size standards may entail some 

additional administrative costs to the 

Federal Government as a result of more 

businesses qualifying as small for 

Federal small business programs. For 

example, there will be more firms 

seeking SBA’s loans, more firms eligible 

for enrollment in the Dynamic Small 

Business Search (DSBS) database or in 

certify.sba.gov, more firms seeking 

certification as 8(a)/BD or HUBZone 

firms or qualifying for small business, 

SDB, WOSB, EDWOSB, and SDVOSB 

status, and more firms applying for 

SBA’s 8(a)/BD mentor-prote ́ge ́ program. 

With an expanded pool of small 

businesses, it is likely that Federal 

agencies would set aside more contracts 

for small businesses under the revised 

size standards. One may surmise that 

this might result in a higher number of 

small business size protests and 

additional processing costs to agencies. 

However, the SBA’s historical data on 

the number of size protests processed 

shows that the number of size protests 

decreased following the increases to 

receipts-based size standards as part of 

the first five-year review of size 

standards. Specifically, on an annual 

basis, the number of size protests fell 

from about 600 during fiscal years 

2011–2013 (review of most receiptsbased size standards was completed by 

the end of fiscal year 2013), as 

compared to about 500 during fiscal 

years 2018–2020 when the increases to 

size standards were in effect. That 

represents a 17% decline. 

Among those newly-defined small 

businesses seeking SBA’s loans, there 

could be some additional costs 

associated with verification of their 

small business status. However, small 

business lenders have an option of using 

the tangible net worth and net incomebased alternative size standard instead 

of using the industry-based size 

standards to establish eligibility for 

SBA’s loans. For these reasons, SBA 

believes that these added administrative 

costs will be minor because necessary 

mechanisms are already in place to 

handle these added requirements. 

Additionally, some Federal contracts 

may possibly have higher costs. With a 

greater number of businesses defined as 

small due to the revised size standards, 

Federal agencies may choose to set aside 

more contracts for competition among 

small businesses only instead of using a 

full and open competition. The 

movement of contracts from 

unrestricted competition to small 

business set-aside contracts might result 

in competition among fewer total 

bidders, although there will be more 

small businesses eligible to submit 

offers under the revised size standards. 

However, the additional costs associated 

with fewer bidders are expected to be 

minor because, by law, procurements 

may be set aside for small businesses 

under the 8(a)/BD, SDB, HUBZone, 

WOSB, EDWOSB, or SDVOSB programs 

only if awards are expected to be made 

at fair and reasonable prices. 

Costs may also be higher when full 

and open contracts are awarded to 

HUBZone businesses that receive price 

evaluation preferences. However, with 

agencies likely setting aside more 

contracts for small businesses in 

response to the availability of a larger 

pool of small businesses under the 

revised size standards, HUBZone firms 

might actually end up getting fewer full 

and open contracts, thereby resulting in 

some cost savings to agencies. However, 

such cost savings are likely to be 

minimal as only a small fraction of 

unrestricted contracts are awarded to 

HUBZone businesses. 

Transfer Impacts of Increasing Size 

Standards 

The increases to 68 size standards that 

are adopted in this final rule may result 

in some redistribution of Federal 

contracts between the newly-qualified 

small businesses and large businesses 

and between the newly-qualified small 

businesses and small businesses under 

the current standards. However, it 

would have no impact on the overall 

economic activity because total Federal 

contract dollars available for businesses 

to compete for will not change with 

changes to size standards. Although 

SBA cannot quantify with certainty the 

actual outcome of the gains and losses 

from the redistribution contracts among 

different groups of businesses, it can 

identify several probable impacts in 

qualitative terms. With the availability 

of a larger pool of small businesses 

under the revised size standards, some 

unrestricted Federal contracts which 

would otherwise be awarded to large 

businesses may be set aside for small 

businesses. As a result, large businesses 

may lose some Federal contracting 

opportunities. Similarly, some small 

businesses under the current size 

standards may obtain fewer set-aside 

contracts due to the increased 

competition from more advanced 

businesses qualifying as small under the 

revised size standards. This impact may 

be offset by a greater number of 

procurements being set aside for all 

small businesses. With larger businesses 

qualifying as small under the higher size 

standards, smaller small businesses 

could face some disadvantage in 

competing for set-aside contracts against 

their larger counterparts. However, SBA 

cannot quantify these impacts. 

3. What alternatives have been 

considered? 

Under OMB Circular A–4, SBA is 

required to consider regulatory 

alternatives to the changes in this rule. 

In this section, SBA describes and 

analyzes two such alternatives to the 

changes in this rule. Alternative Option 

One to the changes in this rule, a more 


jspears on DSK121TN23PROD with RULES1
Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 62 / Thursday, March 31, 2022 / Rules and Regulations 18619 

stringent alternative, would adopt size 

standards based solely on the analytical 

results. In other words, the size 

standards of 68 industries or 

subindustries (‘‘exceptions’’) for which 

the analytical results, as presented in 

Table 4 of the October 2020 proposed 

rule, suggest raising them would be 

raised. However, the size standards of 

35 industries for which the analytical 

results suggest lowering them would be 

lowered. Alternative Option Two would 

retain all size standards for all 

industries, given the uncertainty 

generated by the ongoing COVID–19 

pandemic. Below, SBA discusses and 

presents the net impacts of each option. 

Alternative Option One: Adopting All 

Calculated Size Standards 

As discussed elsewhere in this rule, 

Alternative Option One would cause a 

substantial number of currently small 

businesses to lose their small business 

status and hence to lose their access to 

Federal small business assistance, 

especially small business set-aside 

contracts and SBA’s financial assistance 

in some cases. These consequences 

could be mitigated. For example, in 

response to the 2008 Financial Crisis 

and economic conditions that followed, 

SBA adopted a general policy in the first 

five-year comprehensive size standards 

review to not lower any size standard 

(except to exclude one or more 

dominant firms) even when the 

analytical results suggested the size 

standard should be lowered. Currently, 

because of the economic challenges 

presented by the COVID–19 pandemic 

and the measures taken to protect public 

health, SBA has decided to adopt the 

same general policy of not lowering size 

standards in the ongoing second fiveyear comprehensive size standards 

review as well. 

The primary benefits of adopting 

Alternative Option One would include: 

(1) SBA’s procurement, management, 

technical and financial assistance 

resources would be targeted to the most 

appropriate beneficiaries of such 

programs according to the analytical 

results; (2) Adopting size standards 

based on the analytical results would 

also promote consistency and 

predictability in SBA’s implementation 

of its authority to set or adjust size 

standards; and (3) Firms who would 

remain small would face less 

competition from larger small firms for 

the remaining set-aside opportunities. 

Specifically, SBA sought public 

comment on the impact of adopting the 

size standards based on the analytical 

results. 

As explained in the ‘‘Size Standards 

Methodology’’ white paper, in addition 

to adopting all results of the primary 

analysis, SBA evaluates other relevant 

factors, as needed, such as the impact of 

the reductions or increases of size 

standards on the distribution of 

contracts awarded to small businesses, 

and may adopt different results with the 

intention of mitigating potential 

negative impacts. 

We discussed already the benefits, 

costs, and transfer impacts of increasing 

68 size standards. Below we discuss the 

benefits, costs, and transfer impacts of 

decreasing 35 size standards based on 

the analytical results. 

Benefits of Decreasing Size Standards 

Under Alternative Option One 

The most significant benefit to 

businesses from decreases to size 

standards when the SBA’s analysis 

suggests such decreases is to ensure that 

size standards are more reflective of 

latest industry structure and Federal 

market trends and that Federal small 

business assistance is more effectively 

targeted to its intended beneficiaries. 

These include SBA’s business loan 

programs, EIDL program, and Federal 

procurement programs intended for 

small businesses. Federal procurement 

programs provide targeted, set-aside 

opportunities for small businesses 

under SBA’s business development 

programs, such as small business, 8(a)/ 

BD, SDB, HUBZone, WOSB, EDWOSB, 

and SDVOSB Programs. The adoption of 

calculated size standards diminishes the 

risk of awarding contracts to firms 

which are not small anymore. 

Decreasing size standards may reduce 

the administrative costs of the Federal 

Government, because the risks of 

awarding set-aside contracts to other 

than small businesses may diminish 

when the size standards reflect better 

the structure of the market. This may 

also diminish the risks of providing 

SBA’s loans to firms that do not need 

them the most. This may provide a 

better chance for smaller small firms to 

grow and benefit from the opportunities 

available on the Federal marketplace, 

and strengthen the small business 

industrial base for the Federal 

Government. 

Costs of Decreasing Size Standards 

Under Alternative Option One 

Table 7, Impacts of Decreasing Size 

Standards Under Alternative Option 

One, below, shows the various impacts 

of lowering size standards in 35 

industries based solely on the analytical 

results. Based on the 2012 Economic 

Census, about 5,500 (0.9%) firms would 

lose their small business status under 

this option. Similarly, based on the 

FPDS–NG data for fiscal years 2018– 

2020, nearly 500 (5.0%) small 

businesses participating in Federal 

contracting would lose their small status 

and become ineligible to compete for 

set-aside contracts. 

With fewer businesses qualifying as 

small under the decreases to size 

standards, Federal agencies will have a 

smaller pool of small businesses from 

which to draw for their small business 

programs. For example, during fiscal 

years 2018–2020, agencies awarded, on 

an annual basis, about $17 billion in 

small business contracts in those 35 

industries for which SBA considered 

decreasing size standards. Lowering size 

standards in those industries could 

reduce Federal contract dollars awarded 

to small businesses by about $1 billion 

or 6% relative to the baseline level, of 

which 99% was accounted for by the 

industries in the construction sector 

(NAICS 23). 

TABLE 7—IMPACTS OF DECREASING SIZE STANDARDS UNDER ALTERNATIVE OPTION ONE

Sector 11 Sector 21 Sector 22 Sector 23 Total 

No. of industries for which SBA considered decreasing 

size standards (2012 Economic Census) ........................ 4 1 0 30 35 

Total current small businesses in industries for which SBA 

considered decreasing size standards (2012 Economic 

Census) ............................................................................ 30,250 7,292 0 573,017 610,559 

Estimated no. of firms losing small status for which SBA 

considered decreasing size standards (2012 Economic 

Census) ............................................................................ 17 16 0 5,479 5,512 


jspears on DSK121TN23PROD with RULES1
18620 Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 62 / Thursday, March 31, 2022 / Rules and Regulations 

TABLE 7—IMPACTS OF DECREASING SIZE STANDARDS UNDER ALTERNATIVE OPTION ONE—Continued 

Sector 11 Sector 21 Sector 22 Sector 23 Total 

% of Firms losing small status relative to current small 

businesses in industries for which SBA considered decreasing size standards (2012 Economic Census) ......... 0.1% 0.2% 0.0% 1.0% 0.9% 

No. of current unique small firms getting small business 

contracts in industries for which SBA considered decreasing size standards (FPDS–NG, FY2018–2020) 1 .... 20 48 0 9,787 9,842 

Estimated number of small business firms that would have 

lost small business status in the decreases that SBA 

considered (FPDS–NG, FY2018–2020) 1 ........................ 0 0 0 491 491 

% decrease to small business firms relative to current 

unique small firms getting small business contracts in 

industries for which SBA considered decreasing size 

standards (FPDS–NG, FY2018–2020) ............................ 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 5.0% 5.0% 

Total small business contract dollars under current size 

standards in industries for which SBA considered decreasing size standards ($ million) (FPDS–NG FY2018– 

2020) ................................................................................ $2.4 $20.2 $0.0 $17,006 $17,029 

Estimated small business dollars not available to firms losing small business status (Using avg dollars obligated to 

SBs) ($ million) 1 (FPDS–NG FY 2018–2020) 2 ............... $0.0 $0.0 $0.0 $1,019 $1,019 

% decrease to small business dollars relative to total small 

business contract dollars under current size standards 

in industries for which SBA considered decreasing size 

standards (FPDS–NG FY 2018–2020) ............................ 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 6.0% 6.0% 

Total no. of 7(a) and 504 loans to small businesses in industries for which SBA considered decreasing size 

standards (FY2018–2020) ................................................ 51 65 0 6,495 6,611 

Total amount of 7(a) and 504 loans to small businesses in 

industries for which SBA considered decreasing size 

standards ($ million) (FY2018–2020) ............................... $32.0 $40.8 $0.0 $1,910 $1,982 

Estimated no. of 7(a) and 504 loans not available to firms 

that would have lost small business status ..................... 1 0 0 4 5 

Estimated 7(a) and 504 loan amount not available to firms 

that would have lost small status ($ million) .................... $0.6 $0.0 $0.0 $1.2 $1.8 

% decrease to 7(a) and 504 loan amount relative to the 

total amount of 7(a) and 504 loans in industries for 

which SBA considered decreasing size standards .......... 0.2% 0.0% 0.0% 0.1% 0.1% 

Total no. of EIDL loans to small businesses in industries 

for which SBA considered decreasing size standards 

(FY2018–2020) 3 .............................................................. 21 3 0 193 217 

Total amount of EIDL loans to small businesses in industries for which SBA considered decreasing size standards ($ million) (FY2018–2020) 3 ..................................... $0.5 $0.2 $0.0 $9.7 $10.4 

Estimated no. of EIDL loans not available to firms that 

would have lost small business status 3 .......................... 1 1 0 1 3 

Estimated EIDL loan amount not available to firms that 

would have lost small business status ($ million) 3 ......... $0.02 $0.1 $0.0 $0.1 $0.1 

% decrease to EIDL loan amount relative to the total EIDL 

loan amount in industries with decreases to size standards 3 ................................................................................ 4.8% 33.3% 0.0% 0.5% 1.3% 

1Total impact represents total unique number of firms impacted to avoid double counting as some firms are participating in more than one industry. 2Additional dollars are calculated multiplying average small business dollars obligated per DUNS times change in number of firms. Numbers of 

firms are calculated using the SBA current size standard, not the contracting officer’s size designation. 3Excludes COVID–19 related EIDL loans due to their temporary nature. Effective January 1, 2022, SBA stopped accepting applications for 

new COVID EIDL loans or advances. 

Because of the importance of the 

construction sector for Federal 

procurement and the immediate impact 

on businesses that will see their status 

as small changed relatively fast, SBA 

would adopt mitigating measures to 

reduce the negative impact under this 

option. SBA could adopt one or more of 

the following three actions: (1) Accept 

decreases in size standards as suggested 

by the analytical results, (2) Decrease 

size standards by a smaller amount than 

the calculated threshold, and (3) Retain 

the size standards at their current levels. 

Nevertheless, because Federal 

agencies are still required to meet the 

statutory small business contracting goal 

of 23%, actual impacts on the overall 

set-aside activity is likely to be smaller 

as agencies are likely to award more setaside contracts to small businesses that 

continue to remain small under the 

reduced size standards. 

With fewer businesses qualifying as 

small, the decreased competition can 

also result in higher prices to the 

Government for procurements set aside 

or reserved for small businesses, but 

SBA cannot quantify this impact. 

Lowering size standards may cause 

current small business contract or 

option holders to lose their small 

business status, thereby making those 

dollars unavailable to count toward the 

agencies’ small business procurement 


jspears on DSK121TN23PROD with RULES1
Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 62 / Thursday, March 31, 2022 / Rules and Regulations 18621 

goals. Additionally, impacted small 

businesses will be unable to compete for 

upcoming options as small businesses. 

As shown in Table 7, decreases to size 

standards would have a very minor 

impact on small businesses applying for 

SBA’s 7(a) and 504 loans because a vast 

majority of such loans are issued to 

businesses that are far below the 

reduced size standards. For example, 

based on the loan data for fiscal years 

2018–2020, SBA estimates that, under 

Alternative Option One, about 5 7(a) 

and 504 loans with total amounts of 

$1.8 million could not be made to those 

small businesses that would lose 

eligibility under the reduced size 

standards. That represents about 0.1% 

decrease of the loan amounts compared 

to the baseline. However, the actual 

impact could be much less as businesses 

losing small business eligibility under 

the decreases to industry based size 

standards could still qualify for SBA’s 

loans under the tangible net worth and 

net income based alternative size 

standard. 

Businesses losing small business 

status would also be impacted by way 

of access to loans through SBA’s EIDL 

loan program. However, SBA expects 

such impact to be minimal. For 

example, based on the disaster loan data 

for fiscal years 2018–2020, SBA 

estimates that, under Alternative Option 

One, about 3 EIDL loans with total 

amounts of $0.1 million could not be 

made to those small businesses that 

would lose eligibility under the reduced 

size standards (before mitigation). That 

represents about 1.3% decrease of the 

loan amounts compared to the baseline. 

Because this program is contingent on 

the occurrence and severity of a disaster 

in the future, SBA cannot make a more 

meaningful estimate of the immediate 

impact. 

Small businesses becoming other than 

small if size standards were decreased 

might lose benefits through reduced 

fees, less paperwork, and fewer 

compliance requirements that are 

available to small businesses through 

the Federal Government programs, but 

SBA has no data to quantify this impact. 

However, if agencies determine that 

SBA’s size standards do not adequately 

serve such purposes, they can establish 

a different size standard with an 

approval from SBA if they are required 

to use SBA’s size standards for their 

programs. 

Transfer Impacts of Decreasing Size 

Standards Under Alternative Option 

One 

If the size standards were decreased 

under Alternative Option One, it may 

result in a redistribution of Federal 

contracts between small businesses 

losing their small business status and 

large businesses and between small 

businesses losing their small business 

status and small businesses remaining 

small under the reduced size standards. 

However, as under the increases to size 

standards, it would have no impact on 

the overall economic activity because 

total Federal contract dollars available 

for businesses to compete for will stay 

the same. Although SBA cannot 

estimate with certainty the actual 

outcome of the gains and losses among 

different groups of businesses from 

contract redistribution resulting from 

decreases to size standards, it can 

identify several probable impacts. 

With a smaller pool of small 

businesses under the decreases to size 

standards, some set-aside Federal 

contracts to be otherwise awarded to 

small businesses may be competed on 

an unrestricted basis. As a result, large 

firms may have more Federal 

contracting opportunities. However, 

because agencies are still required by 

law to award 23% of Federal dollars to 

small businesses, SBA expects the 

movement of set-aside contracts to 

unrestricted competition to be limited. 

For the same reason, small businesses 

under the reduced size standards are 

likely to obtain more set-aside contracts 

due to the reduced competition from 

fewer firms qualifying as small under 

the decreases to size standards. With 

some larger small businesses losing 

small business status under the 

decreases to size standards, smaller 

small businesses would likely become 

more competitive in obtaining set-aside 

contracts. However, SBA cannot 

quantify such impacts. 

Net Impact of Alternative Option One 

To estimate the net impacts of 

Alternative Option One, SBA used the 

same methodology used to evaluate the 

impacts of increasing size standards 

(Table 6). However, under Alternative 

Option One, SBA used the calculated 

size standards instead of the revised size 

standards to determine the impacts of 

changes to current thresholds. The 

impact of the increases of size standards 

were already shown in Table 6. Table 7 

and Table 8, Net Impacts of Size 

Standards Changes under Alternative 

Option One, below, present the impacts 

of the decreases of size standards and 

the net impact of adopting the 

calculated results under Alternative 

Option One, respectively. 

Based on the 2012 Economic Census, 

SBA estimates that in 103 industries in 

NAICS Sectors 11, 21, 22, and 23 for 

which the analytical results suggested to 

change size standards, in aggregate, 

about 43,900 firms (see Table 8), would 

become small under the Alternative 

Option One. That represents about 1.7% 

of all firms classified as small under the 

current size standards. That is about 

5,500 fewer firms qualifying as small 

under Alternative Option One, which 

represents an 11.0% reduction from 

about 49,400 firms that would qualify as 

small (see Table 6) under the proposal 

being adopted in this final rule (i.e., 

increasing 68 and retaining 35 size 

standards). 

TABLE 8—NET IMPACTS OF SIZE STANDARDS CHANGES UNDER ALTERNATIVE OPTION ONE

Sector 11 Sector 21 Sector 22 Sector 23 Total 

No. of industries with changes to size standards ................ 64 4 3 32 103 

Total no. of small business under the current size standards (2012 Economic Census) ......................................... 2,046,316 7,828 3,586 578,430 2,636,160 

Additional firms qualifying as small under revised size 

standards (2012 Economic Census) ................................ 49,335 5 9 ¥5,445 43,902 

% of additional firms qualifying as small relative to total 

current small businesses .................................................. 2.4% 0.1% 0.2% ¥0.9% 1.7% 

No. of current unique small firms getting small business 

contracts (FPDS–NG, FY2018–2020) 1 ........................... 2,883 188 447 10,063 13,231 

Additional small firms getting small business status 

(FPDS–NG, FY2018–2020) 1 ........................................... 63 1 13 ¥479 ¥407 

% increase to small firms relative to current unique small 

firms getting small business contracts (FPDS–NG, 

FY2018–2020) .................................................................. 2.2% 0.5% 2.9% ¥4.8% ¥3.1% 


jspears on DSK121TN23PROD with RULES1
18622 Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 62 / Thursday, March 31, 2022 / Rules and Regulations 

TABLE 8—NET IMPACTS OF SIZE STANDARDS CHANGES UNDER ALTERNATIVE OPTION ONE—Continued 

Sector 11 Sector 21 Sector 22 Sector 23 Total 

Total small business contract dollars under current size 

standards ($ million) (FPDS–NG, FY 2018–2020) .......... $478 $25 $75 $17,119 $17,698 

Estimated small business dollars available to newly qualified small firms ($ million) (FPDS–NG, FY 2018–2020) 2 $6.5 $0.0 $3.3 ¥$1,016 ¥$1,006 

% increase to dollars relative to total small business contract dollars under current size standards ....................... 1.4% 0.1% 4.5% ¥5.9% ¥5.7% 

Total no. of 7(a) and 504 loans to small businesses 

(FY2018–2020) ................................................................. 563 70 35 6,579 7,247 

Total amount of 7(a) and 504 loans to small businesses 

(FY2018–2020) ................................................................. $350 $42 $11 $1,944 $2,347 

Estimated no. of additional 7(a) and 504 loans to newly 

qualified small firms .......................................................... 11 1 1 ¥3 10 

Estimated additional 7(a) and 504 loan amount to newly 

qualified small firms ($ million) ......................................... $6.8 $0.4 $0.3 ¥$0.8 $6.8 

% increase to 7(a) and 504 loan amount relative to the 

total amount of 7(a) and 504 loans to small businesses 2.2% 20.0% 2.9% 1.1% 2.3% 

Total no. of EIDL loans to small businesses (FY2018– 

2020) 3 .............................................................................. 48 2 1 123 174 

Total amount of EIDL loans to small businesses ($ million) 

(FY2018–2020) 3 .............................................................. $1.2 $0.1 $0.1 $6.6 $8.0 

Estimated no. of additional EIDL loans to newly qualified 

small firms 3 ...................................................................... 0 ¥1 1 0 0 

Estimated additional EIDL loan amount to newly qualified 

small firms ($ million) 3 ..................................................... $0.01 ¥$0.06 $0.07 ¥$0.01 $0.01 

% increase to EIDL loan amount relative to the total 

amount of EIDL loans to small businesses in industries 

with changes in size standards 3 ...................................... 0.8% ¥79.8% 100.0% ¥0.1% 0.1% 

1Total impact represents total unique number of firms impacted to avoid double counting as some firms are participating in more than one industry. 2Additional dollars are calculated multiplying average small business dollars obligated per DUNS times change in number of firms. Numbers of 

firms are calculated using the SBA current size standard, not the contracting officer’s size designation. 3Excludes COVID–19 related EIDL loans due to their temporary nature. Effective January 1, 2022, SBA stopped accepting applications for 

new COVID EIDL loans or advances. 

Based on the FPDS–NG data for fiscal 

years 2018–2020, SBA estimates that 

about 400 active firms in Federal 

contracting in those industries would 

lose small business status under 

Alternative Option One, most of them 

from the construction sector. This 

represents a decrease of about 3.1% of 

the total number of small businesses 

participating in Federal contracting 

under the current size standards. Based 

on the same data, SBA estimates that 

about $1.0 billion of Federal 

procurement dollars would not be 

available to firms losing their small 

status. This represents a decrease of 

5.7% from the baseline. Again, a large 

amount of the loses are accounted for by 

the construction sector. 

Based on the SBA’s loan data for 

fiscal years 2018–2020, the total number 

of 7(a) and 504 loans may increase by 

about 10 loans, and the loan amounts by 

about $6.8 million (see Table 8). This 

represents a 2.3% increase to the loan 

amount relative to the baseline. 

Firms’ participation under the SBA’s 

EIDL loan program will be affected as 

well. Because the benefit provided 

through this program is contingent on 

the occurrence and severity of a disaster 

in the future, SBA cannot make a 

meaningful estimate of this impact. 

However, based on the historical trends 

of the EIDL loan data, SBA estimates 

that there will be no change to the total 

number of EIDL loans, while the total 

loan amount will increase by about $.01 

million. This represents a 0.1% increase 

of the loan amounts relative to the 

baseline. Table 8 provides these results 

by NAICS sector. 

Alternative Option Two: Retaining All 

Current Size Standards 

Under this option, given the current 

COVID–19 pandemic, as discussed 

elsewhere, SBA considered retaining the 

current levels of all size standards even 

though the analytical results suggested 

changing them. Under this option, as 

the current situation develops, SBA will 

be able to assess new data available on 

economic indicators, Federal 

procurement, and SBA loans as well. 

When compared to the baseline, there is 

a net impact of zero (i.e., zero benefit 

and zero cost) for retaining all size 

standards. However, this option would 

cause otherwise qualified small 

businesses to forgo various small 

business benefits (e.g., access to setaside contracts and capital) that become 

available to them under the option of 

increasing 68 and retaining 35 size 

standards adopted in this final rule. 

Moreover, retaining all size standards 

under Alternative Option Two would 

also be contrary to the SBA’s statutory 

mandate to review and adjust, every five 

years, all size standards to reflect 

current industry and Federal market 

conditions. Retaining all size standards 

without required periodic adjustments 

would increasingly exclude otherwise 

eligible small businesses from small 

business benefits. 

Congressional Review Act 

Subtitle E of the Small Business 

Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act of 

1996 (codified at 5 U.S.C. 801–808), also 

known as the Congressional Review Act 

or CRA, generally provides that before a 

rule may take effect, the agency 

promulgating the rule must submit a 

rule report, which includes a copy of 

the rule, to each House of the Congress 

and to the Comptroller General of the 

United States. SBA will submit a report 

containing this rule and other required 

information to the U.S. Senate, the U.S. 

House of Representatives, and the 

Comptroller General of the United 

States. A major rule under the CRA 

cannot take effect until 60 days after it 

is published in the Federal Register. 

OMB’s Office of Information and 

Regulatory Affairs has determined that 


jspears on DSK121TN23PROD with RULES1
Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 62 / Thursday, March 31, 2022 / Rules and Regulations 18623 

this rule is not a ‘‘major rule’’ as defined 

by 5 U.S.C. 804(2). 

Final Regulatory Flexibility Analysis 

According to the Regulatory 

Flexibility Act (RFA), 5 U.S.C. 601–612, 

when an agency issues a rulemaking, it 

must prepare a regulatory flexibility 

analysis to address the impact of the 

rule on small entities. 

This final rule may have a significant 

impact on a substantial number of small 

businesses in the industries covered by 

this rule. As described above, this rule 

may affect small businesses seeking 

Federal contracts, loans under SBA’s 

7(a), 504 and disaster loan programs, 

and assistance under other Federal 

small business programs. 

Immediately below, SBA sets forth a 

final regulatory flexibility analysis 

(FRFA) of this rule addressing the 

following questions: (1) What is the 

need for and objective of the rule? (2) 

What are SBA’s description and 

estimate of the number of small 

businesses to which the rule will apply? 

(3) What are the projected reporting, 

record keeping, and other compliance 

requirements of the rule? (4) What are 

the relevant Federal rules that may 

duplicate, overlap, or conflict with the 

rule? (5) What alternatives will allow 

SBA to accomplish its regulatory 

objectives while minimizing the impact 

on small businesses? 

1. What is the need for and objective 

of the rule? 

Changes in industry structure, 

technological changes, productivity 

growth, mergers and acquisitions, and 

updated industry definitions have 

changed the structure of many 

industries covered by this rule. Such 

changes can be enough to support 

revisions to current size standards for 

some industries. Based on the analysis 

of the latest data available, SBA believes 

that the revised standards in this rule 

more appropriately reflect the size of 

businesses that need Federal assistance. 

The 2010 Jobs Act also requires SBA to 

review all size standards and make 

necessary adjustments to reflect market 

conditions. 

2. What are SBA’s description and 

estimate of the number of small 

businesses to which the rule will apply? 

Based on data from the 2012 

Economic Census, SBA estimates that 

there are about 2.02 million small firms 

covered by this rulemaking under 

industries with revised size standards. 

SBA estimates that an additional 49,415 

businesses will become small under this 

rulemaking. 

3. What are the projected reporting, 

record keeping and other compliance 

requirements of the rule? 

The revised size standards impose no 

additional reporting or record keeping 

requirements on small businesses. 

However, qualifying for Federal 

procurement and a number of other 

programs requires that businesses 

register in SAM and self-certify that 

they are small at least once annually 

(FAR 52.204–13). For existing contracts, 

small business contractors are required 

to update their SAM registration as 

necessary, to ensure that they reflect the 

Contractor’s current status (FAR 52.219– 

28). Businesses are also required to 

verify that their SAM registration is 

current, accurate, and complete with the 

submission of an offer for every new 

contract (FAR 52.204–7 and 52.204–8). 

Therefore, businesses opting to 

participate in those programs must 

comply with SAM requirements. There 

are no costs associated with SAM 

registration or certification. Changing 

size standards alters the access to SBA’s 

programs that assist small businesses 

but does not impose a regulatory burden 

because they neither regulate nor 

control business behavior. 

4. What are the relevant Federal rules, 

which may duplicate, overlap, or 

conflict with the rule? 

Under section 3(a)(2)(C) of the Small 

Business Act, 15 U.S.C. 632(a)(2)(c), 

Federal agencies must use SBA’s size 

standards to define a small business, 

unless specifically authorized by statute 

to do otherwise. In 1995, SBA published 

in the Federal Register a list of statutory 

and regulatory size standards that 

identified the application of SBA’s size 

standards as well as other size standards 

used by Federal agencies (60 FR 57988 

(November 24, 1995)). SBA is not aware 

of any Federal rule that would duplicate 

or conflict with establishing size 

standards. 

However, the Small Business Act and 

SBA’s regulations allow Federal 

agencies to develop different size 

standards if they believe that SBA’s size 

standards are not appropriate for their 

programs, with the approval of SBA’s 

Administrator (13 CFR 121.903). The 

Regulatory Flexibility Act authorizes an 

agency to establish an alternative small 

business definition, after consultation 

with the Office of Advocacy of the U.S. 

Small Business Administration (5 U.S.C. 

601(3)). 

5. What alternatives will allow SBA to 

accomplish its regulatory objectives 

while minimizing the impact on small 

entities? 

By law, SBA is required to develop 

numerical size standards for 

establishing eligibility for Federal small 

business assistance programs. Other 

than varying size standards by industry 

and changing the size measures, no 

practical alternative exists to the 

systems of numerical size standards. 

However, SBA considered two 

alternatives to increasing 68 and 

maintaining 35 size standards at their 

current levels. The first alternative SBA 

considered was adopting size standards 

based solely on the analytical results. In 

other words, the size standards of 68 

industries for which the analytical 

results suggest raising size standards 

would be raised. However, the size 

standards of 35 industries for which the 

analytical results suggest lowering them 

would be lowered. This would cause a 

significant number of small businesses 

to lose their small business status, 

especially in the construction sector. 

Under the second alternative, in view of 

the COVID–19 pandemic, SBA 

considered retaining all size standards 

at the current levels, even though the 

analytical results may suggest increasing 

68 and decreasing 35 size standards. 

Retaining all size standards at their 

current levels would be more onerous 

for the small businesses than the option 

of increasing 68 and retaining 35 size 

standards. Additionally, for the first 

time, SBA evaluated 46 agricultural 

industries and, based on analytical 

results presented in Table 4 of the 

October 2020 proposed rule, proposed 

to increase the size standards for all of 

them. Postponing the adoption of the 

higher calculated size standards would 

be detrimental for otherwise small 

businesses within those industries in 

terms of access to various small 

business benefits, including access to 

set-aside contracts and capital through 

SBA contracting and financial programs, 

and exemptions from paperwork and 

other compliance requirements. 

Executive Order 13563 

Executive Order 13563 emphasizes 

the importance of quantifying both costs 

and benefits, reducing costs, 

harmonizing rules, and promoting 

flexibility. A description of the need for 

this regulatory action and benefits and 

costs associated with this action 

including possible distributional 

impacts that relate to Executive Order 

13563 is included above in the 

Regulatory Impact Analysis under 

Executive Order 12866. Additionally, 

Executive Order 13563, section 6, calls 

for retrospective analyses of existing 

rules. 

The review of size standards in the 

industries covered by this rule is 

consistent with section 6 of Executive 

Order 13563 and the 2010 Jobs Act 

which requires SBA to review all size 

standards and make necessary 

adjustments to reflect market 

conditions. Specifically, the 2010 Jobs 


jspears on DSK121TN23PROD with RULES1
18624 Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 62 / Thursday, March 31, 2022 / Rules and Regulations 

Act requires SBA to review at least onethird of all size standards during every 

18-month period from the date of its 

enactment (September 27, 2010) and to 

review all size standards not less 

frequently than once every five years, 

thereafter. SBA had already launched a 

comprehensive review of size standards 

in 2007. In accordance with the Jobs 

Act, SBA completed the comprehensive 

review of the small business size 

standard for each industry, except those 

for agricultural enterprises previously 

set by Congress, and made appropriate 

adjustments to size standards for a 

number of industries to reflect current 

Federal and industry market conditions. 

The first comprehensive review was 

completed in early 2016. Prior to 2007, 

the last time SBA conducted a 

comprehensive review of all size 

standards was during the late 1970s and 

early 1980s. 

SBA issued a white paper entitled 

‘‘Size Standards Methodology’’ and 

published a notice in the April 11, 2019, 

edition of the Federal Register (84 FR 

14587) to advise the public that the 

document is available for public review 

and comments. The ‘‘Size Standards 

Methodology’’ white paper explains 

how SBA establishes, reviews, and 

modifies its receipts-based and 

employee-based small business size 

standards. SBA considered all input, 

suggestions, recommendations, and 

relevant information obtained from 

industry groups, individual businesses, 

and Federal agencies in developing size 

standards for those industries covered 

by this rule. 

Executive Order 12988 

This action meets applicable 

standards set forth in sections 3(a) and 

3(b)(2) of Executive Order 12988, Civil 

Justice Reform, to minimize litigation, 

eliminate ambiguity, and reduce 

burden. The action does not have 

retroactive or preemptive effect. 

Executive Order 13132 

For purposes of Executive Order 

13132, SBA has determined that this 

rule will not have substantial, direct 

effects on the States, on the relationship 

between the national Government and 

the States, or on the distribution of 

power and responsibilities among the 

various levels of Government. 

Therefore, SBA has determined that this 

rule has no federalism implications 

warranting preparation of a federalism 

assessment. 

Paperwork Reduction Act 

For the purpose of the Paperwork 

Reduction Act, 44 U.S.C. Ch. 35, SBA 

has determined that this rule will not 

impose any new reporting or record 

keeping requirements. 

List of Subjects in 13 CFR Part 121 

Administrative practice and 

procedure, Government procurement, 

Government property, Grant programs— 

business, Individuals with disabilities, 

Loan programs—business, Reporting 

and recordkeeping requirements, Small 

businesses. 

For the reasons set forth in the 

preamble, SBA amends 13 CFR part 121 

as follows: 

PART 121—SMALL BUSINESS SIZE 

REGULATIONS 

■ 1. The authority citation for part 121 

continues to read as follows: 

Authority: 15 U.S.C. 632, 634(b)(6), 

636(a)(36), 662, and 694a(9); Pub. L. 116–136, 

Section 1114. 

■ 2. Section 121.201 is amended in the 

table ‘‘Small Business Size Standards by 

NAICS Industry’’ as follows: 

■ a. Revise subsector 111; 

■ b. In subsector 112, revise the entries 

for ‘‘112111’’, ‘‘112112’’, ‘‘112120’’, 

‘‘112210’’, ‘‘112320’’ through ‘‘112340’’, 

‘‘112390’’, ‘‘112410’’, ‘‘112420’’, 

‘‘112511’’, ‘‘112512’’, ‘‘112519’’, 

‘‘112910’’ through ‘‘112930’’, and 

‘‘112990’’; 

■ c. In subsector 113, revise the entries 

for ‘‘113110’’ and ‘‘113210’’; 

■ d. In subsector 114, revise the entries 

for ‘‘114112’’, ‘‘114119’’, and ‘‘114210’’; 

■ e. In subsector 115, revise the entries 

for ‘‘115111’’ through ‘‘115113’’, 

‘‘115116’’, ‘‘115210’’ ‘‘115310’’, ‘‘115310 

(Exception 1)’’, and ‘‘115310 (Exception 

2)’’; 

■ f. In subsector 213, revise the entries 

for ‘‘213113’’ through ‘‘213115’’;, 

■ g. In subsector 221, revise the entries 

for ‘‘221310’’ through ‘‘221330’’; 

■ h. In subsector 237, revise the entries 

for ‘‘237990’’ and ‘‘237990 (Exception)’’; 

■ i. In subsector 238, revise the entry for 

‘‘238290’’; 

■ j. In subsector 511, revise the entry for 

‘‘511210’’; 

■ k. Revise the entry for ‘‘Sector 92’’ at 

the end of the table; 

■ l. Redesignate footnote 17 as footnote 

1 and revise it; 

■ m. Revise footnote 2; 

■ n. Redesignate footnote 20 as footnote 

15; and 

■ o. Redesignate footnote 19 as footnote 

17. 

The revisions read as follows: 

§ 121.201 What size standards has SBA 

identified by North American Industry 

Classification System codes? 

* * * * * 

SMALL BUSINESS SIZE STANDARDS BY NAICS INDUSTRY

NAICS codes NAICS U.S. industry title 

Size standards 

in millions of 

dollars 

Size standards 

in number of 

employees 

Sector 11—Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing and Hunting Subsector 111—Crop Production 

111110 ...................... Soybean Farming ............................................................................................................. $2.0 ........................

111120 ...................... Oilseed (except Soybean) Farming .................................................................................. 2.0 ........................

111130 ...................... Dry Pea and Bean Farming ............................................................................................. 2.5 ........................

111140 ...................... Wheat Farming ................................................................................................................. 2.0 ........................

111150 ...................... Corn Farming .................................................................................................................... 2.25 ........................

111160 ...................... Rice Farming .................................................................................................................... 2.25 ........................

111191 ...................... Oilseed and Grain Combination Farming ......................................................................... 2.0 ........................

111199 ...................... All Other Grain Farming ................................................................................................... 2.0 ........................

111211 ...................... Potato Farming ................................................................................................................. 3.75 ........................

111219 ...................... Other Vegetable (except Potato) and Melon Farming ..................................................... 3.25 ........................

111310 ...................... Orange Groves ................................................................................................................. 3.5 ........................

111320 ...................... Citrus (except Orange) Groves ........................................................................................ 3.75 ........................

111331 ...................... Apple Orchards ................................................................................................................. 4.0 ........................

111332 ...................... Grape Vineyards ............................................................................................................... 3.5 ........................

111333 ...................... Strawberry Farming .......................................................................................................... 4.75 ........................

111334 ...................... Berry (except Strawberry) Farming .................................................................................. 3.25 ........................


jspears on DSK121TN23PROD with RULES1
Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 62 / Thursday, March 31, 2022 / Rules and Regulations 18625 

SMALL BUSINESS SIZE STANDARDS BY NAICS INDUSTRY—Continued 

NAICS codes NAICS U.S. industry title 

Size standards 

in millions of 

dollars 

Size standards 

in number of 

employees 

111335 ...................... Tree Nut Farming ............................................................................................................. 3.25 ........................

111336 ...................... Fruit and Tree Nut Combination Farming ........................................................................ 4.5 ........................

111339 ...................... Other Noncitrus Fruit Farming .......................................................................................... 3.0 ........................

111411 ...................... Mushroom Production ...................................................................................................... 4.0 ........................

111419 ...................... Other Food Crops Grown Under Cover ........................................................................... 4.0 ........................

111421 ...................... Nursery and Tree Production ........................................................................................... 2.75 ........................

111422 ...................... Floriculture Production ...................................................................................................... 3.25 ........................

111910 ...................... Tobacco Farming .............................................................................................................. 2.25 ........................

111920 ...................... Cotton Farming ................................................................................................................. 2.75 ........................

111930 ...................... Sugarcane Farming .......................................................................................................... 4.5 ........................

111940 ...................... Hay Farming ..................................................................................................................... 2.25 ........................

111991 ...................... Sugar Beet Farming ......................................................................................................... 2.25 ........................

111992 ...................... Peanut Farming ................................................................................................................ 2.25 ........................

111998 ...................... All Other Miscellaneous Crop Farming ............................................................................ 2.25 ........................

Subsector 112—Animal Production and Aquaculture 

112111 ...................... Beef Cattle Ranching and Farming .................................................................................. 2.25 ........................

112112 ...................... Cattle Feedlots ................................................................................................................. 19.5 ........................

112120 ...................... Dairy Cattle and Milk Production ...................................................................................... 3.25 ........................

112210 ...................... Hog and Pig Farming ....................................................................................................... 3.5 ........................

* * * * * * * 

112320 ...................... Broilers and Other Meat Type Chicken Production ......................................................... 3.0 ........................

112330 ...................... Turkey Production ............................................................................................................ 3.25 ........................

112340 ...................... Poultry Hatcheries ............................................................................................................ 3.5 ........................

112390 ...................... Other Poultry Production .................................................................................................. 3.25 ........................

112410 ...................... Sheep Farming ................................................................................................................. 3.0 ........................

112420 ...................... Goat Farming .................................................................................................................... 2.25 ........................

112511 ...................... Finfish Farming and Fish Hatcheries ............................................................................... 3.25 ........................

112512 ...................... Shellfish Farming .............................................................................................................. 3.25 ........................

112519 ...................... Other Aquaculture ............................................................................................................ 3.25 ........................

112910 ...................... Apiculture .......................................................................................................................... 2.75 ........................

112920 ...................... Horses and Other Equine Production .............................................................................. 2.5 ........................

112930 ...................... Fur-Bearing Animal and Rabbit Production ..................................................................... 3.25 ........................

112990 ...................... All Other Animal Production ............................................................................................. 2.5 ........................

Subsector 113—Forestry and Logging 

113110 ...................... Timber Tract Operations .................................................................................................. 16.5 ........................

113210 ...................... Forest Nurseries and Gathering of Forest Products ........................................................ 18.0 ........................

* * * * * * * 

Subsector 114—Fishing, Hunting and Trapping 

*******

114112 ...................... Shellfish Fishing ............................................................................................................... 12.5 ........................

114119 ...................... Other Marine Fishing ........................................................................................................ 10.0 ........................

114210 ...................... Hunting and Trapping ....................................................................................................... 7.5 ........................

Subsector 115—Support Activities for Agriculture and Forestry 

115111 ...................... Cotton Ginning .................................................................................................................. 14.0 ........................

115112 ...................... Soil Preparation, Planting, and Cultivating ....................................................................... 8.5 ........................

115113 ...................... Crop Harvesting, Primarily by Machine ............................................................................ 12.0 ........................

* * * * * * * 

115116 ...................... Farm Management Services ............................................................................................ 13.5 ........................

115210 ...................... Support Activities for Animal Production .......................................................................... 9.5 ........................

115310 ...................... Support Activities for Forestry .......................................................................................... 10.0 ........................

115310 (Exception 1) Forest Fire Suppression 1 ................................................................................................. 1 30.0 ........................

115310 (Exception 2) Fuels Management Services 1 .......................................................................................... 1 30.0 ........................

Sector 21—Mining, Quarrying, and Oil and Gas Extraction 


jspears on DSK121TN23PROD with RULES1
18626 Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 62 / Thursday, March 31, 2022 / Rules and Regulations 

SMALL BUSINESS SIZE STANDARDS BY NAICS INDUSTRY—Continued 

NAICS codes NAICS U.S. industry title 

Size standards 

in millions of 

dollars 

Size standards 

in number of 

employees 

*******

Subsector 213—Support Activities for Mining 

*******

213113 ...................... Support Activities for Coal Mining .................................................................................... 24.0 ........................

213114 ...................... Support Activities for Metal Mining ................................................................................... 36.0 ........................

213115 ...................... Support Activities for Nonmetallic Minerals (except Fuels) Mining .................................. 18.0 ........................

Sector 22—Utilities Subsector 221—Utilities 

*******

221310 ...................... Water Supply and Irrigation Systems ............................................................................... 36.0 ........................

221320 ...................... Sewage Treatment Facilities ............................................................................................ 31.0 ........................

221330 ...................... Steam and Air-Conditioning Supply ................................................................................. 26.5 ........................

Sector 23—Construction 

*******

Subsector 237—Heavy and Civil Engineering Construction 

*******

237990 ...................... Other Heavy and Civil Engineering Construction ............................................................ 39.5 ........................

237990 (Exception) ... Dredging and Surface Cleanup Activities 2 ...................................................................... 2 33.0 ........................

Subsector 238—Specialty Trade Contractors 

*******

238290 ...................... Other Building Equipment Contractors ............................................................................. 19.5 ........................

* * * * * * * 

Subsector 511—Publishing Industries (except Internet) 

*******

511210 ...................... Software Publishers 15 ...................................................................................................... 15 41.5 ........................

* * * * * * * 

Sector 92—Public Administration 17

* * * * * * * 

Footnotes 

1 NAICS code 115310—Support Activities for Forestry: Forest Fire Suppression and Fuels Management Services are two components of Support Activities for Forestry. Forest Fire Suppression includes establishments which provide services to fight forest fires. These firms usually have 

fire-fighting crews and equipment. Fuels Management Services firms provide services to clear land of hazardous materials that would fuel forest 

fires. The treatments used by these firms may include prescribed fire, mechanical removal, establishing fuel breaks, thinning, pruning, and piling. 2 NAICS code 237990—Dredging: To be considered small for purposes of Government procurement, a firm or its similarly situated subcontractors must perform at least 40 percent of the volume dredged with their own equipment or equipment owned by another small dredging concern. 

******* 15 NAICS code 511210—For purposes of Government procurement, the purchase of software subject to potential waiver of the nonmanufacturer rule pursuant to § 121.1203(d) should be classified under this NAICS code. 

******* 17 NAICS Sector 92—Small business size standards are not established for this sector. Establishments in the Public Administration sector are 

Federal, State, and local Government agencies which administer and oversee Government programs and activities that are not performed by private establishments. Concerns performing operational services for the administration of a Government program are classified under the NAICS 

private sector industry based on the activities performed. Similarly, procurements for these types of services are classified under the NAICS private sector industry that best describes the activities to be performed. For example, if a Government agency issues a procurement for law enforcement services, the requirement would be classified using one of the NAICS industry codes under NAICS industry 56161, Investigation, 

Guard, and Armored Car Services. 

* * * * * * * 


jspears on DSK121TN23PROD with RULES1
Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 62 / Thursday, March 31, 2022 / Rules and Regulations 18627 

1On December 21, 2021, the U. S. Office of 

Management and Budget (OMB) published its 

‘‘Notice of NAICS 2022 Final Decisions . . . ’’ (86 

FR 72277), accepting the Economic Classification 

Policy Committee (ECPC) recommendations, as 

outlined in the July 2, 2021, Federal Register notice 

(86 FR 35350), for the 2022 revisions to the North 

American Industry Classification System (NAICS), 

. . . .’’ In the near future, SBA will issue a proposed 

rule to adopt the OMB’s NAICS 2022 revisions for 

its table of size standards. SBA anticipates updating 

its size standards with the NAICS 2022 revisions, 

effective October 1, 2022. 

Isabella Casillas Guzman, 

Administrator. 

[FR Doc. 2022–06604 Filed 3–30–22; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 8026–03–P 

SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION 

13 CFR Part 121 

RIN 3245–AG90 

Small Business Size Standards: 

Transportation and Warehousing; 

Information; Finance and Insurance; 

Real Estate and Rental and Leasing 

AGENCY: U.S. Small Business 

Administration. 

ACTION: Final rule. 

SUMMARY: The U.S. Small Business 

Administration (SBA) is increasing its 

receipts-based small business size 

definitions (commonly referred to as 

‘‘size standards’’) for North American 

Industry Classification System (NAICS) 

sectors related to Transportation and 

Warehousing, Information, Finance and 

Insurance, and Real Estate and Rental 

and Leasing. Specifically, SBA is 

increasing the size standards for 45 

industries in those sectors, including 18 

industries in NAICS Sector 48–49 

(Transportation and Warehousing), eight 

industries in NAICS Sector 51 

(Information), ten industries in NAICS 

Sector 52 (Finance and Insurance), and 

nine industries in NAICS Sector 53 

(Real Estate and Rental and Leasing). 

DATES: This rule is effective May 2, 

2022. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Samuel Castilla, Economist, Office of 

Size Standards, (202) 205–6618 or 

sizestandards@sba.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Discussion of Size Standards 

To determine eligibility for Federal 

small business assistance, SBA 

establishes small business size 

definitions (usually referred to as ‘‘size 

standards’’) for private sector industries 

in the United States. SBA uses two 

primary measures of business size for 

size standards purposes: Average annual 

receipts and average number of 

employees. SBA uses financial assets for 

certain financial industries and refining 

capacity, in addition to employees, for 

the petroleum refining industry to 

measure business size. In addition, 

SBA’s Small Business Investment 

Company (SBIC), Certified Development 

Company (CDC/504), and 7(a) Loan 

Programs use either the industry-based 

size standards or tangible net worth and 

net income-based alternative size 

standards to determine eligibility for 

those programs. 

In September 2010, Congress passed 

the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010 

(Pub. L. 111–240, 124 Stat. 2504, 

September 27, 2010) (‘‘Jobs Act’’), 

requiring SBA to review all size 

standards every five years and make 

necessary adjustments to reflect current 

industry and market conditions. In 

accordance with the Jobs Act, in early 

2016, SBA completed the first five-year 

review of all size standards—except 

those for agricultural enterprises for 

which size standards were previously 

set by Congress—and made appropriate 

adjustments to size standards for a 

number of industries to reflect current 

industry and Federal market conditions. 

SBA also adjusts its monetary-based size 

standards for inflation at least once 

every five years. An interim final rule 

on SBA’s latest inflation adjustment to 

size standards, effective August 19, 

2019, was published in the Federal 

Register on July 18, 2019 (84 FR 34261). 

SBA also updates its size standards 

every five years to adopt the Office of 

Management and Budget’s (OMB) 

quinquennial North American Industry 

Classification System (NAICS) revisions 

to its table of small business size 

standards. Effective October 1, 2017, 

SBA adopted the OMB’s 2017 NAICS 

revisions to its size standards (82 FR 

44886, September 27, 2017).1

This final rule is one of a series of 

final rules that will revise size standards 

of industries grouped by various NAICS 

sectors. Rather than revise all size 

standards at one time, SBA is revising 

size standards by grouping industries 

within various NAICS sectors that use 

the same size measure (i.e., employees 

or receipts). In the prior review, SBA 

revised size standards mostly on a 

sector-by-sector basis. As part of the 

second five-year review of size 

standards, SBA reviewed all receiptbased size standards in NAICS Sectors 

48–49, 51, 52, and 53 to determine 

whether the existing size standards 

should be retained or revised based on 

the current industry and Federal market 

data. After its review, SBA published in 

the October 2, 2020, issue of the Federal 

Register (85 FR 62372) a proposed rule 

to increase the size standards for 18 

industries in NAICS Sector 48–49 

(Transportation and Warehousing), eight 

industries in NAICS Sector 51 

(Information), ten industries in NAICS 

Sector 52 (Finance and Insurance), and 

nine industries in NAICS Sector 53 

(Real Estate and Rental and Leasing). In 

this final rule, SBA is adopting the 

proposed size standards from the 

October 2020 proposed rule without 

change. 

In conjunction with the current 

comprehensive size standards review, 

SBA developed a revised ‘‘Size 

Standards Methodology’’ (Methodology) 

for developing, reviewing, and 

modifying size standards, when 

necessary. SBA’s revised Methodology 

provides a detailed description of its 

analyses of various industry and 

program factors and data sources, and 

how the agency uses the results to 

establish and revise size standards. In 

the proposed rule itself, SBA detailed 

how it applied its revised Methodology 

to review and modify where necessary, 

the existing size standards for industries 

covered in this final rule. Prior to 

finalizing the revised Methodology, SBA 

issued a notification in the April 27, 

2018, edition of the Federal Register (83 

FR 18468) to solicit comments from the 

public and notify stakeholders of the 

proposed changes to the Methodology. 

SBA considered all public comments in 

finalizing the revised Methodology. For 

a summary of comments and SBA’s 

responses, refer to the SBA’s April 11, 

2019, Federal Register notification (84 

FR 14587) of the issuance of the final 

revised Methodology. SBA’s Size 

Standards Methodology is available on 

its website at www.sba.gov/size. 

In evaluating an industry’s size 

standard, SBA examines its 

characteristics (such as average firm 

size, startup costs, industry competition 

and distribution of firms by size) and 

the small business level and share of 

Federal contract dollars in that industry. 

SBA also examines the potential impact 

a size standard revision might have on 

its financial assistance programs, and 

whether a business concern under a 

revised size standard would be 

dominant in its industry. SBA analyzed 

the characteristics of each receipt-based 

industry in NAICS Sectors 48–49, 51, 

52, and 53, mostly using a special 

tabulation obtained from the U.S. 

Bureau of the Census from its 2012 

Economic Census (the latest available). 

The 2012 special tabulation contains 

information for different levels of 

NAICS categories on average and 

median firm size in terms of both 

receipts and employment, total receipts 

generated by the four and eight largest 


jspears on DSK121TN23PROD with RULES1