8a Certification

8a Certification is required before the GSA will give a minority owned or woman owned small business the benefits of federal contracts that have been set-aside for such businesses.  The process can be long and tedious if you do it yourself.  It can be much quicker and cheaper (in the long run) to hire a company that specializes in federal government contracting and 8a Certification.  The reason it can be longer and more tedious is because a simple mistake at the beginning (like entering the wrong procurement classification code) and your whole application can be processed incorrectly.  Companies that specialize in 8a Certfication have seen the potential areas for messing up an application and know up front what questions to ask you so that your application is processed correctly from the beginning. 

This GSA Website has a ton of information dealing with 8a Certification, Central Contracor Registration, Set Asides for Small Businesses, DUNS Numbers, Form 1010 and GSA Contracts.

8a Certified Business

An 8a Certified Business is a small business which has been registered with the GSA as being economically or socially disadvantaged. In general, most 8a businesses are either minority owned or women owned. The GSA has identified a number of races as qualifying for minority status. These include: African-Americans, Hispanic Americans, Asian Pacific Americans, Native Americans (American Indians, Eskimos, Aleuts, or Native Hawaiians), and Subcontinent Asian Americans. If you are not a member of one of these groups you may still be able to show that you are socially disadvantaged to receive 8a consideration.

Check out this GSA Website for more articles on 8a Certification, CCR Registration, Small Business Set Asides, DUNS Numbers, and GSA Contracts.