[Federal Register Volume 69, Number 126 (Thursday, July 1, 2004)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 39874-39875]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 04-15080]


=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

13 CFR Part 121

RIN 3245-AF11


Small Business Size Standards; Restructuring of Size Standards

AGENCY: Small Business Administration (SBA).

ACTION: Proposed rule; withdrawal.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: SBA is hereby withdrawing its March 19, 2004, proposed rule to 
restructure small business size standards. SBA intends to issue an 
Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to obtain more data before 
deciding what further actions to take to restructure small business 
size standards.

DATES: This proposed rule is withdrawn as of July 1, 2004.

[[Page 39875]]


FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Gary M. Jackson, Assistant 
Administrator for Size Standards, (202) 205-6464 or 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On March 19, 2004, SBA published a proposed 
rule (69 FR 13130) to restructure its small business size standards. 
The rule proposed to simplify size standards by establishing number of 
employees as a common standard for all industries and by reducing the 
number of individual size standard levels from 37 to 10. The current 37 
standards are based either on monetary amounts or on number of 
employees. The proposed rule also included several other revisions to 
simplify the size standards and provided a 60-day public comment period 
closing on May 18, 2004. Because of the significant level of interest 
generated by the proposed rule, on May 17, 2004, SBA published a notice 
extending the comment period to July 2, 2004 (69 FR 27865).
    To date, SBA has received well over 3,700 public comments. SBA 
intends to issue an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) to 
collect additional information to review the issues raised by the 
comments on the proposed rule. Although many of those comments support 
aspects of the proposal, a number have raised concerns about SBA's 
methodology for developing the proposed size standards, the impact the 
proposed size standards will have on existing small businesses, the 
determination of the employee size of a business, and SBA's proposed 
overall approach to simplifying the size standards. Further review of 
these issues may result in substantive changes from the proposal. By 
withdrawing the March 19, 2004, proposed rule, SBA commits to issue a 
new proposed rule prior to final rulemaking, ensuring that the public 
has sufficient notice and opportunity to comment on such changes.
    Therefore, by this notice, SBA is withdrawing the March 19, 2004, 
proposed rule. Once SBA completes its review of the comments received 
in response to March 19, 2004, proposed rule and the comments it may 
receive in response to the planned ANPRM, it will decide what further 
actions are necessary and issue any appropriate notices of proposed 
rulemaking.

Hector V. Barreto,
Administrator.
[FR Doc. 04-15080 Filed 6-30-04; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8025-01-P