[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 165 (Friday, August 26, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 52602-52604]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-18393]


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SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION


Tribal Consultation for Ownership and Control and Contractual 
Assistance; Requirements for the 8(a) Business Development (BD) Program 
and other Planned 8(a) BD Program Regulatory Proposals

AGENCY: Small Business Administration.

ACTION: Notice of tribal consultation meeting; request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA or Agency) 
announces that it is holding tribal consultation meetings in Anchorage, 
Alaska, Albuquerque, New Mexico, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma and 
Washington, DC, as well as a Listening Session in Honolulu, Hawaii, 
concerning forthcoming proposed revisions to the 8(a) Business 
Development (BD) program regulations. Additionally, SBA requests 
comments and input on how best to propose several program policies the 
Agency is contemplating that would impact Alaska Native Corporations 
(ANC), tribes, Native Hawaiian Organizations (NHO) (collectively, 
``entities''), and 8(a) Participants owned by such entities. Testimony 
presented at these tribal consultations will become part of the 
administrative record for SBA's consideration when the Agency 
deliberates on approaches to changes in the 8(a) BD program 
regulations.

DATES: The Tribal Consultation meeting dates are as follows:
    1. Wednesday, September 14, 2022, 9:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. (AKDT), 
Anchorage, Alaska. Pre-registration for this Tribal Consultation 
meeting is requested by September 9, 2022.
    2. Tuesday, September 20, 2022, 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. (MDT), 
Albuquerque, New Mexico. Pre-registration for this Tribal Consultation 
meeting is requested by September 16, 2022.
    3. Thursday, September 22, 2022, 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. (CDT), 
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Pre-registration for this Tribal Consultation 
meeting is requested by September 19, 2022.
    4. Wednesday, October 5, 2022, 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. (EDT), 
Washington, DC. Pre-registration for this Tribal Consultation meeting 
is requested by September 30, 2022.
    5. The Listening Session will be held on Wednesday, September 28, 
2022, 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. (HST), Honolulu, Hawaii. Pre-registration 
for this Listening Session is requested by September 23, 2022.

ADDRESSES: 
    Meeting Locations:
    1. The Tribal Consultation meeting in Anchorage, Alaska will be 
held at the Z.J. Loussac Public Library, 3600 Denali Street, Anchorage, 
AK 99503.
    2. The Tribal Consultation meeting in Albuquerque, New Mexico will 
be held at the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center, 2401 12th Street NW, 
Albuquerque, New Mexico 87104.
    3. The Tribal Consultation meeting in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma will 
be held at the Metro Technology Centers, Springlake Campus Health 
Careers Center, 1720 Springlake Drive, Oklahoma City, OK 73111.
    4. The Tribal Consultation meeting in Washington, DC will be held 
at SBA Headquarters, 409 Third Street SW, Washington, DC 20416. 
Commenters and attendees may participate in-person or remotely at this 
consultation meeting.
    5. The Listening Session in Honolulu, Hawaii will be held at the 
SBA Hawaii District Office, 500 Ala Moana Boulevard, Suite 1-306, 
Honolulu, Hawaii 96813.
    Pre-registration: Send pre-registration requests to attend and/or 
testify to Chequita Carter of SBA's Office of Native American Affairs, 
U.S. Small Business Administration, 409 3rd Street SW, Washington, DC 
20416; [email protected]; or Facsimile to (202) 481-2177.
    Comments: You may submit comments, identified by Regulations 
Identifier Number (RIN) 3245-AH70, by any of the following methods:
     Email: to Jackson S. Brossy, Assistant Administrator, 
Office of Native American Affairs, U.S. Small Business Administration, 
at [email protected].
     Mail (for paper, disk, or CD-ROM submissions): to Jackson 
S. Brossy, Assistant Administrator, Office of Native American Affairs, 
U.S. Small Business Administration, 409 3rd Street SW, Washington, DC 
20416.
    Instructions: All submissions received will become part of the 
administrative record for any rulemaking resulting from these tribal 
consultation meetings and listening session. As such, comments received 
may be posted on http://www.regulations.gov. If you wish to submit 
confidential business information (CBI) as defined in the User Notice 
at http://www.regulations.gov, please submit the comments to Jackson S. 
Brossy and highlight the information that you consider to be CBI and 
explain why you believe this information should be held confidential. 
SBA will make a final determination as to whether the comments will be 
published.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Chequita Carter, Program Assistant for

[[Page 52603]]

SBA's Office of Native American Affairs, at [email protected] or 
(202) 205-6680 or by facsimile to (202) 481-2177. This phone number can 
also be reached by individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing, or who 
have speech disabilities, through the Federal Communications 
Commission's TTY-Based Telecommunications Relay Service teletype 
service at 711.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background

    SBA is planning to issue a proposed rule concerning the 8(a) BD 
program regulations under RIN 3245-AH70. The proposed rule is intended 
to clarify regulatory provisions relating to both program eligibility 
and 8(a) contracts to eliminate confusion among small businesses and 
procuring activities. SBA anticipates that the proposed rule will be 
published prior to the tribal consultation meetings and the Listening 
Session announced in this Notice. SBA is seeking comments and input on 
the changes identified in the proposed rule.
    Among other things, the proposed rule would require an entity, as 
part of its entity-owned business concern's 8(a) application, to 
establish a Community Benefits Plan laying out its commitments to give 
back to the Native community in several specific identified ways. SBA 
understands that not all of those commitments will come to fruition. 
Projected givebacks may be unattainable where actual revenues do not 
meet expectations or if other unforeseen business needs occur. However, 
SBA believes that there should be some programmatic consequences where 
estimated revenues were obtained but not all the committed benefits are 
given to the community. SBA is considering proposing certain 
consequences to the regulations to encourage entities to meet their 
commitments. SBA is seeking comments on what type of consequences 
should be imposed where SBA determines that an entity has not made good 
faith efforts to meet its stated commitments. One possibility that SBA 
is considering would be to disallow that entity from admitting any new 
business concerns to the 8(a) BD program until the entity meets the 
previous commitments with its business concern(s) already participating 
in the program. SBA is also considering whether there should be any 
other restrictions, such as restricting the award of additional sole 
source 8(a) contracts to any 8(a) Participant owned by the entity if 
SBA determines that the entity did not make good faith efforts to meet 
the commitments set forth in its Community Benefits Plan. SBA 
specifically asks for comments as to whether these consequences would 
be fair and reasonable. Additionally, SBA is seeking input on how best 
to encourage entities to meet their stated give-back goals.
    In addition to the above referenced regulatory proposals, SBA is 
contemplating making the following substantive changes to the 
regulations governing the 8(a) BD program, and requests comments and 
input on how best to develop proposed regulatory revisions. Any such 
revisions would not be promulgated under RIN 3245-AH70; rather, SBA 
would propose them under a separate rulemaking after considering 
testimony from the tribal consultation meetings and the Listening 
Session.
    The 8(a) BD program has positively impacted Native American 
communities through individual as well as tribal, ANC, and NHO 
participation. The dual purposes of tribal/ANC/NHO participation in the 
8(a) BD program are: to develop viable small business concerns while at 
the same time creating opportunities to provide significant benefits to 
the Native communities that they serve. In this regard, SBA accepts 
that a portion of an entity-owned Participant's receipts must be 
retained for business development purposes. However, the clear 
legislative intent of entity participation in the 8(a) BD program is to 
benefit Native and underserved communities using the revenues derived 
from the program. Thus, while SBA recognizes that in-kind contributions 
can be beneficial to Native and underserved communities, SBA believes 
entities participating in the 8(a) BD program should contribute a 
portion of their receipts to the communities they serve. SBA seeks to 
ensure that both of these purposes are advanced and invites comments on 
how best that can be accomplished.
    Since 2011, the 8(a) BD regulations have required each Participant 
owned by a Tribe, ANC, or NHO to annually submit to SBA information 
showing how the Tribe, ANC, or NHO has provided benefits to the 
applicable Native community due to the Tribe's/ANC's/NHO's 
participation in the 8(a) BD program through one or more firms. SBA is 
considering a proposal to require more precise cash benefit 
distributions to the applicable Native community to standardize SBA's 
collection and tracking of community benefits and in response to an 
observation that not all entities appear to be allocating an 
appropriate share of their 8(a) receipts to the communities they serve. 
To this end, some entity-owned Participants appear to report 
significant benefits primarily or exclusively in the form of in-kind 
contributions and, specifically, volunteer work performed by principals 
of the entity or its Participants.
    SBA is considering a rule that would propose to establish a target 
that a certain percentage of the entity's 8(a) receipts combined from 
all its Participants should be distributed as a cash contribution to 
benefit the Native or underserved community. SBA is specifically 
seeking comments on: the target percentage amount that should be 
distributed as a cash contribution; whether the target should be tied 
to an entity's gross 8(a) receipts, or to profits derived by the 
entity's 8(a) Participants; whether the target percentage amount should 
increase based on how long an entity has owned business concerns 
participating in the 8(a) BD program or based on the number of 
Participants an entity owns; whether certain non-cash contributions or 
investments in the community should be considered in this measurement, 
including, but not limited to, community member employment; and any 
other measures SBA should consider to promote the dual purposes of 
tribal/ANC/NHO participation in the 8(a) BD program. The SBA 
additionally welcomes any estimates of costs to meet this requirement 
annually, as well as any feasibility concerns with such a requirement. 
The SBA also welcomes comments from any entity that has other proposed 
methods to track community benefits and reinvestment.

II. Tribal Consultation Meetings

    The purpose of these tribal consultation meetings is to conform to 
the requirements of Executive Order 13175, Consultation and 
Coordination With Indian Tribal Governments (65 FR 67249), and SBA's 
Tribal Consultation Policy (https://www.sba.gov/document/support-sba-tribal-consultation-policy); to provide interested parties with an 
opportunity to discuss their views on the issues; and for SBA to obtain 
the views of SBA's stakeholders on approaches to the 8(a) BD program 
regulations. SBA considers tribal consultation meetings a valuable 
component of its deliberations and believes that this tribal 
consultation meeting will allow for constructive dialogue with the 
Tribal community, Tribal Leaders, Tribal Elders, elected members of 
Alaska Native Villages or their appointed representatives, and 
principals of tribally-owned and ANC-owned firms participating in the 
8(a) BD program.
    The format of these tribal consultation meetings will consist of a 
panel of SBA representatives who will preside over the session. The 
oral and written

[[Page 52604]]

testimony as well as any comments SBA receives will become part of the 
administrative record for SBA's consideration. Written testimony may be 
submitted in lieu of oral testimony. SBA will analyze the testimony, 
both oral and written, along with any written comments received. SBA 
officials may ask questions of a presenter to clarify or further 
explain the testimony. The purpose of the tribal consultation is to 
assist SBA with gathering information to guide SBA's review process and 
to potentially develop new proposals. SBA requests that the comments 
focus on SBA's planned rulemaking relating to the 8(a) BD program, 
general issues as they pertain to the 8(a) BD regulations, or the 
unique concerns of the Tribal communities. SBA requests that commenters 
do not raise issues pertaining to other SBA small business programs. 
Presenters are encouraged to provide a written copy of their testimony. 
SBA will accept written material that the presenter wishes to provide 
that further supplements his or her testimony. Electronic or digitized 
copies are encouraged.
    Each tribal consultation meeting will be held for one day. The 
meeting in Anchorage, Alaska will begin at 9:00 a.m. and end at 2:30 
p.m. (AKST), with a break from 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m.; the meeting in 
Albuquerque, New Mexico will begin at 10:00 a.m. and end at 3:00 p.m. 
(MDT), with a break from 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m.; the meeting in 
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma will begin at 10:00 a.m. and end at 3:00 p.m. 
(CDT), with a break from 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m.; the meeting in 
Washington, DC will begin at 10:00 a.m. and end at 3:00 p.m. (EDT), 
with a break from 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m.; and the Listening Session in 
Honolulu, Hawaii will begin at 10:00 a.m. and end at 3:00 p.m. (HST), 
with a break from 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. SBA will adjourn early if all 
those scheduled have delivered their testimony.

III. Registration

    SBA respectfully requests that any elected or appointed 
representative of the tribal communities or principal of a tribally-
owned, ANC-owned, or NHO-owned 8(a) firm that is interested in 
attending please pre-register in advance and indicate whether you would 
like to testify at the hearing. However, pre-registration is not 
required for attendance. SBA requests that attendees register with SBA 
no later than: September 9, 2022, for the consultation meeting in 
Anchorage; September 16, 2022, for the consultation meeting in 
Albuquerque; September 19, 2022, for the consultation meeting in 
Oklahoma City; September 30, 2022, for the consultation meeting in 
Washington, DC; and September 23, 2022, for the Listening Session in 
Honolulu. To register, please contact Chequita Carter of SBA's Office 
of Native American Affairs in writing at [email protected] or by 
facsimile to (202) 481-2177. If you are interested in testifying, 
please include the following information relating to the person 
testifying: Name, Organization affiliation, Address, Telephone number, 
Email address and Fax number. For those who wish to remotely attend or 
participate in the Washington, DC, tribal consultation meeting, SBA 
will provide further instructions upon registration. SBA will attempt 
to accommodate all interested parties that wish to present testimony. 
Based on the number of registrants it may be necessary to impose time 
limits to ensure that everyone who wishes to testify has the 
opportunity to do so. SBA will confirm in writing the registration of 
presenters and attendees.

IV. Information on Service for Individuals With Disabilities

    For information on facilities or services for individuals with 
disabilities or to request special assistance at the tribal 
consultation meeting, contact Chequita Carter at the telephone number 
or email address indicated under the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT 
section of this notice.
    Authority: 15 U.S.C. 634 and E.O. 13175, 65 FR 67249.

Jackson S. Brossy,
Assistant Administrator, Office of Native American Affairs.
[FR Doc. 2022-18393 Filed 8-25-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8026-09-P