Value
For those of you that aren’t fully aware yet of the numerous benefits of the 8a Certification, the obvious first line benefit is the average amount in contracting dollars in Federal Sales the average 8a firm receives annually. As you will see below, 2017 was a very good year for firms with 8a Certifications. While we don’t have the exact numbers from 2018 as of yet, we do know it was just as good of a year as 2017, if not better.

Sole-Source Contracts
These are direct award contracts generally of less than $4 million dollars, where the contracting officer is comfortable with a company and believes the 8(a) firm is not more than 10% above market rates. Contracting officers award these contracts to save time and resources from being spent going through a full open bidding process.

Set-aside Contracts
These are contracts whereby the competition is limited to two or more 8a firms that are bidding against each other. The award value of set-aside contracts is either higher on average, or lower on average, than sole-source contracts due to a variety of factors, but there is a lot of federal contracting dollars at stake, with a limited amount of competition and typically higher returns.

Qualifications
In the YouTube video produced by expert consultant ez8a, the following characteristics of a firm to become 8a certified are detailed.

Social Disadvantage
Economic Disadvantage
Potential to Successfully Complete Federal Contracts
Free of Control Issues
Moral and Ethical Considerations