SBA official: industry's voice needed on size standard proposals
The comment period on the revised small business standards are open until Nov. 20. Gettyimages.com / Pakin Songmor
By
Ross Wilkers
In remarks at the 2026 GovCon Awards, Ryan Lambert of the Small Business Administration reminded attendees they have two weeks left to submit comments.
The prospects of revamped small business size standards remain a major talking point for contractors across the board, whether they are small businesses or large companies that heavily lean on the former as partners.
In keynote remarks Thursday at the Greater Washington Government Contractor Awards, Ryan Lambert of the Small Business Administration reminded attendees of the upcoming deadline to weigh in on the agency’s proposed changes.
SBA first unveiled its plans in August to overhaul the methodology for determining the size standards businesses fall into, while also laying out how it will apply that methodology into rewrites of the standards.
As of mid-October, the agency had received approximately 1,200 comments on both proposed rules and the responses indicate some disagreement across industry over the impacts.
“The comment period closes Nov. 20, so this is your last chance to put a comment and recommendation on the record,” said Lambert, associate administrator for SBA’s Office of Industrial Base Resilience & Contracting. “We want real, specific comments. If you like part of it, tell us. If you don’t like a part of it, tell us what you might need.”
Thursday’s gala was the 24th annual edition of these awards, which were co-hosted by the Northern Virginia Chamber and George Mason University’s Greg and Camille Baroni Center for Government Contracting.
John Goodman was this year’s inductee into the LaFleur-Chason Hall of Fame for GovCon. Goodman led Accenture’s U.S. federal subsidiary as CEO from 2017 to 2024, a period where the unit doubled in size and increased its investments in emerging technologies and human-centric design principles. Goodman served as a senior Defense Department official before he joined Accenture.
The 2025 Public Sector Partner award went to Laura Stanton, deputy commissioner of the General Services Administration’s Federal Acquisition Service.
Winners and categories of the industry awardees are below, based on annual revenue.
Contractors of the Year
- CACI International: greater than $300 million
- MetroStar Systems: between $75 million and $300 million
- Quantum Leap Research: between $25 million and $75 million
- Tridentis: up to $25 million
Executive of the Year
- Josh Wilson, CEO of LMI: greater than $300 million
- Gautam Ijoor, CEO of Alpha Omega: between $75 million and $300 million
- Tim Tkacz, CEO of Blue Sky Innovators: up to $75 million