The 8a program is a business development program meant to help people launch, grow and graduate into a successful small business firm. They provide you with the tools and knowledge that you need in order to compete for contracts in the open market.

In short terms, the 8a program will assist you in growing and succeeding as a small-business. They do this by including “transitional years.” Transitional years are the years where you must do work outside of the federal government.

These transitional years serve as steps to slowly push you to find work outside of the 8a sphere. Therefore, by the end of the program, a large chunk of your work must and will derive from elsewhere.

This is good news because when the program ends, you are still in business and can succeed on your own.

If the company fails to comply with these guidelines, they are subject to suspension from the program for up to 1 year. This poses a challenge for budding entrepreneurs who have no private or commercial contracts outside of the federal government.

However, if you follow the guidelines, you will be in a position to continue doing business without the 8a program.