§ 125.9 - What are the rules governing SBA's small business mentor-protégé program?

§ 125.9 What are the rules governing SBA's small business mentor-protégé program?

Cross Reference

Link to an amendment published at 88 FR 26211, Apr. 27, 2023.

(a) General. The small business mentor-protégé program is designed to enhance the capabilities of protégé firms by requiring approved mentors to provide business development assistance to protégé firms and to improve the protégé firms' ability to successfully compete for federal contracts. This assistance may include technical and/or management assistance; financial assistance in the form of equity investments and/or loans; subcontracts (either from the mentor to the protégé or from the protégé to the mentor); trade education; and/or assistance in performing prime contracts with the Government through joint venture arrangements. Mentors are encouraged to provide assistance relating to the performance of contracts set aside or reserved for small business so that protégé firms may more fully develop their capabilities.

(b) Mentors. Any concern that demonstrates a commitment and the ability to assist small business concerns may act as a mentor and receive benefits as set forth in this section. This includes other than small businesses.

(1) In order to qualify as a mentor, a concern must demonstrate that it:

(i) Is capable of carrying out its responsibilities to assist the protégé firm under the proposed mentor-protégé agreement;

(ii) Does not appear on the Federal list of debarred or suspended contractors; and

(iii) Can impart value to a protégé firm due to lessons learned and practical experience gained or through its knowledge of general business operations and government contracting.

(2) SBA will decline an application if SBA determines that the mentor does not possess good character or a favorable financial position, employs or otherwise controls the managers of the protégé, or is otherwise affiliated with the protégé. Once approved, SBA may terminate the mentor-protégé agreement if the mentor does not possess good character or a favorable financial position, was affiliated with the protégé at time of application, or is affiliated with the protégé for reasons other than the mentor-protégé agreement or assistance provided under the agreement.

(3) In order for SBA to agree to allow a mentor to have more than one protégé at time, the mentor and proposed additional protégé must demonstrate that the added mentor-protégé relationship will not adversely affect the development of either protégé firm (e.g., the second firm may not be a competitor of the first firm).

(i) A mentor that has more than one protégé cannot submit competing offers in response to a solicitation for a specific procurement through separate joint ventures with different protégés.

(ii) A mentor (including in the aggregate a parent company and all of its subsidiaries) generally cannot have more than three protégés at one time. However, the

(A) The first two mentor-protégé relationships approved by SBA between a specific mentor and a

covered territory business, or a specific mentor and a

small business that has its principal office located in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico

,

do not count against the limit of three proteges that a mentor can have at one time.

(B) Where a mentor purchases another business entity that is also an SBA-approved mentor of one or more protégé small business concerns and the purchasing mentor commits to honoring the obligations under the seller's mentor-protégé agreement(s), that entity may have more than three protégés (i.e., those of the purchased concern in addition to those of its own). In such a case, the entity could not add another protégé until it fell below three in total.

(c) Protégés.

(1) In order to initially qualify as a protégé firm, a concern must qualify as small for the size standard corresponding to its primary NAICS code or identify that it is seeking business development assistance with respect to a secondary NAICS code and qualify as small for the size standard corresponding to that NAICS code.

(i) A firm may self-certify that it qualifies as small for its primary or identified secondary NAICS code.

(ii) Where a small business concern seeks to qualify as a protégé in a secondary NAICS code, the concern must demonstrate how the mentor-protégé relationship will help it further develop or expand its current capabilities in that secondary NAICS code. SBA will not approve a mentor-protégé relationship in a secondary NAICS code in which the small business concern has no prior experience. SBA may approve a mentor-protégé relationship where the small business concern can demonstrate that it has performed work in one or more similar NAICS codes or where the NAICS code in which the small business concern seeks a mentor-protégé relationship is a logical business progression to work previously performed by the concern.

(2) A protégé firm may generally have only one mentor at a time. SBA may approve a second mentor for a particular protégé firm where the second relationship will not compete or otherwise conflict with the first mentor-protégé relationship, and:

(i) The second relationship pertains to an unrelated NAICS code; or

(ii) The protégé firm is seeking to acquire a specific expertise that the first mentor does not possess.

(3) SBA may authorize a small business to be both a protégé and a mentor at the same time where the small business can demonstrate that the second relationship will not compete or otherwise conflict with the first mentor-protégé relationship.

(d) Benefits.

(1) A protégé and mentor may joint venture as a small business for any government prime contract, subcontract or sale, provided the protégé qualifies as small for the procurement or sale. Such a joint venture may seek any type of small business contract (i.e., small business set-aside, 8(a), HUBZone, SDVO, or WOSB) for which the protégé firm qualifies (e.g., a protégé firm that qualifies as a WOSB could seek a WOSB set-aside as a joint venture with its SBA-approved mentor). Similarly, a joint venture between a protégé and mentor may seek a subcontract as a HUBZone small business, small disadvantaged business, SDVO small business, or WOSB provided the protégé individually qualifies as such.

(i) SBA must approve the mentor-protégé agreement before the two firms may submit an offer as a joint venture on a particular government prime contract or subcontract in order for the joint venture to receive the exclusion from affiliation.

(ii) In order to receive the exclusion from affiliation, the joint venture must meet the requirements set forth in § 125.8(b)(2), (c), and (d).

(iii) A joint venture between a protégé and its mentor will qualify as a small business for any procurement for which the protégé individually qualifies as small. Once a protégé firm no longer qualifies as a small business for the size standard corresponding to the NAICS code under which SBA approved its mentor-protégé relationship, any joint venture between the protégé and its mentor will no longer be able to seek additional contracts or subcontracts as a small business for any NAICS code having the same or lower size standard. A joint venture between a protégé and its mentor could seek additional contract opportunities in NAICS codes having a size standard for which the protégé continues to qualify as small. A change in the protégé's size status does not generally affect contracts previously awarded to a joint venture between the protégé and its mentor.

(A) Except for contracts with durations of more than five years (including options), a contract awarded to a joint venture between a protégé and a mentor as a small business continues to qualify as an award to small business for the life of that contract and the joint venture remains obligated to continue performance on that contract.

(B) For contracts with durations of more than five years (including options), where size re-certification is required under § 121.404(g)(3) of this chapter no more than 120 days prior to the end of the fifth year of the contract and no more than 120 days prior to exercising any option thereafter, once the protégé no longer qualifies as small for the size standard corresponding to the NAICS code assigned to the contract, the joint venture will not be able re-certify itself to be a small business for that contract. The rules set forth in § 121.404(g)(3) of this chapter apply in such circumstances.

(2) In order to raise capital, the protégé firm may agree to sell or otherwise convey to the mentor an equity interest of up to 40% in the protégé firm.

(3) Notwithstanding the mentor-protégé relationship, a protégé firm may qualify for other assistance as a small business, including SBA financial assistance.

(4) No determination of affiliation or control may be found between a protégé firm and its mentor based solely on the mentor-protégé agreement or any assistance provided pursuant to the agreement. However, affiliation may be found for other reasons set forth in § 121.103 of this chapter.

(5) Where appropriate, procuring activities may provide incentives in the contract evaluation process to a firm that will provide significant subcontracting work to its SBA-approved protégé firm.

(6) A mentor that provides a subcontract to its protégé that is a covered territory business, or that has its principal office located in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, may:

(i) receive positive consideration for the mentor's past performance evaluation, and (ii) apply costs incurred for providing training to such protege toward the subcontracting goals contained in the subcontracting plan of the mentor.

(ii) [Reserved]

(e) Written agreement.

(1) The mentor and protégé firms must enter a written agreement setting forth an assessment of the protégé's needs and providing a detailed description and timeline for the delivery of the assistance the mentor commits to provide to address those needs (e.g., management and or technical assistance; loans and/or equity investments; bonding; use of equipment; export assistance; assistance as a subcontractor under prime contracts being performed by the protégé; cooperation on joint venture projects; or subcontracts under prime contracts being performed by the mentor). The mentor-protégé agreement must:

(i) Specifically identify the business development assistance to be provided and address how the assistance will help the protégé enhance its growth and/or foster or acquire needed capabilities;

(ii) Identify the specific entity or entities that will provide assistance to or participate in joint ventures with the protégé where the mentor is a parent or subsidiary concern;

(iii) Establish a single point of contact in the mentor concern who is responsible for managing and implementing the mentor-protégé agreement; and

(

iii

iv) Provide that the mentor will provide such assistance to the protégé firm for at least one year.

(2) A firm seeking SBA's approval to be a protégé must identify any other mentor-protégé relationship it has through another federal agency or SBA and provide a copy of each such mentor-protégé agreement to SBA.

(i) The small business mentor-protégé agreement must identify how the assistance to be provided by the proposed mentor is different from assistance provided to the protégé through another mentor-protégé relationship, either with the same or a different mentor.

(ii) A firm seeking SBA's approval to be a protégé may terminate a mentor-protégé relationship it has through another agency and use any not yet provided assistance identified in the other mentor-protégé agreement as part of the assistance that will be provided through the small business mentor-protégé relationship. Any assistance that has already been provided through another mentor-protégé relationship cannot be identified as assistance that will be provided through the small business mentor-protégé relationship.

(3) The written agreement must be approved by the Associate Administrator for Business Development (AA/BD) or his/her designee. The agreement will not be approved if SBA determines that the assistance to be provided is not sufficient to promote any real developmental gains to the protégé, or if SBA determines that the agreement is merely a vehicle to enable the mentor to receive small business contracts.

(4) The agreement must provide that either the protégé or the mentor may terminate the agreement with 30 days advance notice to the other party to the mentor-protégé relationship and to SBA.

(5) The term of a mentor-protégé agreement may not exceed six years. If an initial mentor-protégé agreement is for less than six years, it may be extended by mutual agreement prior to the expiration date for an additional amount of time that would total no more than six years from its inception (e.g., if the initial mentor-protégé agreement was for two years, it could be extended for an additional four years by consent of the two parties; if the initial mentor-protégé agreement was for three years, it could be extended for an additional three years by consent of the two parties). Unless rescinded in writing as a result of an SBA review, the mentor-protégé relationship will automatically renew without additional written notice of continuation or extension to the protégé firm.

(6) A protégé may generally have a total of two mentor-protégé agreements with different mentors.

(i) Each mentor-protégé agreement may last for no more than six years, as set forth in paragraph (e)(5) of this section.

(ii) If a mentor-protégé agreement is terminated within 18 months from the date SBA approved the agreement, that mentor-protégé relationship will generally not count as one of the two mentor-protégé relationships that a small business may enter as a protégé. However, where a specific small business protégé appears to enter into many short-term mentor-protégé relationships as a means of extending its program eligibility as a protégé, SBA may determine that the business concern has exhausted its participation in the mentor-protégé program and not approve an additional mentor-protégé relationship.

(iii) If during the evaluation of the mentor-protégé relationship pursuant to paragraphs (g) and (h) of this section SBA determines that a mentor has not provided the business development assistance set forth in its mentor-protégé agreement or that the quality of the assistance provided was not satisfactory, SBA may allow the protégé to substitute another mentor for the time remaining in the mentor-protégé agreement without counting against the two-mentor limit.

(iv) Instead of having a six-year mentor-protégé relationship with two separate mentors, a protégé may elect to extend or renew a mentor-protégé relationship with the same mentor for a second six-year term. In order for SBA to approve an extension or renewal of a mentor-protégé relationship with the same mentor, the mentor must commit to providing additional business development assistance to the protégé.

(7) SBA must approve all changes to a mentor-protégé agreement in advance, and any changes made to the agreement must be provided in writing. If the parties to the mentor-protégé relationship change the mentor-protégé agreement without prior approval by SBA, SBA shall terminate the mentor-protégé relationship and may also propose suspension or debarment of one or both of the firms pursuant to paragraph (h) of this section where appropriate.

(8) If control of the mentor changes (through a stock sale or otherwise), the previously approved mentor-protégé relationship may continue provided that, after the change in control, the mentor expresses in writing to SBA that it acknowledges the mentor-protégéagreement and certifies that it will continue to abide by its terms.

(9) SBA may terminate the mentor-protégé agreement at any time if it determines that the protégé is not benefiting from the relationship or that the parties are not complying with any term or condition of the mentor protégé agreement. In the event SBA terminates the relationship, the mentor-protégé joint venture is obligated to complete any previously awarded contracts unless the procuring agency issues a stop work order.

(f) Decision to decline mentor-protégé relationship. Where SBA declines to approve a specific mentor-protégé agreement, SBA will issue a written decision setting forth its reason(s) for the decline. The small business concern seeking to be a protégé cannot attempt to enter into another mentor-protégé relationship with the same mentor for a period of 60 calendar days from the date of the final decision. The small business concern may, however, submit another proposed mentor-protégé agreement with a different proposed mentor at any time after the SBA's final decline decision.

(g) Evaluating the mentor-protégé relationship. SBA will review the mentor-protégé relationship annually. SBA will ask the protégé for its assessment of how the mentor-protégé relationship is working, whether or not the protégé received the agreed upon business development assistance, and whether the protégé would recommend the mentor to be a mentor for another small business in the future. At any point in the mentor-protégé relationship where a protégé believes that a mentor has not provided the business development assistance set forth in its mentor-protégé agreement or that the quality of the assistance provided did not meet its expectations, the protégé can ask SBA to intervene on its behalf with the mentor.

(1) Within 30 days of the anniversary of SBA's approval of the mentor-protégé agreement, the protégé must report to SBA for the preceding year:

(i) All technical and/or management assistance provided by the mentor to the protégé;

(ii) All loans to and/or equity investments made by the mentor in the protégé;

(iii) All subcontracts awarded to the protégé by the mentor and all subcontracts awarded to the mentor by the protégé, and the value of each subcontract;

(iv) All federal contracts awarded to the mentor-protégé relationship as a joint venture (designating each as a small business set-aside, small business reserve, or unrestricted procurement), the value of each contract, and the percentage of the contract performed and the percentage of revenue accruing to each party to the joint venture; and

(v) A narrative describing the success such assistance has had in addressing the developmental needs of the protégé and addressing any problems encountered.

(2) The protégé must report the mentoring services it receives by category and hours.

(3) The protégé must annually certify to SBA whether there has been any change in the terms of the agreement.

(4) At any point in the mentor-protégé relationship where a protégé believes that a mentor has not provided the business development assistance set forth in its mentor-protégé agreement or that the quality of the assistance provided did not meet its expectations, the protégé can ask SBA to intervene on its behalf with the mentor.

(5) SBA may decide not to approve continuation of a mentor-protégé agreement where:

(i) SBA finds that the mentor has not provided the assistance set forth in the mentor-protégé agreement;

(ii) SBA finds that the assistance provided by the mentor has not resulted in any material benefits or developmental gains to the protégé; or

(iii) A protégé does not provide information relating to the mentor-protégé relationship, as set forth in paragraph (g).

(h) Consequences of not providing assistance set forth in the mentor-protégé agreement.

(1) Where SBA determines that a mentor may not have provided to the protégé firm the business development assistance set forth in its mentor-protégé agreement or that the quality of the assistance provided may not have been satisfactory, SBA will notify the mentor of such determination and afford the mentor an opportunity to respond. The mentor must respond within 30 days of the notification, presenting information demonstrating that it did satisfactorily provide the assistance set forth in the mentor-protégé agreement or explaining why it has not provided the agreed upon assistance and setting forth a definitive plan as to when it will provide such assistance. If the mentor fails to respond, does not adequately provide information demonstrating that it did satisfactorily provide the assistance set forth in the mentor-protégé agreement, does not supply adequate reasons for its failure to provide the agreed upon assistance, or does not set forth a definite plan to provide the assistance:

(i) SBA will terminate the mentor-protégé agreement;

(ii) The firm will be ineligible to again act as a mentor for a period of two years from the date SBA terminates the mentor-protégé agreement; and

(iii) SBA may recommend to the relevant procuring agency to issue a stop work order for each federal contract for which the mentor and protégé are performing as a small business joint venture in order to encourage the mentor to comply with its mentor-protégé agreement. Where a protégé firm is able to independently complete performance of any such contract, SBA may recommend to the procuring agency to authorize a substitution of the protégé firm for the joint venture.

(2) SBA may consider a mentor's failure to comply with the terms and conditions of an SBA-approved mentor-protégé agreement as a basis for debarment on the grounds, including but not limited to, that the mentor has not complied with the terms of a public agreement under 2 CFR 180.800(b).

(i) Results of mentor-protégé relationship.

(1) In order to assess the results of a mentor-protégé relationship upon its completion, the protégé must report to SBA whether it believed the mentor-protégé relationship was beneficial and describe any lasting benefits to the protégé.

(2) Where a protégé does not report the results of a mentor-protégé relationship upon its completion, SBA will not approve a second mentor-protégé relationship either under this section or under § 124.520 of this chapter.

[81 FR 48585, July 25, 2016, as amended at 85 FR 66194, Oct. 16, 2020; 87 FR 50927, Aug. 19, 2022; 88 FR 26211, Apr. 27, 2023]