On July 19, 2023, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee issued a ruling in Ultima Servs. Corp. V. Dep’t of Ag. affecting the 8(a) Business Development program. Prior to this ruling, individual Black Americans, Hispanic Americans, Native Americans, Asian Pacific Americans, and Subcontinent Asian Americans applying for the program could establish that they were socially disadvantaged by demonstrating that they held themselves out as a member of one of those designated groups. This practice has been known as using a “rebuttable presumption of social disadvantage” or “presumption of social disadvantage.”
While most 8(a) firms established their 8(a) program eligibility through a presumption of social disadvantage, other 8(a) firms were admitted to the 8(a) program because the qualifying individual owner established social disadvantage by a preponderance of the evidence (i.e. submitted a narrative as part of the original application).
In this ruling, the Court barred SBA from using the presumption of social disadvantage to administer the 8(a) Program.
Under DOJ guidance regarding the Court’s order, SBA is requiring all 8(a) participants who originally relied upon the presumption of social disadvantage in their application to re-establish their 8(a) Program eligibility by completing a social disadvantage narrative.
Once submitted, SBA will review your narrative to determine that the firm’s owner(s) has demonstrated personal social disadvantage. Once approved, SBA will provide a social disadvantage qualification letter documenting that you have established social disadvantage and may continue to receive 8(a) contracts and otherwise participate in the 8(a) BD Program. Consistent with existing regulations, 8(a) Participants will only need to establish social disadvantage once for their program term, unless there are ownership/control or other changes which affect eligibility.
As of August 22, 2023, the SBA now mandates that both current certified 8(a) Program participants and prospective 8(a) applicants applying to the 8(a) Program must prepare and provide a social disadvantage narrative, irrespective of their minority or non-minority status.
This new requirement applies to individually-owned firms only and does not impact entity-owned firms, such as firms owned by Indian tribes, Alaska Native Corporations, or Native Hawaiian Organizations.
The Cloveer social disadvantage narrative manual exceeds the new 8(a) Program social disadvantage narrative requirements.
Review our FAQ below on "Why should I choose the Cloveer Manual vs just using the SBA's Guide?" so you can see how we exceed the SBA's requirements and make it much easier for you to prepare your narrative.
If you are active 8(a) participant you must prepare and provide this to the SBA as soon as possible. As of September 29, 2023, If you are applying for the 8(a) program you must prepare and provide your narrative now as part of your 8(a) application.
SBA must make an affirmative finding of social disadvantage prior to an agency proceeding with an 8(a) award or approving your 8(a) application. Once you receive the affirmative finding of social disadvantage, you are able to rely on such for future awards and no additional determination of social disadvantage will be required.
Since September 2023, our manual has been effectively utilized by hundreds of current 8(a) program participants and prospective 8(a) program applicants to successfully prepare their 8(a) social disadvantage narrative. Our comprehensive manual spans over 80 pages and includes:
1. An overview of all the elements required for your 8(a) social disadvantage narrative, along with step-by-step instructions on how to create your own narrative effectively. These include, What is the social disadvantage narrative?, Who can be considered a socially disadvantaged individual?, The three areas you need to focus on within your own narrative and How to go about preparing your actual social disadvantage narrative.
2. A detailed compilation of every type of admissible evidence that can be furnished to substantiate and corroborate the assertions of discrimination made in your social disadvantage narrative. Please note, evidence is not necessarily required but can be used to supplement your narrative if the further burden of proof is requested by the SBA.
3. A collection of 30 prompts/real-life questions to ask yourself accompanied by examples, intended to assist you in recollecting and depicting your experiences of discrimination within the three areas of education, employment, and business history.
4. A printable worksheet designed to assist you in documenting and articulating your individual discrimination instances, to include the When, Where, Who, What, Why and How which are crucial for identification within your social disadvantage narrative.
5. A total of 10 authentic and comprehensive social disadvantage narratives outlining actual chronic and substantial social disadvantage experienced containing at least 2 separate discrimination incidents per narrative, all of which were given the green light by the SBA for establishing the social disadvantage requirement. These narratives serve as a reference to help you gain insight into the structure and content of an acceptable social disadvantage narrative. Sample 8(a) narratives are included for Indian/Pakistani/Asian, Native American, Native Hawaiian, Black, Hispanic and Caucasian Women.
Absolutely! As of October 2023, hundreds of individuals have purchased and used our manual to successfully prepare their own social disadvantage narrative. We've received encouraging feedback from our clients, who have shared, their thanks for the guidance provided in our Manual and that their 8(a) Social Disadvantage status has been officially reaffirmed by the Small Business Administration (SBA).
We have also heard from individuals who have tried to prepare their narrative themselves without using our Cloveer Social Disadvantage Narrative Manual. Some have said that the SBA is sending their narratives back with comments such as "Your Narrative is Too Vague", "Your Narrative Does Not Show How It Has Impacted Your Entry And Or Advancement In The Business World", "As noted in the SBA Guide offensive comments or conduct, while reprehensible, will not support a claim of social disadvantage if there is no negative impact associated with the incident" and "The Information You Provided Does Not Provide The Level Of Detail Required By The SBA.
Don't waste your time trying to figure out how to write your social disadvantage narrative yourself without help and expect it to be approved by the SBA. Our Social Disadvantage Narrative Manual will provide you with step-by-step instructions on how to create your own narrative effectively along with real examples and a path to acceptance by the SBA.
Our Manual contains over 80 pages of detailed information. The SBA Guide only contains 6 pages of very basic information. Nothing is left up for interpretation when you use our manual.
Our Manual includes 10 real life social disadvantage narratives given the green light by the SBA. The SBA Guide contains no social disadvantage narratives to show you what an actual social disadvantage narrative looks like or contains. Narratives Included for Indian/Asian, Black, Hispanic and Females.
Our Manual has expanded definitions of the Identity areas (Racial prejudice, Ethnic Prejudice, Gender/Sexual Orientation, Identified Disability Prejudice, Cultural/Religious Prejudice and Residential Prejudice). The SBA guide has no definitions and does not explain what Identity area might apply to you.
Our Manual shows you the types of evidence and documents you may use to corroborate your instances of discrimination. The SBA provides no list or the types of evidence that you may provide to corroborate your instances.
Our Manual contains 30 Prompts/Questions that help you recall instances of discrimination in the SBA required areas of Education, Employment and Business History. These Prompts/Questions will jog your memory of past instances of discrimination that you may not even think you might apply within your social narrative. The SBA Guide provides no prompts/questions to ask yourself and leaves everything up to your interpretation.
Our Manual provides a printable worksheet to help you start, format and complete your social narrative The SBA Guide does not provide any instructions on how you format your narrative nor how to prepare your narrative properly.
Finally, our Manual saves you the agony of having your narrative returned or rejected by the SBA.
The Cloveer social disadvantage narrative manual is $299.00. All major credit cards and PayPal are accepted as payment. Instantly download our manual after purchasing. All sales are final and no refunds are offered once the product has been purchased and downloaded.
Investing in our work package and completing the narrative yourself will save you thousands of dollars, as opposed to the expense associated with having an attorney create one for you.
Yes. We offer a professional service for writing your Social Disadvantage Narrative. Our fee is $2,000.00. We have personally prepared well over 100 Social Disadvantage Narratives for existing 8(a) certified and new 8(a) participants with a 100% success rate.
If you want to get started, we will send you an invoice after completing our sign up form.
Once payment for our narrative writing service has been received, we will contact you to schedule a telephone interview where we'll interactively discuss your overall background.
Our conversation will be structured around the three key SBA narrative areas of Education, Employment, and Business History.
Through this interview, we gather the initial information necessary, allowing us to initiate the drafting process of your 8(a) social disadvantage narrative.
Subsequently, we will present you with a draft version of your 8(a) social disadvantage narrative, affording you the opportunity to provide additional insights and fill in any gaps to ensure compliance with the SBA's specific requirements before final submission to the SBA.
If the SBA requests any additional questions about your social disadvantage narrative, after submission, we will draft and fully support your social disadvantage narrative until approval by the SBA.
