Lawmakers: “Rather than using this audit as a pretense to unfairly attack a program with which you have an ideological disagreement, it is our hope that you will refocus on the goals of the 8(a) Program to make sure it continues to support socially and economically disadvantaged businesses—as intended.”
Washington (December 23, 2025) – Senators Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), Ranking Member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, and Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii) sent a letter to U.S. Small Business Administrator Kelly Loeffler, expressing their deep concerns regarding the U.S. Small Business Administration’s (SBA) December 5th announcement of a sweeping, program-wide audit of the 8(a) Business Development Program. SBA’s announcement has left many businesses scrambling to meet the agency’s extensive document requested under a short deadline with unclear guidance, while raising concerns about how businesses’ information will be used and secured.
The 8(a) Business Development Program was created by Congress to provide training, assistance, and federal contracting opportunities for socially and economically disadvantaged businesses in the U.S. and plays an important role in helping to ensure these businesses have the opportunity to work with federal agencies. Recently, however, the 8(a) program has come under attack as Republicans have unfairly targeted many of these small, socially and economically disadvantaged businesses, which often rely on government contracts to stay in business and keep their staff employed.
“While we wholeheartedly support meaningful oversight of all programs that fall under the jurisdiction of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, we disagree with your characterization of the program,” the senators wrote. “We also emphasize that formal audits should be conducted by the appropriate authorities, such as Inspectors General, who are a part of a comprehensive system that has decades of proven success in preventing and detecting fraud, waste, and abuse.”
The ambiguous language in the SBA’s audit has led to mass confusion among 8(a) businesses, who have been seeking clarity and guidance regarding the documentation they must provide to remain eligible to participate in the 8(a) program.
“Furthermore, we are concerned about the nature in which you requested the information from businesses in the program—an indiscriminate data call asking 4,300 businesses to complete additional paperwork, with limited guidance to clarify the manner in which they should comply—which raises questions,” the senators continued. “So too does the short turnaround, initially giving businesses only 31 days to comply with a deadline of January 5, 2026—shortly after the holiday season—before extending the deadline to January 19, 2026.”
To that end, the lawmakers demand answers to a number of specific questions about the audit by January 2, 2025, including:
“SBA’s fundamental mission is to support small businesses and entrepreneurs in the United States,” the lawmakers concluded. “Rather than using this audit as a pretense to unfairly attack a program with which you have an ideological disagreement, it is our hope that you will refocus on the goals of the 8(a) Program to make sure it continues to support socially and economically disadvantaged businesses—as intended.”
In addition to Senators Markey and Hirono, the letter was also signed by Senator Maria Cantwell (D-Wash).
The full text of the letter is available here.
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