📍 Over 800 firms — 20% of the 8(a) program — are facing termination. For Black contractors, the clock is ticking on a critical business decision. ⸻ TL;DR ▪️ The SBA has initiated termination proceedings against nearly 800 of 4,300 active 8(a) firms — roughly 20% of the entire program — following demands for three years of financial records. ▪️ Only 65 new companies were admitted to the 8(a) program in all of 2025, down from 2,000+ over the prior four years. ▪️ The DoD is reviewing every sole-source 8(a) contract exceeding $20 million — and has declared it has "no room for DEI contracts." ▪️ Black-owned businesses currently receive just 1.5% of total federal contract dollars — even with the 8(a) program in place. ⸻ Hey Builders! If you've built your business on federal contracts, you've spent years mastering a system that took real skill and grit to crack. The paperwork, the certifications, the past performance documentation — you did the work. But right now, that system is being dismantled in real time. And here's what the individual business headlines are missing: when 800 firms face this crossroads at the same moment, the decisions they make collectively don't just determine who survives — they determine whether Black contractors hold or lose the ground it took fifty years to gain. Let's talk about what needs to get talked about... ⸻ THE TENSION The 8(a) Business Development Program was never a handout. It was a structured on-ramp — one of the few that existed — into a $700 billion federal marketplace where Black-owned businesses, despite representing nearly 14.5% of all U.S. business owners, still receive just 1.5% of contract dollars. The program worked as a leveler of an uneven field. Now the field is being re-tilted. In early March 2026, the SBA moved to terminate 628 firms that refused to produce three years of financial records on short notice. Combined with a January action suspending more than 1,000 firms and admitting just 65 new companies in all of 2025 — down from 2,000+ in the prior four years — the program has shed roughly 20% of its active participants. The Department of Defense, which awarded $18 billion through the 8(a) program in 2024, is now auditing every sole-source contract above $20 million under a directive stating the agency has "no room in its budget for DEI and other wasteful contracts." The Small Disadvantaged Business contracting goal has been cut from 15% back to its statutory minimum of 5%. This is not a temporary weather system. This is a structural shift. ⸻ 🧱 Builder Insight — The Choices SIDE A — Hold Your Position There's a real case for staying in. The program still exists, contracts are still flowing, and compliance-ready firms may actually face less competition in the near term as others exit or get suspended. The $18 billion DoD 8(a) pipeline doesn't disappear overnight. For businesses mid-contract, exiting now could mean disrupted cash flow, broken relationships, and revenue loss that stings worse than the current uncertainty. Federal contracting credentials — clearances, past performance ratings, agency relationships — are hard-earned assets. Abandoning them because the political climate shifted is its own kind of risk. SIDE B — This Is the Forcing Function You Needed And here's the harder truth: many 8(a) firms knew this dependence was a vulnerability long before this moment. A program tied to political will was always fragile. When the SBA admits only 65 new companies in a year instead of 2,000+, that's not turbulence — that's a closed door. Businesses that are 70, 80, or 90% dependent on 8(a) revenue are one executive memo away from losing their foundation. The founders who come out strongest won't be the ones who fought hardest to stay in — they'll be the ones who used this moment to build the commercial muscle they never had to develop before. ⸻ 💡 Okay, Boom. Here's The Play. 1️⃣ AUDIT YOUR REVENUE CONCENTRATION. What percentage of your revenue flows from 8(a) contracts vs. commercial or non-set-aside government channels? If it's over 60%, this is a business continuity issue, not just a policy issue. 2️⃣ CALCULATE YOUR PROGRAM RUNWAY. Companies can participate in 8(a) for up to nine years. If you have three or more years left and are fully compliant, you may have room to transition on your own terms. If you're in the final stretch, the calculus changes. 3️⃣ CONVERT PAST PERFORMANCE INTO COMMERCIAL CREDIBILITY. What you've delivered for federal agencies is a portfolio. Defense primes, corporate supply chains, and mid-market private equity–backed companies want the same operational discipline. Those conversations should start now. 4️⃣ BUILD THE COMMERCIAL PIPELINE IN PARALLEL — NOT AFTER. The worst time to build commercial relationships is when you have to. The best time was two years ago. The second-best time is today. 5️⃣ SEPARATE ADVOCACY FROM STRATEGY. Fighting to restore the 8(a) program is legitimate and necessary work. But it cannot be your business plan. Revenue doesn't wait for policy wins. ⸻ 💬 Quote of the Day "To be a part of the economic fabric of our nation, we must be at the table, not on the menu." — Mellody Hobson, Co-CEO, Ariel Investments ⸻ 🎬 Closing Thought — The Bridge Was Never the Building The 8(a) program was designed as a nine-year bridge — a time-limited vehicle to help disadvantaged businesses gain the experience, scale, and credibility to compete in the open market. The tragedy isn't that the program is being rolled back. The tragedy is that for too many Black-owned businesses, the bridge became the building. This moment is painful. But it may also be clarifying. The businesses that emerge strongest will be the ones that finally make the pivot they always knew they needed — away from a single point of revenue failure, toward a diversified business that can operate in any political climate. Your clearances, your past performance record, your operational track record — those belong to you, not to the program. But zoom out for a moment. Eight hundred firms navigating this crossroads simultaneously isn't just a business story — it's a wealth story. If the majority of these companies collapse, stall, or make reactive decisions under pressure, the collective loss doesn't just show up on individual balance sheets. It shows up in the data on Black business ownership, in the pipeline of firms capable of competing at scale, and in the credibility of the argument that equity works. How this cohort moves matters beyond any one company. The program is being dismantled. It won't be the last thing that is. But Black builders have a documented history of taking what the system threw away and building something the system couldn't ignore. That's not inspiration — that's a track record. This moment is asking for that same alchemy. Do what needs to be done. Make history. ⸻ ⚡️ OHUBNext Daily Brief — investments, edge tech, and moves that matter. For 12+ years, OHUB has been building pathways and on-ramps to multi-generational wealth — without reliance on pre-existing wealth. Through exposure, skills, entrepreneurship, capital markets, and inclusive ecosystems, we've helped people create new jobs, new companies, and new wealth.