OPINION:
There are growing calls in Washington to halt or severely restrict the Small Business Administration’s 8(a) Business Development Program.
What is being sold as “temporary prudence” would effectively shut down one of the most pro-business, pro-defense tools the federal government has.
The 8(a) program is not a handout. It is a business development program designed to help small businesses expand, compete and ultimately succeed in the federal marketplace. It rewards ownership, self-determination and entrepreneurship rather than dependence on bureaucracy. It is precisely the kind of market-driven approach policymakers should support.
More critically, freezing 8(a) awards to Natives would immediately damage America’s defense industrial base. Roughly 65% to 70% of Native 8(a) contract work supports the Defense Department, delivering capabilities essential to warfighter readiness, logistics, cyber operations and military installation support.
These firms fill urgent needs at speeds traditional procurement cannot match. As the U.S. faces escalating threats from China, Russia, Iran and North Korea, weakening this supply chain would be reckless.
The numbers speak for themselves. Last year, the program delivered $25 billion in federal contracts, including $16.1 billion to Native-owned enterprises. It supports roughly 125,000 American jobs, as Native-owned 8(a) firms reinvested nearly $1.5 billion directly into their communities, funding housing, infrastructure, healthcare and public safety.
That is what a pro-business policy with real, measurable returns looks like.
This should resonate with anyone who supports the “America First” agenda. President Trump has championed rebuilding the military, restoring industrial capacity and cutting through bureaucratic red tape. Native 8(a) firms embody those principles.
They strengthen domestic supply chains, support rural and frontier communities that Washington too often overlooks and keep taxpayer dollars with American workers, not foreign suppliers.
Abolishing or restricting the 8(a) program would do the opposite: reinstate bureaucratic paralysis, weaken the defense industrial base and risk eliminating thousands of American jobs, particularly in Tribal and Native communities across the U.S. and in rural America.
The 8(a) program is a rarity in Washington. It is a policy that aligns government action with market principles, supports our military and delivers measurable results. If we are serious about putting American businesses and national security first, then we should keep it alive.
Strengthen oversight, fix what is broken and preserve a proven engine of American enterprise.
QUINTON CARROLL
Executive director, Native American Contractors Association
Washington
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