Mentor-Protégé Agreements
The SBA has established an All-Small Mentor-Protégé Program. Businesses who have a mentor-protégé relationship can form a joint venture to compete together for government contracts set aside for businesses that are small, service-disabled veteran-owned, women-owned, or HUBZone businesses — as long as the protégé qualifies for the contract.
There are three (3) requirements that must be met in order to for a mentor-protégé Joint Venture to compete on a small business set aside:
- The mentor-protégé agreement must have been approved before proposal submission;
- The protégé must qualify as a small business under the size standard corresponding to the NAICS code assigned to the procurement;
- The joint venture agreement must meet the requirements at 13 C.F.R. § 125.8(b)(2) and (c). Note that the joint venture must perform the appropriate percentage of work based on the subcontracting requirements; the protégé must perform 40% of that. The joint venture must also submit annual reports to the SBA and the contracting agencies explaining how the work is being performed for each contract; and
- For VA procurements, the Joint Venture must be verified by CVE.
Please contact our office if you need help with a mentor-protégé JV agreement.
