U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) helped secure the inclusion of key provisions for small businesses in the Senate FY 2025 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) manager’s package.
The manager’s package includes several provisions for small businesses including the modernization of the State Trade Expansion Program (STEP), accountability for subcontractor utilization, and increased sole source thresholds for all small business set-aside programs.
“I’m proud to see these critical small business provisions included in the package, which if enacted, will improve and strengthen programs like the State Trade Expansion Program that I helped create to support small businesses interested in exporting and competing abroad,” Shaheen, chair of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, said. “I look forward to seeing these provisions signed into law and delivering much needed changes that will make it easier for small businesses to thrive.”
STEP, which Shaheen helped create STEP in 2010, provides grants to state and territory governments to assist small businesses with export development. Since its creation, the STEP program has awarded $235.5 million in grants and directly supported over 13,000 small businesses’ international expansion and export growth.
Shaheen also worked to include an increase to sole source thresholds, which raises the maximum size of sole source contracts for women-owned small businesses (WOSBs), 8(a) businesses, service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses (SDVOSBs) and HUBZone businesses.
The package also included Shaheen’s provisions on subcontractor utilization, which improve the structure by which subcontractors engage with prime contractors and increase transparency between the two.
In addition, she championed a provision that directs the Small Business Administration (SBA) to enable majority Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs) to retain set-aside designations.
In the coming weeks. the leadership of both the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) and the House Armed Services Committee (HASC) will now work on a negotiated bicameral, bipartisan NDAA.