SBA Eligibility & Appeals Officials · 13 CFR Part 134 · 13 CFR Part 134 Subpart J

SBA Office of Hearings and Appeals Judge

OHA

Also known as: OHA, administrative judge, administrative law judge

Sits on: SBA (adjudication)

At a Glance

Works for: SBA, but adjudicates independently
Role: Decides SDVOSB status protests, size appeals, NAICS appeals
When you deal with them: When eligibility is challenged or a determination is appealed
Decides by: Written decision on the administrative record
Governing authority: 13 CFR Part 134 (Subpart J for SDVOSB status)

Who They Are

SBA's Office of Hearings and Appeals (OHA) is the agency's independent administrative tribunal, staffed by administrative judges who decide contested eligibility matters under 13 CFR Part 134. For veteran-owned firms, OHA's most important function is deciding SDVOSB status protests — the challenge to whether a firm is genuinely owned and controlled by one or more service-disabled veterans — under 13 CFR Part 134 Subpart J. Since the certification function moved to SBA on January 1, 2023, these protests are decided within SBA rather than the VA. OHA also hears size appeals (appeals of an SBA Area Office size determination) and NAICS code appeals (challenges to the NAICS code and size standard a contracting officer assigned to a solicitation). OHA judges decide on the written administrative record, apply the governing regulations, and issue reasoned written decisions that become the authoritative body of precedent contractors and their counsel rely on. An OHA decision is the final SBA-level ruling; further review, where available, lies in federal court.

When You Deal With Them

When your SDVOSB status is protested — OHA decides whether you are genuinely veteran-owned and controlled (13 CFR 134 Subpart J).
When you appeal a size determination — an Area Office ruling that you are 'other than small' is appealed to OHA.
When you appeal a NAICS code — you can challenge the NAICS code/size standard the CO assigned to a solicitation at OHA.
When you research precedent — OHA's published decisions define how ownership, control, and affiliation are applied.

What They Do

Responsibility	What It Means
Decides SDVOSB status protests	OHA judges rule on whether a firm is owned and controlled by service-disabled veterans as required for an SDVOSB set-aside, under 13 CFR Part 134 Subpart J.
Hears size appeals	A firm (or a protester) that disagrees with an SBA Area Office size determination can appeal it to OHA, which reviews for clear error.
Hears NAICS code appeals	OHA decides appeals of the NAICS code and size standard a contracting officer assigns to a solicitation, which can change who counts as small.
Sets the precedent	OHA's written decisions are the authoritative interpretations of the ownership, control, affiliation, and size rules that firms and counsel rely on.

What It Means for an SDVOSB

OHA is where an SDVOSB's certification is put to the test under fire. If a competitor files a status protest after you win a set-aside, an OHA administrative judge — on the written record — will scrutinize whether a service-disabled veteran unconditionally owns at least 51% and actually controls the company's management and daily operations, testing the exact things the ownership-and-control rules require. Because OHA decides on the record, your defense is only as good as your documentation: the operating agreement, the ownership chain, the evidence that the veteran (not a non-veteran partner, investor, or manager) runs the business. OHA is also your recourse in the other direction — if an Area Office wrongly finds you 'other than small,' or a CO assigns a NAICS code with a size standard that boxes you out, you appeal to OHA. Study OHA's published decisions before you ever face one; they are the clearest guide to how the ownership, control, and affiliation rules actually get applied.

Watch Out For

Thin documentation — OHA decides on the written record, so gaps in your operating agreement or ownership proof can sink an otherwise legitimate firm.
Missing the filing deadline — status protests and appeals have short, strict deadlines; a late filing is dismissed regardless of the merits.
Non-veteran control red flags — supermajority-consent rights, a non-veteran's outsized role, or unusual employment terms are exactly what OHA looks for.
Assuming VA still decides — since January 1, 2023, SDVOSB status protests are decided within SBA (OHA), not the VA.

Run the Numbers

Set-Aside Eligibility Checker →Size Standard Calculator →

Frequently Asked

Who decides an SDVOSB status protest?

SBA's Office of Hearings and Appeals (OHA) decides SDVOSB status protests under 13 CFR Part 134 Subpart J. An OHA administrative judge reviews, on the written administrative record, whether a firm is genuinely owned (at least 51%, unconditionally) and controlled by one or more service-disabled veterans. Since the certification function transferred to SBA on January 1, 2023, these protests are handled within SBA rather than the VA. An OHA status decision is the final SBA-level ruling.

What else does SBA's Office of Hearings and Appeals decide?

Besides SDVOSB (and other socioeconomic) status protests, OHA hears size appeals — appeals of an SBA Area Office's determination that a firm is or is not small — and NAICS code appeals, which challenge the NAICS code and size standard a contracting officer assigned to a solicitation. OHA judges decide on the written record and issue reasoned decisions that form the authoritative precedent on ownership, control, affiliation, and size. Where further review is available, it lies in federal court.

Primary Sources

Plain-English reference, not legal advice. Federal roles are reorganized and their titles and reporting lines change over time, and the FAR/CFR sections that define them are amended from time to time — always confirm the current role, its authority, and the governing citation against the official source and the actual solicitation before relying on it, and consult qualified counsel for your specific situation.

Last updated Jul 4, 2026Update cadence: Quarterly, plus on reorganization, program rename, or FAR/CFR amendment

Change log (1)

Jul 4, 2026
LaunchedPublished the federal contracting roles & officials reference covering the people an SDVOSB deals with across a set-aside — the contracting officer (FAR 1.602), contract specialist (FAR Part 1), contracting officer's representative (FAR 1.604), source selection authority (FAR 15.303), OSDBU director (15 U.S.C. § 644(k)), small business specialist (FAR 19.201), SBA procurement center representative (FAR 19.402), SBA commercial market representative (FAR 19.402(e)), SBA Area Office size specialist (13 CFR § 121.1001), SBA Office of Hearings and Appeals judge (13 CFR Part 134), competition advocate (FAR 6.501), task- and delivery-order ombudsman (FAR 16.505(b)(8)), and APEX Accelerator counselor (10 U.S.C. §§ 4951–4955) — each with an at-a-glance quick-facts card, a when-you-deal-with-them list, a responsibilities table, an SDVOSB-specific angle, watch-outs, FAQPage, Article, Dataset, and BreadcrumbList structured data, primary-source citations, and cross-links into the glossary, how-to guides, forms, clauses, FAQ, and the set-aside eligibility, size-standard, win-probability, price-to-win, and subcontracting calculators.