NCBFAA: SBA’s PROPOSED SIZE STANDARDS RULES GO TOO FAR

   The National Customs Brokers and Forwarders Association of America says that the U.S. Small Business Administration’s proposed size standards for the industry go too far.
   The SBA went beyond the industry group’s initial request to exclude
transportation costs from their annual gross revenue. The agency now wants to include non-vessel-operating common carriers in the size standard definition.
   The SBA also proposed to reduce size standards for brokers, forwarders and NVOs from $18.5 million with transportation costs to $5 million without these costs.
   The NCBFAA believes a $10 million size standard more accurately reflects a small business in the industry. It also would like the SBA to exclude NVOs from the industry’s small business code until further study.
   The NCBFAA, however, did praise the SBA for eliminating transportation costs from the industry’s annual gross revenues.
   "The duties and transportation charges that we collect are often
considerable and have distorted our true size when they are incorporated into our gross receipts," said Peter H. Powell Sr., president of NCBFAA in a recent letter to the SBA. "They mask the smallness of our enterprises and often deprive us of the benefits available from federal, state, local and private sources to assist small business."