Summary
This article summarizes Deltek’s GovWin IQ research on the top 10 federal small business set-aside opportunities for FY 2027 and the SBA’s proposed size standard changes.
Why It Matters: Higher size thresholds could expand the pool of small businesses competing for set-asides, so planning now helps firms decide whether to prime or sub.
Key Takeaways:
- Top 10 set-asides total over $121 billion: It is the highest value ever on Deltek’s small business list, and two vehicles account for $110 billion.
- SBA proposes new small business size standards: The SBA proposes moving 173 NAICS codes to employee-based thresholds and raising limits, such as janitorial from $22 million to $58 million.
- Small businesses have three moves to make: Comment before the November 20, 2026 deadline, watch recompete timelines, and decide whether to prime or sub.
The beginning of the new fiscal year is always an exciting and high-stakes time for federal government contractors. This is especially true this year for small businesses as there are potential major regulatory changes in the works.
To help small businesses with their planning and preparation, Deltek’s GovWin IQ team recently hosted a webinar, “Top 10 Federal Small Business Opportunities for Fiscal Year 2027,” and published a corresponding report. This research covers the biggest competitive federal opportunities set aside for small businesses and the upcoming changes to small business size standards. If you work for a small business and are trying to find your way through the federal market, this summary is for you.
Free Report
Top Ten Set Aside Opportunities for FY 2027
Know What’s Coming Before the Competition Does
Who the Top Opportunities Set-Aside List is For
I've spent more than 25 years researching federal contracting, and I opened the webinar by explaining what we set out to do: help small businesses spot the opportunities they can realistically pursue and understand the regulatory changes that could affect them. The opportunities featured in our set-asides list are exclusively for small business primes, either small business directly or a socioeconomic category.
This was the second webinar in our "Top Opps" series. The first covered unrestricted opportunities and was led by Ashley Sanderson. It provides a fuller picture of the fiscal year ahead and is available to watch on-demand.
The Top Federal Opportunities for Small Businesses in FY 2027
The ten set-aside opportunities we featured this year are collectively valued at over $121 billion. That's the highest cumulative value ever for our top ten small business list, a notable increase from prior years.
The combined ceiling of two vehicles represented $110 billion of that cumulative value:
- DLA's SOE TLS 6 (Special Operational Equipment Tailored Logistics Support Program) has an estimated ceiling of $60 billion. The incumbent IDIQ saw a ceiling increase from $33 billion to $60 billion in January 2026. This increase was driven by unexpected needs stemming from COVID, the Ukraine/Russia conflict, as well as fulfilling the executive order and DOW memo for 'Drone Dominance.'
- GSA STARS IV (Streamlined Technology Acquisition Resources for Services) is the potential follow-on to the $50 billion STARS III. This GWAC is essential for 8(a) IT providers, with task orders in emerging technologies like AI and machine learning.
Both vehicles are important pathways into high-value contracts for small businesses. Both STARS II and III awarded more than 1,000 contracts, and I expect STARS IV will match that. However, this means competition will happen mainly at the task order level and not at the initial contract award. SOE TLS 6 will likely award under 10 contracts, based on historic activity. This will make it tougher to win a prime contract spot, however the incumbent contracts for SOE TLS awarded more than 2,000 subcontracts, providing a great entry point into federal contracting for suppliers.
The SBA's Proposed Changes to Size Standards
A large part of the webinar conversation was about the SBA's proposed changes to size standards, which determine whether your business qualifies as small. Here is what small businesses need to know:
What size standards are
Size standards are tied to NAICS code. They use either annual revenue or employee count. For example, janitorial services (NAICS 561720) currently have a $22 million revenue cap, while cleaning supply manufacturers are limited to 900 employees. If a company falls below that number, they are considered small; above, they are a large business.
What the SBA proposed
The SBA wants to convert 173 NAICS codes from revenue-based to employee-based thresholds. It's also considering sizable increases to both employee counts and revenue limits.
Here's how that looks in practice using our Janitorial example: Currently, any company with receipts below $22,000,000 qualifies as small. Under the proposed changes, any company with receipts below $58,000,000 would qualify as small. Some codes, such as those in Computer Systems Design, will have an even greater change, from $34 million now to $531 million under the proposed change.
What it could mean for you
The change of size standard would mean a lot of formerly large businesses would now be considered small, and small businesses would stay small longer. Not only would this mean increased competition, but these larger small businesses have deeper resources. This could see an increase in contract bundling as well as reduced subcontract opportunities.
With the larger competition pool more set-aside opportunities may come. The "rule of two" may be easier to achieve, shifting some opportunities, especially at the task order level, from full and open competition to small business set-aside.
Thousands of comments were submitted to the Federal Register on this proposed change. It was also the most asked about topic in advance of the webinar, more so than even the opportunities themselves. While most of the comments are not in favor of the changes as currently written, it has reopened conversation about creating set-aside opportunities for "Very Small Businesses (VSB)" as well as a potential "mid-tier" business size.
Three Steps Small Businesses Can Take
- Stay on top of market changes. While there is no timeline established for when proposed changes could take effect, the current administration moves quickly. Understand how this change impacts your business. Submit feedback while the comment period is still open (closes November 20, 2026) and monitor the Federal Register for revisions and implementation date.
- Watch recompete timelines. Several opportunities depend on procurement schedules, including those where incumbents are leaving set-aside competitions. If the solicitation comes out in the latter half of FY 2027, or gets delayed into FY 2028, there's a chance it could be issued under a larger size standard.
- Decide whether to prime or sub. Big vehicles like SOE TLS 6 and STARS VI draw a lot of attention from logistics and IT firms. If your company doesn't yet have direct prime contracting capabilities, looking at subcontracting opportunities may make the most sense for your firm.
