If you hold a federal contract or you're planning to bid on one this year, the rules you learned are changing underneath you. Not eventually. Not theoretically. Right now.
The federal government is in the middle of something called the Revolutionary FAR Overhaul. That's the official name. The Federal Acquisition Regulation, the rulebook that governs how the government buys everything, is being rewritten from the ground up. The first wave of changes already took effect on February 1, 2026. More are rolling out every few weeks. And the biggest shifts hit by June 30.
This isn't a minor policy tweak. It's the most significant rewrite of federal buying rules in decades. For small businesses, some of these changes are genuinely good news. Others require immediate attention.
SDVOSB certification gives veteran-owned businesses access to billions in set-aside contracts, but the process is rarely straightforward. Applications face significant rejection risks, and success depends less on veteran status itself and more on whether your documents align to show ownership and control. The good news: the SBA cleared its VetCert backlog in late 2025 and reduced processing times to an average of just 12 days, down from the 60 to 90 days that was typical throughout most of 2024 and early 2025.
