On December 4, 2017, the SBA Office of Hearing and Appeals (“OHA”) denied an appeal by Serviam Construction, LLC. We represented the firm challenging their size. We argued that Serviam was affiliated with several other family businesses and therefore it was not a small business. The SBA Area Office agreed and found Serviam to be other than small. Serviam appealed this determination.
On appeal, Serviam raised arguments that were not presented to the SBA Area Office. OHA held that it “will not overturn a size determination based on arguments that were never raised to the area office. It is well settled law that “an area office cannot have erred by failing to address information or arguments that were never presented to it in the first instance.” This case emphasizes the importance of raising all possible arguments to the SBA Area Office.
