Set-aside

A restriction on who may bid. Agencies must hit yearly goals for spending through small and certified businesses, and set-asides are how they get there. The work is the same; the field of allowed competitors is smaller, which is the entire value of holding the matching status.

In a sentence

"This procurement is a total small business set-aside under NAICS 238160." Only businesses small under that code's size standard may bid.

You’ll see it written as

small business set-aside

total set-aside

partial set-aside

Full explainer: Which certification is worth your time?

Terms like this show up in every federal notice. We translate them in place, on every notice in your trade.