How Your Company’s Socioeconomic Status Can Impact OASIS+ Eligibility and Award

General Services Administration’s (GSA’s) One Acquisition Solution for Integrated Services Plus Phase II, or OASIS+, has been out for over half a year now and activities are ramping up.

As a Best-In-Class (BIC) contracting vehicle for non-IT professional services, OASIS+ implements a rigorous scoring system in the evaluation of contract applications. The scoring criteria ensures that only businesses that are suited to compete on OASIS+ get into the program.

GSA promotes the participation of small business concerns on OASIS+ using distinct Solicitations that govern the application instructions and scoring guidelines for different business types. A business’s size standards and Small Business Administration (SBA) certifications can significantly impact their eligibility to apply for OASIS+. This article will help you understand your eligibility under the different OASIS+ Solicitation pools and help you navigate the application process based on your business size and socioeconomic status.

OASIS+ Solicitation Pools

OASIS+ has six separate and distinct Indefinite-Delivery Indefinite-Quantity (IDIQ) contracts. The size and type of your business determine what contract you are eligible for. The different pools are listed below:

• Total Small Business
• Women-Owned Small Business (WOSB)
• Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB)
• HUBZone Small Business
• 8(a) Small Business
• Unrestricted (For Large or Other than Small Businesses)

Applications must be developed and submitted for each distinct pool based on its Solicitation. Each Solicitation has its own SAM.gov page with all the required application documents. The SAM.gov page for Amendment 9 (released July 2026) is linked above for each pool.

Can I Apply for More than One Pool?

Yes, you can submit applications for multiple pools under OASIS+. Because the pool a contractor is awarded under will impact what bids they can view and compete for in GSA eBuy, some businesses opt to apply for as many pools as they qualify for.

For example, a business that is an SBA-certified WOSB concern can apply for the WOSB pool and the Total Small Business pool, the latter of which is open to any small business concern. If they meet the increased scoring criteria, they can even apply for the Unrestricted pool, which is open to all business types, including non-profit organizations.

Do I Need to Be SBA-Certified to Apply for a Small Business Set Aside Pool?

Yes, applicants submitting under the WOSB, SDVOSB, HUBZone, or 8(a) pools must be certified by the SBA in those socioeconomic business concerns. In addition, awarded contractors must maintain their SBA certification while on OASIS+ under the applicable socioeconomic pool, otherwise their contract may go dormant whenever a size re-representation is initiated.

How Do I Know if I Qualify as a Small Business Solicitation Under OASIS+?

OASIS+ small business representation will be based on the Domain that is being applied for. OASIS+ Domains describe the different areas of services that can be performed under the contract. They are made up of North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) Codes that GSA has determined are applicable to the type of services described by each Domain. The size standards of the NAICS Codes will determine whether a business can apply for that domain as a small business concern or not.

As an example, the Management & Advisory domain contains the following NAICS (all annual receipts-based):

The largest size standard of these NAICS is 541612 at $29.0 million annual receipts. Therefore, a contractor awarded under the Management & Advisory domain will use the 541612 $29.0 million/year standard to determine small business status under that domain.

The one catch here is that just getting under the door through the highest size standard NAICS Code does not guarantee full access to all bids under that pool. If a business represents as small under NAICS 541612 but as other than small under NAICS 541611, then they can’t apply for bids that are released under the 541611 as a small business set aside, even if they are in the small business pool under that domain.

I’m A Small Business Now, But May Graduate to Other Than Small During the Contracting Period

Businesses that sit on the fence of small and large will need to plan out how they apply for OASIS+ pools. If you are a small business according to the above-described representation method at the time of submission, then you can apply for the Small Business pool. Once you graduate out of small business under all applicable NAICS, your contract will go dormant the next time a size re-representation action is triggered. Once dormant status is activated, the contractor is not eligible to participate or compete in any new task orders/bids, but can continue to perform on previously awarded task orders and modifications of those task orders.

If you are forecasting that you will graduate out of small business, whether in all NAICS or just the ones you want to bid on in your Domains, then you should evaluate whether applying for the Unrestricted pool ahead of your size status change is right for you. The Unrestricted category does come with a higher threshold on scoring requirements, which can be especially challenging for smaller large businesses, but being on contract for both the Small Business pool and Unrestricted pool is how to ensure continuous access to OASIS+ while you’re in the transition period.

It’s important to know that the SBA recently released a draft for the new small business size standards, and many thresholds are expected to go up significantly, so you can read more up on this proposed change in the Federal Register.

How Do the Scoring Requirements Change Across Pools?

The scoring criteria for OASIS+ applicants differ going from any of the Small Business pools to the Unrestricted Pool. If you want to apply for both WOSB and Total Small Business pools, your scoring criteria will be the same, but once you make the jump to apply for Unrestricted, the scoring changes.

In all Domains across all the Solicitation pools, there is a maximum of 50 points that can be scored. These points are gained by putting forth Qualifying Projects (up to 5) that demonstrate different business capabilities, such as the ability to manage large dollar-value projects, the ability to manage multiple subcontractors, or the ability to staff multiple distinct labor categories. In addition to past project-based points, a business can also score points related to their certifications, including but not limited to ISO certifications, Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) Certifications or Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certifications (CMMC), facility security clearance, and audited pricing.

In the small business Solicitations, the scoring threshold you must meet is 36 out of 50 points. In the Unrestricted pool, the scoring threshold rises to 42 out of 50 points. In addition to that, the dollar value thresholds that make a Qualifying Project eligible for scoring are raised in Unrestricted, and individual scoring points will vary to fit the increased spend and resources that are associated with large vs. small businesses.

Need Assistance with OASIS+ Pools?

Are you interested in applying for OASIS+, but you aren’t sure where to get started? Or maybe you’ve developed a roadmap for yourself, but need guidance on navigating the trickier aspects of the application, such as planning an Unrestricted pool application as you transition out of small business, or applying for different pools with teaming partners. Winvale has a team of consultants and proposal writers that help businesses get on the OASIS+ vehicle. Reach out today for more information.