On March 19, 2026, the U.S. Small Business Administration published a direct final rule amending its Program Fraud Civil Remedies Act regulations at 13 CFR Part 142 to conform to the Administrative False Claims Act of 2023 (“AFCA”), Public Law 118-159, sec. 5203, 138 Stat. 2440 (December 23, 2024). The AFCA made several significant changes to the SBA’s authority to pursue administrative false claims actions against entities and individuals that do business with the agency. Federal contractors, including 8(a) participants, Alaska Native Corporations, Tribes, and Native Hawaiian Organizations, will likely want to understand the scope of these changes.
The Program Fraud Civil Remedies Act Is Now the Administrative False Claims Act
The most visible change is the renaming of the statute and the corresponding regulations. All references to “Program Fraud Civil Remedies” in 13 CFR Part 142 are replaced with “Administrative False Claims.” While this is largely a nomenclature change, it signals a deliberate alignment of the SBA’s administrative enforcement framework with the federal False Claims Act (“FCA”), 31 U.S.C. 3729–3733—the government’s primary tool for combating fraud by contractors and grant recipients.
Claim Threshold Increases from $150,000 to $1,000,000
The revised 13 CFR 142.9 increases the maximum amount for a claim or group of related claims that the SBA can pursue through an administrative action from $150,000 to $1,000,000. This is a significant expansion....
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