The Small Business Administration says new rules will prevent big companies from grabbing small-business contracts, but one longtime SBA critic says the rules will do just the opposite.

Lloyd Chapman, president of the American Small Business League, says the agency will allow companies to retain their small business status for up to five years regardless of their size, or whether they are sold or merge with a large firm.

Under the new rules, small businesses will have to recertify their size on long-term contracts when a contract option is exercised, when the company is purchased by or merged with another business, or at the end of the first five years of a contract.