WASHINGTON ? The U.S. Small Business Administration has announced a schedule of 11 public hearings across the country, including one in Portland, Maine, to get comments from small-business owners on how the agency defines the size of small businesses.

The forums will allow small-business owners to provide valuable comments to SBA officials that will help the SBA simplify and restructure its size standards and make other changes that will make the size standards easier to understand and use.

Size standards are important to businesses that seek assistance from SBA’s small-business programs, including federal contracting. The SBA will consider a new size standards proposal once a thorough review of comments received from the public is completed.

The hearing in Portland will be held on June 7.

More information is available on the SBA’s Web page at www.sba.gov/size.