Georgia Tech Procurement Assistance Center

Indian-owned businesses should see more procurement contracts under new ‘Buy Indian’ policy

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Buy Indian ActThe U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) on Jan. 12, 2016, announced a new policy to improve the implementation of the Buy Indian Act of 1910 (Act). The policy, announced in a memorandum by Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs (Management) James Burckman, comes in response to a U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) report, released in July 2015, that criticized the federal government’s enforcement of the Act.

The Buy Indian Act authorized certain federal procurement contracts to be set aside for preferential awards to Indian Economic Enterprises (IEEs) for all procurement contracts issued by the BIA, the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE), the office of the Interior Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs (AS-IA) and the Indian Health Service (IHS). In 2013, regulations were issued that defined IEEs as those companies which are at least 51 percent Indian-owned.

While the BIA and IHS have obtained services and supplies from IEEs under the Act since 1965,the GAO found that Buy Indian procurements have comprised only a small percentage of BIA and IHS annual contract obligations, the result of limited knowledge and implementation of the set-aside in regional or area offices where contracts are often awarded.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.mondaq.com/article.asp?articleid=461952

Buy Indian Act: 105 years (and counting) of frustration

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In 1910, William Howard Taft lived in the White House, the Chicago Cubs were just two years removed from back-to-back World Series titles, and Arizona had yet to be admitted to the Union.  That summer, Congress passed the Buy Indian Act, a statute authorizing a special federal contracting program for Indian-owned businesses.

Bureau of Indian AffairsSince then, it has been mostly downhill.  It took the Bureau of Indian GAO-GovernmentAccountabilityOffice-SealAffairs (BIA) 103 years to issue regulations implementing the Act’s contracting preferences.  Now that the regulations are finally in place, the Buy Indian Act program is suffering from lack of effective oversight and implementation.  In fact, a recent Government Accountability Office (GAO) report found that the BIA and the Indian Health Service could not even clearly articulate whether Buy Indian Act set-aside contracts take priority over other set-asides.

If the Buy Indian Act is ever to live up to its potential, significant changes are needed.

Keep reading this article at: http://smallgovcon.com/statutes-and-regulations/buy-indian-act-105-years-and-counting-of-frustration/

GAO sustains protest resulting from agency’s failure to make referral to SBA

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A procuring agency erred by essentially assigning a small business a failing past performance score without referring the matter to the SBA.

In a recent bid protest decision, the GAO held that the assignment of a failing past performance score under a past/fail system constituted a non-responsibility determination–and that the SBA was entitled to review the agency’s determination under the SBA’s Certificate of Competency procedures.

The GAO’s decision in FitNet Purchasing Alliance, B-410263 (Nov. 26, 2014) involved a Bureau of Indian Affairs solicitation for gym floor racks, covers, and accessories.  The solicitation was posted on the FedBid reverse auction website and was set aside for small businesses.

FitNet Purchasing Alliance submitted the lowest price.  However, the Contracting Officer elected to make award to the second-lowest bidder, Nationwide Supplies.  A single-page document in the agency’s file stated that the Contracting Officer had declined FitNet’s bid because of adverse past performance information about FitNet.  The agency’s file did not mention Nationwide’s past performance, or indicate that the Contracting Officer had considered Nationwide’s past performance in making the award decision.

Keep reading this article at: http://smallgovcon.com/gaobidprotests/agency-doesnt-request-sba-coc-gao-sustains-protest/

 

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