Georgia Tech Procurement Assistance Center

Boosting small business demands big ideas

By

There are 28 million small businesses in America, and Defense Contract Management Agency’s small business team wants as many of them as possible to join the defense industrial base.

“Our mission is to provide small business support to our defense and government customers by ensuring subcontracting compliance and optimizing subcontracting opportunities,” said Tatia Evelyn-Bellamy, the director of DCMA’s Small Business Office and Small Business Compliance Center. “Our strategy is to actively assist customers in developing aggressive but reasonable subcontracting plans for their contractors and review contractor subcontracting program compliance.”

In line with the agency’s over-arching mission of warfighter support, Evelyn-Bellamy explained her team’s effort “in assisting military partners with pre-award and post-award subcontract management, and working with prime contractors to achieve subcontract success” helps foster business innovation and new technology, supports the warfighter, strengthens and sustains the military and economic industrial base, and promotes private enterprise.

It is a massive undertaking that the office’s name naturally undersells. Small businesses account for 54 percent of all U.S. sales and provide 55 percent of all U.S. jobs. To support this large group of American taxpayers, the agency’s small business team partners with other DCMA departments to create an environment of support.

“We maintain a collaborative relationship with senior leaders, program managers and the Contracts Directorate to ensure customers and contractors develop acquisition strategies to identify and receive quotes, bids, or proposals from small business vendors,” said Rosalyn Wiggin, a small business professional within the SBO. “Our joint effort educates customers on small business regulation requirements and the benefits of small businesses — particularly their responsiveness to requirements and agility to perform in a more cost-effective manner compared to current large business suppliers and service providers.”

The U.S. Small Business Administration’s categorization of “small” depends on the industry. It is then further defined by average number of employees over the past 12 months or average annual receipts over the past three years. Prospective contractors should visit the administration’s website for more information. As a first-glance qualification test, SBA guidelines maintain businesses must meet the following parameters to qualify for small-business government contracts:

  • Is organized for profit;
  • Has a place of business in the United States;
  • Operates primarily within the U.S. or makes a significant contribution to the U.S. economy through payment of taxes or use of American products, materials or labor;
  • Is independently owned and operated; and
  • Is not dominant in its field on a national basis.

DCMA’s collaborative effort begins once business owners determine they qualify for small-business government contracts. Many owners may find it difficult to navigate regulations, especially those new to government contracts. It is a challenging environment that can at times punish inexperience, but Evelyn-Bellamy said her team maintains passion in pursuit of its mission.

“We are committed to expanding the small business industrial base,” Evelyn-Bellamy said.

In support of that commitment, DCMA SBO works with its DoD and industry counterparts to include the Navy’s Office of Small Business Programs, local Procurement Technical Assistance Centers, the National 8(a) Association, the National Defense Industrial Association, veterans’ groups and many more.

In addition to supporting these organizations, the agency’s small business team conducts training sessions, when appropriate, for both contractor and government personnel on existing and emerging small business issues.

“We support many groups whose goals are to educate, inform and train small business personnel and our industry counterparts on current programs, processes and initiatives,” said Eric Claud, an SBO professional. “It really is all about increasing small business opportunities for prime contractors, and particularly subcontractors, across the Department of Defense and the federal government.”

All of these efforts can make a huge difference in the financial health and success of small and socio-economic disadvantaged businesses. According to the SBA, “most government agencies ‘set aside’ a percentage of their acquisitions for small and disadvantaged businesses. In some cases, these set-asides might consist of certain types of tasks on larger contracts. In other cases, entire contracts may be designated for small businesses.”

In other words, there are often government-contract opportunities available to small business owners. Whether owners are qualified and prepared to properly apply is another story. DCMA’s small business team hopes to ensure that answer is always yes.

This article was originally published in the 2017 DCMA INSIGHT magazine. You can read the original here: http://www.dcma.mil/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=rX-EzAgRqWU%3d&tabid=2273&portalid=31

Yes, an agency can change the NAICS code from one iteration of a contract to the next

By

Click image above to open SBA’s Size Standards table.

As the incumbent contractor, you’re excited to bid on the successor contract.  The day it’s posted, you dash to fbo.gov, pull up the solicitation, and breathe a sigh of relief: the contract is still exclusively a small business set-aside.

But wait!  Under the assigned NAICS code your business doesn’t fall below the size standard.

Can the agency change the NAICS code from one iteration of the contract to another?  Sure, so long as the selected NAICS code meets the regulatory standard.

In NAICS Appeal of STG, Inc., SBA No. NAICS-5936 (2018), OHA considered a solicitation, issued by the Department of the Army, for “[n]on-personal information technology (IT) services and support requirements.” The contracting officer assigned the procurement NAICS code 541513, Computer Facilities Management Services, which carries a $27.5 million size standard. STG, the incumbent contractor, disagreed with that selection. It contended that the NAICS code, assigned to the existing contract, was the correct one, namely NAICS code, 517110 (now NAICS code 517311), Wired Telecommunications Carriers, with a 1,500-employee size standard.

Keep reading this article at: http://smallgovcon.com/uncategorized/yes-an-agency-can-change-the-naics-code-from-one-iteration-of-a-contract-to-the-next/

SBA reiterates that VetBiz verification is not required for non-VA SDVOSB contracts

By

Despite a longstanding and very common misconception, the VA’s SDVOSB verification requirement doesn’t apply to non-VA SDVOSB contracts.

As the SBA Office of Hearings and Appeals recently reiterated, it was “simply not correct” to believe that a company was required to be verified in VetBiz to be awarded a non-VA SDVOSB contract.

Confusingly, the federal government currently runs two SDVOSB programs: one under the VA’s rules and the other under the SBA’s.

Keep reading this article at: http://smallgovcon.com/service-disabled-veteran-owned-small-businesses/vetbiz-verification-not-required-for-non-va-sdvosb-contracts-sba-oha-reiterates/

SBA announces decrease in surety bond guarantee fees

By

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) this week announced the first fee decrease in Surety Bond Guarantees in 12 years.

The fee decrease will be in effect for guaranteed bonds approved during fiscal year 2019, taking effect October 1, 2018 and ending September 30, 2019.

SBA’s Surety Bond Guarantee (SBG) program is reducing the surety fee from 26 percent to 20 percent of the bond premium charged to the small businesses and is reducing its contractor fee from $7.29 per thousand dollars of the contract amount to $6.00 per thousand dollars of the contract amount.

“Reducing the SBG program fees will not only directly help small businesses, but also will incentivize surety companies and their agents to increase support for small businesses in the marketplace,” said Peter C. Gibbs, Acting Director of SBA’s Office of Surety Guarantees.

Under the SBG program, the SBA guarantees bid, payment, and performance bonds for small and emerging contractors who cannot obtain surety bonds through regular commercial channels.  SBA guarantees contracts up to $10 million, including the streamlined QuickApp application for those up to $400,000.

The SBA’s guarantee gives sureties an incentive to provide bonding for small businesses and, thereby, assists small businesses in obtaining greater access to contracting opportunities. Currently, there are 34 participating sureties and over 350 active agents in the SBG program.  On average, completed surety bond applications are reviewed and processed in less than two days.

The program is currently outperforming its previous year results yielding 27,000 jobs supported, 3,000 final bonds, and $1.7 billion in final bond contract amounts in fiscal year 2018.

For more information about this decrease or to obtain assistance, contact Jermanne Perry, Senior Management Analyst, Office of Surety Guarantees, (202) 401-8275; jermanne.perry@sba.gov, or your local SBA District Office.

Reforms deliver wins for small businesses

By

By some metrics, 2017 was a banner year for small business federal contractors. In May 2018, the Small Business Administration announced that, for the first time, the federal government exceeded $100 billion in prime contract awards to small businesses in fiscal year 2017.

Despite reaching this milestone, small business federal contracting still has room for improvement. For example, the SBA’s data also show that the percentage of total federal contracting dollars earned by small businesses declined for the second year in a row, falling to 23.8 percent from a historic high of 25.7 percent for fiscal year 2015.

Given these mixed results, is there a case for near-term optimism for the small business contracting community? Recent changes to federal caps on the use of micro-purchasing and simplified acquisition methods hold the promise of more agile acquisition, benefitting small businesses.

Indicative of the big changes forthcoming is a June 2018 White House Office of Management and Budget memo streamlining small business contractors’ access to federal contracting opportunities.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/articles/2018/7/27/reforms-deliver-wins-for-small-businesses

GSA launches pilot for small business research program

By

The General Services Administration (GSA) has announced that it would be moving forward with a new pilot program to manage and grant awards under the third phase of the Small Business Innovation Research program, which encourages small businesses to explore research and development with federal partners.

Phases one and two of the program focus on the actual research and development, while the third phase is designed to help small businesses pursue the commercialization of the products they developed in the first two phases.

“Helping small businesses commercialize new solutions developed with assistance from the SBIR program increases the return on investment from federal research and development funding and supports private sector job growth,” said Small Business Administration Administrator Linda McMahon in a news release.

“The SBA looks forward to working with GSA to encourage the entrepreneurship and innovation associated with the SBIR program and continuing SBA’s efforts to impact the growth of our nation’s small businesses.”

Keep reading this article at: https://www.federaltimes.com/acquisition/2018/07/30/gsa-launches-pilot-for-small-business-research-program/

SBA’s IG questions eligibility of women-owned small businesses to receive contract set-asides

By

Federal contracting officers, along with firms representing themselves as woman-owned small businesses (WOSBs) did not comply with federal regulations in 50 instances of sole-source contract awards.  As a result, there is no assurance that the contracts were awarded to firms eligible to receive sole-source awards under the WOSB program administered by the Small Business Administration (SBA).

That’s the conclusion reached by the SBA’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) in a report issued on June 20, 2018.

The OIG undertook its review of SBA’s WOSB program to determine whether the sole-source provisions that Congress included in the 2015 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) were being effectively implemented.   Congressional intent was to expand the number of federal contracts being awarded to WOSBs and streamline the process by which WOSB status could be validated.  Thus, in its review, the OIG wanted to determine whether sole-source contract awards comply with program requirements, and whether firms that receive the set-asides conform to the self-certification requirements.

The OIG selected a sample of 56 contracts, worth $55.7 million, to review.  The sample represented 81 percent of the sole-source contracts awarded to WOSBs between the period of Jan. 1, 2016 and Apr. 30, 2017.  The OIG determined that federal regulations were not followed by federal officials or the WOSB firms themselves in connection with 50 of the 56 contracts.  The 50 contracts were valued at $52.2 million.  Based on its findings, the OIG determined that there “was no assurance that these contracts were awarded to firms that were eligible to receive sole-source awards” under the WOSB program.

The weaknesses noted in the OIG’s report are similar to those noted in a review conducted in 2015.  Then, the OIG recommended that SBA should increase its training and outreach to both federal contracting officials and businesses regarding their responsibilities under the WOSB program.

Once again, in its latest report, the OIG makes a series of recommendations to SBA administrators to remedy the newly-identified problems.  Among them:

  • The SBA should prevent contracting personnel from awarding contracts to ineligible firms by implementing a certification process that includes “reviewing, analyzing, and making an affirmative decision that applicants are eligible to participate” in the WOSB program.
  • SBA also should strengthen controls in FPDS-NG to preclude agencies from using ineligible NAICS codes for the WOSB program’s contracts.

Overall, the OIG is recommending that the WOSB program should be operated more in line with other certification programs operated by the SBA.  In response to these recommendations, however, the SBA estimates that it will take at least another year before it implements a WOSB certification process.  SBA management also states it does not have the responsibility for improving the integrity of data in FPDS-NG.

The OIG concludes that since errors are likely to continue to be made in NAICS code selection and that WOSB firms will be allowed to continue to self-certify, the program is subjected to “unnecessary risks of fraud and abuse.”  In light of this condition, the OIG’s recent report offers six specific recommendations the SBA should take now to expand oversight and prevent agencies from awarding contracts to ineligible firms.

Small business goals are math mystery

By

Here’s the bottom line.

The only way to make sense of the top graphic that shows small business goal achievement for FY17 as compared to the bottom graphic showing small business obligations for FY17 (Source: FPDS-NG) is through the double and triple-dip counting of socioeconomic dollars and the counting of dollars that were not set-aside for, but won, by small business concerns.

 

If someone can prove to me otherwise, I would happily issue an apology and retraction for teeing up this same conversation every year the government claims to have met its goals for awarding prime contracts to small businesses.

Keep reading this commentary om Linkedin by Guy Timberlake at: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/small-business-goals-math-mystery-zoinks-guy-timberlake/

SBA sneaks in rule on small business recertification

By

The Small Business Administration (SBA) issued a Direct Final Rule on March 26, 2018 that appears to address a specific holding of SBA’s Office of Hearings and Appeals (OHA) related to small business recertification rules.

This rule went into effect on May 25, 2018.

In the recently issued Analytic Strategies, Inc., SBA No. VET-268, decision, OHA held that a service-disabled veteran-owned small business concern (SDVO SBC) that recertifies its status pursuant to an acquisition or merger remains eligible for set-aside task orders under an indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contract (IDIQ), unless the contracting officer specifically requires recertification in connection with a specific task order. This holding affirmed the widely understood interpretation of the regulations. SBA opposed this interpretation of the rule in Analytic Strategies. For more information on this case, see an earlier blog post on Analytic Strategies.

What Is the Change?

In March 2018, SBA announced what it terms as a “technical correction” under a Direct Final Rule that may be an attempt to cast doubt on the Analytic Strategies decision. This new rule, however, may prove too much as it would apply to many of the small business programs administered by SBA and not just SDVO SBCs. On the other hand, if SBA’s goal was to make contractors that have recertified their status ineligible for future set aside task orders, it is not clear this rule does it.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.mondaq.com/article.asp?articleid=701646

SBA announces results of 2017 small business federal procurement scorecard

By

On Tuesday, May 22, Ken Dodds, Acting Deputy Associate Administrator for the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Office of Government Contracting and Business Development hosted a conference call to discuss the results of the 2017 Small Business Federal Procurement Scorecard.

The annual Scorecard is an assessment tool that measures how well federal agencies reach their small business and socio-economic prime contracting and subcontracting goals and reports agency-specific progress. The prime and subcontracting component goals include goals for small businesses, small businesses owned by women (WOSBs), small disadvantaged businesses (SDBs), service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses (SDVOSBs), and small businesses located in Historically Underutilized Business Zones (HUBZones).

Every fiscal year, the SBA works with each agency to set their prime and subcontracting goals and their grades are based on the agreed upon goals. Each federal agency has a different small business prime contracting goal. The SBA ensures that the sum total of all of the goals exceeds the 23 percent target established by law.

Every year, the federal government spends over $400 billion dollars on goods and services, making it the largest purchaser of goods and services in the world.  The U.S. Small Business Administration’s Office of Government Contracting and Business Development is charged with making sure that the federal government spends at least 23% of its contract dollars with small businesses annually.

SBA’s announcement notes that the federal government exceeded its small business contracting goal for the 5th consecutive year, awarding 23.88 percent in prime contract dollars to small businesses totaling $105 billion, an increase of $5 billion, to earn an “A” on SBA’s Scorecard.   This marks the first time ever small businesses received more than $100 billion in prime contracts, a very remarkable feat in an otherwise difficult contracting climate.   The federal government also awarded almost $75 billion in subcontracting dollars to small businesses.  The prime and subcontracting dollars awarded to small businesses in FY17 amount to nearly one million jobs that are supported each year through federal contracting and help to build communities and fuel the nation’s economy.

Source: https://www.sba.gov/blogs/new-sba-fy17-scorecard-shows-federal-agencies-award-record-breaking-105-billion-small-business

Contracting News

Read More

Contracting Tips

Read More

GTPAC News

Read More

Georgia Tech News

Read More