Georgia Tech Procurement Assistance Center

Reforms deliver wins for small businesses

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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

SBA and GSA, OFPP not seeing eye-to-eye on ‘rule of two’ application

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SBA logoA major dispute is brewing in the small business community. Just four months after the Supreme Court’s June 16, 2016 unanimous decision on the Kingdomware case, the Small Business Administration (SBA) is taking a stand on the “rule of two” that is stressing out industry and agencies alike.

As a quick reminder, the nation’s highest court ruled in the Kingdomware case that the Veterans Affairs Department (VA) must continue to apply the “rule of two” for veteran-owned small businesses even if the agency surpassed its annual prime contracting goal. The “rule of two” states if an agency can find two or more qualified small businesses during market research of a contract under the Simplified Acquisition Threshold (SAT) — between $3,500 and $150,000 — it must set aside the solicitation.

Now the SBA is expanding that Supreme Court ruling to apply to all task and delivery orders under SAT if the request for proposals comes under the General Services Administration’s Schedules.

Keep reading this article at: http://federalnewsradio.com/reporters-notebook-jason-miller/2016/12/sba-gsa-ofpp-not-seeing-eye-eye-rule-two-application/

Here is a copy of the SBA’s memo telling its PCRs that the should apply small business preferences to all task orders and all delivery orders because they are considered contracts pursuant to the Kingdomware decision: http://www.wifcon.com/dgc_memo.pdf

2017 NDAA increases DoD’s micro-purchase threshold to $5,000

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2017-ndaaThe 2017 National Defense Authorization Act will increase the DoD’s micro-purchase threshold to $5,000.

Under the conference bill recently approved by both House and Senate, the DoD’s micro-purchase threshold will be $1,500 greater than the standard micro-purchase threshold applicable to civilian agencies.

A micro-purchase is an acquisition by the government of supplies or services that, because the aggregate is below a certain price, allows the government to use simplified acquisition procedures without having to hold a competition, conduct market research, or set aside the procurement for small businesses. In other words, if the price is low enough, the agency can buy it at Wal-Mart using a government credit card, without running afoul of the law.

Keep reading this article at: http://smallgovcon.com/statutes-and-regulations/2017-ndaa-increases-dods-micro-purchase-threshold-to-5000/

Second round of solicitations added to simplified federal contracting site

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A new crop of solicitations has been posted in the past few weeks to the government’s startup website for simplified government contracting RFP-EZ.

There were 15 solicitations on RFP-EZ Monday afternoon, including one for a new mobile application to help the U.S. Marine Corps communicate with marines and recruits and one for a new health promotion Web tool for the Health and Human Services Department.

That’s more than double the six solicitations posted to the site early this year in a first-round beta test.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.nextgov.com/emerging-tech/2013/09/new-solicitations-added-simplified-federal-contracting-site/70108/?oref=nextgov_today_nl

Big firms edge out small businesses for billions in awards

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Major U.S. companies including General Dynamics Corp. and Medtronic Inc. have received billions of dollars in federal government contracts that were supposed to go to small businesses

The BGOV Barometer shows that about $4.74 billion, or 45 percent, of more than $10.6 billion targeted for small businesses under government acquisition rules were won by bigger competitors in the year that ended Sept. 30, 2011, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Companies that need the revenue the most are losing opportunities, said Margot Dorfman, chief executive officer of the Washington-based U.S. Women’s Chamber of Commerce.

“I think this particular issue should be one of the top concerns of the Small Business Administration and the president,” Dorfman said in an interview. “Fix it now. Let’s not wait.”

Keep reading this article at: http://about.bgov.com/2012/11/13/big-firms-edge-out-small-for-billions-in-awards-bgov-barometer/ 

 

Deltek: One tool could help agencies meet small-business targets

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The federal government didn’t meet its small-business goals in fiscal 2011, but Deltek analysts expect that agencies might get closer in 2012, thanks to renewed focus by procurement officials.

The Simplified Acquisition Threshold, a government procurement method used for purchases between $3,000 and $150,000, is receiving attention from the Office of Federal Procurement Policy, which recently had an independent party analyze contracts equal to or below the threshold.

The investigation found a lack of consistency in reporting this level of contract spending and made clear that many contracting opportunities and dollars are not going to small businesses.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/capitalbusiness/deltek-one-tool-could-help-agencies-meet-small-business-targets/2012/08/19/4e14e81e-e302-11e1-ae7f-d2a13e249eb2_story.html.

 

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