NDAA 2023 has small biz items

      The James M. Inhofe National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal 2023 (NDAA) has become law and more details are now available on its changes to small business programs.

      The NDAA modifies the Defense Dept.’s Mentor-Protege Program and the Small Business Administration’s Small Business Procurement Scorecard. It also offers inflation relief for vendors, and more.

      Here is a review of the major small business contractor provisions:

• Section 856--Mentor-Protege Program: --The program is permanent and no longer a pilot program;
  • Companies with $25 million in defense contracts in the prior year are eligible to be mentors. Previously, the threshold was $100 million in such contracts;
  • Program participation is increased to three years, from two years; and
  • The law creates a pilot program to encourage proteges in engineering and software development.
• Section 871--SBA Scorecard: The small business procurement scorecard will be expanded to include data on competitive and sole-source contracts awarded as 8(a) Business Development Program set-asides. Furthermore, the data will be calculated separately based on whether the 8(a) awardee is owned by an individual or owned by an entity.
        Currently, 8(a) set-asides are part of the larger Small Disadvantaged Business category in the scorecard. The scorecard does not display 8(a) set-asides or type of ownership separately.
        In addition, data on such contracts awarded as HUBZone set-asides, Women-Owned Small Business set-asides and Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business set-asides also will be featured in the dashboard.
• Section 822 - Inflation Relief for Vendors: The new law includes extraordinary contractual relief for vendors who will lose money on a contract due to rising costs, as long as those increased costs are “solely due to economic inflation.”

       Here are more details on the relief:

  • Fixed-price contracts only;
  • Limited to DOD prime contractors and subcontractors only;
  • DOD may not request additional accommodations for obtaining the relief;
  • Expires on Dec. 31, 2023;
  • Relief is discretionary and allows consideration of indirect costs; and
  • The threshold is $500,000, raised from $50,000, for requiring approval for relief from an assistant secretary or deputy.

        However, contractors should not get their hopes up too much, according to PilieroMazza PLLC attorneys: “Many questions remain on how this authority will be implemented, including to what extent Congress is willing to fund this initiative,” they wrote in a blog entry. (Also see PSC comments story).

• Section 873 - Contract Bundling: This section orders federal agencies to share data with SBA on consolidated or bundled contracts. This includes “identifying each bundled contract and providing information on the effects on small businesses displaced as prime contractors,” according to an analysis by PilieroMazza PLLC.
• Section 872 - Small Business Innovation Research/Small Business Tech Transfer programs: This provision orders DOD officials to perform due diligence of presumptive awardees before notifying the awardees. The due diligence is to assess security risks of their cybersecurity practices and ties to foreign entities.
• Section 874 - Small Business Integration Working Group: This section requires DOD to form a group meeting at least four times a year to coordinate and integrate the small business activities of all the military departments and agencies.
• Section 805 - Executive Orders: This section clarifies that if a DOD contract contains a clause based on an Executive Order, it is treated the same as an order from a contracting officer. As a result, “this provision confirms that contractors are entitled to recover the cost impacts of compliance,” according to the PilieroMazza attorneys.
• Section 882 - Security Clearances for Innovative Technology Companies: This section creates a five-year pilot program to speed security clearances for “innovative technology companies.” It will serve up to 75 companies that are small businesses or nontraditional defense contractors.

More Information:
NDAA text: https://bit.ly/3Ggh6E4
PilieroMazza analysis: https://bit.ly/3YQ8lZT

Consolidated Appropriations Act boosts SBA funds in fiscal 2023

State Dept.’s Evolve RFP

NDAA 2023 has small biz items

Will NDAA cut inflation cost?

MBDA gets 27% budget lift

SBA takes over veteran certs

DHS: 18% in SDB buys

Column: Final Rule Establishes Requirements for New SBA Veteran Certification Program

Washington Insider:

Coronavirus Update