The National Defense Authorization Act included many major provisions for the military and defense contractors. But it also restored a relatively little-known authority of substantial importance to small federal contractors: simplified acquistion.

The law restored an apparently lapsed authority for simplified acquisition procedures for contracts worth more than $150,000 and less than $6.5 million.

Congress allowed the authority to expire on Jan. 1, 2012. It pertained to simplified acquisition procedures used for procurements worth more than the threshold value of $150,000.

Members of the procurement community are calling the expiration an inadvertent oversight, according to a recent article by Fierce Government.

The final bill reinstated the authority through Jan. 1, 2015.

Simplified acquisition procedures are meant to reduce the amount of work to carry out a procurement.

Simplified acquisitions are directed to go to small businesses, unless there is only one qualified small business capable of doing the job.

SBA Associate Administrator John Shoraka recently estimated that 64% of simplified acquisition procurements are being awarded to small firms (Set-Aside Alert 12/21/2012 issue).

However, other specialists have estimated the proportion going to small firms at closer to 50%.