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Federal Market Intelligence for Small Business |
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Set-Aside Alert exclusive analysis:Push is on to extend Sect. 3610 COVID19 relief authoritiesSect. 3610 expires March 31; bill sets Sept. 30 deadlineFederal contractor groups are urging Congress to extend the deadline for Section 3610 of last year’s “CARES Act.” The provision allows agencies to reimburse certain contractors for keeping people on payroll during the COVID19 pandemic, even if it is not possible to complete the work. Congress, which approved the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) in March 2020, had already extended the Sect. 3610 authorities twice. The Sect. 3610 provisions currently are set to expire on March 31. Sect. 3610 allows agencies to cover certain contractor costs in order to keep key personnel and skilled workers in a “ready state” during the COVID emergency. Agencies have discretion and flexibility in utilizing the authorities, and must use existing funds as Congress did not appropriate funds for Sect. 3610. Legislation to extend the deadline The current effort to extend the deadline is bipartisan legislation submitted by Sens. Mark Warner, D-VA, and Marco Rubio, R-FL, which would stretch the deadline to Sept. 30, 2021. On Feb. 25, Warner and Rubio wrote to Senate leaders stating that Sect. 3610 was “critically important to the resilience of our national security industrial base.” Warner, who is the chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, and Rubio, vice chair, wrote in the letter: “Section 3610 has proven to be an important means of providing necessary relief during the pandemic to critical intelligence community partners — particularly to small businesses that provide highly specialized capabilities — to retain key national security capabilities.” Industry support Nine industry organizations--including the Professional Services Council and the National Defense Industrial Association--wrote to House and Senate leadership on Feb. 25 asking for an extension of Sect. 3610. Because the COVID19 emergency is still ongoing despite the beginning of vaccinations, the Sect. 3610 relief is still needed, they wrote. “Until agencies allow all contractors back to their worksites and we are past the need for quarantines shutting down workspaces, Section 3610 continues to be a critical tool for retaining highly skilled workers supporting operations across the government,” the associations wrote. Utilization of Sect. 3610 The Defense Dept. has been the largest user of the Sect. 3610 authorities, according to a Government Accountability Office study. As of July 20, 2020, Pentagon officials reported they had covered $18.3 million in contractor costs under Sept. 3610. The agency with the next highest level was NASA, at $3.6 million. In a Dec. 11 report, the DOD inspector general found that Pentagon officials used Sect. 3610 to a limited extent through Sept. 30, with only 96 out of 781 affected defense contractors receiving funds under the provision. The IG identified a total of 135 contracts valued at $68 million in which Sect. 3610 was requested as of Sept. 30, 2020. The IG also said it was difficult to identify and track use of Sect. 3610: “Not all contracts using Section 3610 authority were clearly identified in DoD information systems and some contracts were mislabeled as using section 3610 authority when they did not use it.”
More information:
Warner/Rubio letter: https://bit.ly/38ap6WQ
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