Comments on SBA’s proposed women’s set-aside program are due May 3. SBA is proposing to make woman-owned businesses in 83 industries eligible for set-asides. A study by the Rand Corp. found women in those industries were either underrepresented or “substantially underrepresen-ted” in federal contracting. (A list of the industries and other details about the proposal appeared in the March 5 Set-Aside Alert.)

Women Impacting Public Policy urged its members to file comments if they think their industry has been unfairly excluded. Ann Sullivan, WIPP’s legislative liaison, said business owners should submit statistical evidence of underrepresentation.

The Obama administration is looking to consolidate interagency contracts and blanket purchasing agreements that are overlapping or redundant.

Dan Gordon, chief of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy, disclosed the review at a conference in Cambridge, MD, April 12, the newspaper Federal Times reported.

“One of the challenges we see is that to industry, government often seems like dozens of medium-size customers, instead of one large customer — in fact, the world’s largest customer,” Gordon said.

He pointed to GSA’s new BPA for office supplies as an example of how the government should be buying. The BPA will open to customers in all agencies, and bidders are being urged to offer aggressive pricing. (SAA, 3/19)

The Government Accountability Office says outsourcing could be one way for the U.S. Postal Service to cut costs. GAO auditors say the Postal Service’s current business model “is not viable due to USPS’s inability to reduce costs sufficiently in response to continuing mail volume and revenue declines.”

GAO said the service should examine what functions might be outsourced, possibly including some city delivery routes. Contractors already provide most long-distance air and ground transportation of mail.

USPS projects a $7 billion loss this year, with red ink spilling over the next decade. The agency has proposed cutting back to five-day mail delivery, but many in Congress are resisting. In the past Congress has blocked outsourcing of more postal functions.

SBA’s annual scorecard on agencies’ contracting performance will look more like a report card. When the 2009 report is issued, the agency says the revised scorecard will be based on an A through F letter-grade system, rather than the previous red, yellow, green ratings.

SBA grades agencies’ performance in achieving the various small business contracting goals, and also assesses their subcontracting performance and progress plans to meet goals.