Burton: "Consensus" on Aid to Mid-Sized Companies SBA is considering allowing companies to remain eligible for small business set-asides for some period of time after they outgrow their size standards. Robert Burton, acting administrator of OMB’s Office of Federal Procurement Policy, described the idea as “a bridge” for mid-sized companies as they enter full and open competition. Burton told Set-Aside Alert SBA is considering the provision as part of its overhaul of size standards. “There is debate over whether [the bridge period] should be two years, three years, five years,” he said, adding, “We are seeing a consensus that there should be some period of time.” “We certainly don’t want to encourage you to grow only to set you up to fail in the long run,” he told an audience of contractors at an April 27 conference in Falls Church, VA, sponsored by Federal Sources Inc. Because expanding set-asides is a controversial issue, a decision may have to wait until after the November congressional election. Expanding small business size standards to include a phase-out period would dodge two major problems in providing aid to mid-sized companies. First, there is no definition of “mid-sized” in law or regulation. Second, there is no legal authority to set aside contracts for mid-sized firms. The difficulties facing mid-sized companies have been drawing more attention from the administration. GSA has asked for public comment on how those companies could be assured a share of its Alliant governmentwide acquisition contract for IT services. Industry organizations say the size standard for IT services, with a limit of $23 million in revenues, forces companies to compete with multibillion-dollar giants as soon as they edge above that limit. The Professional Services Council said mid-sized firms are under “increasing pressure” in the federal marketplace. Citing research by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the group said the federal market share for mid-tier IT companies has fallen by 40% in the past 10 years. (SAA, 4/21) In 2004 SBA proposed a comprehensive revision of its size standards, which govern eligibility for federal small business programs, but it withdrew the proposed rule three months later in the face of widespread opposition. (SAA, 7/9/04) The proposal would have increased size standards in some industries, but SBA said it had no intention of raising the standards across the board, as some advocates had requested. The “bridge” provision would amount to a temporary increase in a company’s size standard. SBA held public hearings on the standards in several cities last year, but the agency has given no timetable for issuing a new proposed rule.