New Rule Proposed For SDV Sole Source Awards The Federal Acquisition Regulation councils are proposing new language to eliminate confusion over when a sole source contract may be awarded to a service-disabled veteran-owned business. The FAR currently allows a sole source award when “only one [SDV firm] can satisfy the requirement.” In responding to a bid protest in 2007, the Air Force argued that it could not award a sole source contract if there was more than one qualified SDV company listed in the Central Contractor Registration, even if only one company responded to the RFP. The FAR councils said that was not the intent of the rule or of the law creating SDV set-asides. To clear up the confusion, they proposed new language permitting sole source awards if “the contracting officer does not have a reasonable expectation that offers would be received from two or more service-disabled veteran-owned small business concerns.” In explaining the change, the councils said, “The intent of the FAR language is not that a sole source acquisition is prohibited if more than one SDVOSB that could conceivably perform the work exists.” The councils proposed an identical change in the language governing HUBZone set-asides. The proposed rule is FAR case 2008-023. Comments are due July 20. Join Us June 3