The Civilian Agency Acquisition Council and the Defense Acquisition Regulations Council have issued a proposed rule to require that a prime contractor’s performance in meeting small business subcontracting goals be included in the evaluation of the prime’s past performance.

The rule says the evaluation must include subcontracting performance on task and delivery orders above $100,000 placed against GSA schedules, governmentwide acquisition contracts or multi-agency contracts.

The councils said the amendment would “ensure that subcontracting management is addressed during evaluation of a contractor’s past performance.”

The proposed rule is FAR case 2004-012. Comments are due by Aug. 22.

The Defense Department has issued several proposed rules as part of the DFARS Transformation initiative:

DFARS Case 2003-D034 updates policy on construction contracting.

DFARS Case 2003-D050 updates text on government review of contractor insurance programs, pension plans, and other deferred compensation plans.

DFARS Case 2003-D073 updates text on the use of specifications, standards, and data item descriptions in solicitations and contracts.

Comments on the proposed rules are due by Aug. 22.

Symplicity Corp., an 8(a) firm in Arlington, VA, has won the contract to run FedBizOpps.gov.

GSA awarded the three-year, $17.5 million contract June 19. It was a small business set-aside competed on a best-value basis. The contract includes five one-year options.

However, Government Computer News reported that a protest is likely from one of the three losing bidders.

By commercializing “natural plastics” made from renewable resources such as corn sugar, Metabolix Inc. of Cambridge, MA, won EPA’s 2005 Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award for small business.

The company says its Metabolix Natural Plastics are made through fermentation of renewable resources such as corn sugar and vegetable oil. They are a versatile family, ranging in properties from rigid to highly elastic, and can be converted into molded and thermoformed goods, extruded coatings and film, blown film, fibers, adhesives, and many other products.

They are biodegradable in aquatic, marine and soil environments and under anaerobic conditions such as found in septic systems and municipal waste treatment plants.

EPA’s Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Awards provide national recognition of outstanding chemical technologies that incorporate the principles of green chemistry into chemical design, manufacture, and use, and that have been or can be utilized by industry in achieving their pollution prevention goals.