White House: Urgent Action Needed on Parity Bills The White House is rallying support for legislation to uphold SBA’s parity rule for set-asides. White House and SBA officials hosted a conference call for small business advocates on June 21. They said urgent action is needed to pass the legislation before the fourth-quarter rush of contracts begins in July, according to a person who participated in the call. Bills are pending in both houses of Congress to overturn a court decision giving HUBZone companies first priority in set-asides. The Obama administration is appealing the ruling by the U.S. Court of Federal Claims. The Justice Department has told agencies to continue following the parity rule until the appeal is decided. On the conference call, an SBA official warned that contracting officers might be hesitant to award set-asides in any category because of confusion over the issue. The official said billions of dollars are at stake for 8(a), woman-owned and service-disabled veteran-owned businesses that might lose contract opportunities. According to the person who participated in the call, the administration officials urged small business organizations to make their members aware of the urgency. The federal claims court ruled that HUBZone companies must get first consideration for set-asides because the HUBZone law says a contract “shall” be set aside for a HUBZone firm under the rule of two, while laws creating the 8(a) and SDV programs say contracts “may” be set aside. The Government Accountability Office has adopted the same interpretation of the law. The court said, “Congress did not explicitly provide for parity between the HUBZone and 8(a) programs.” The pending bills would change “shall” to “may” in the HUBZone law, creating parity among all programs. However, the bills have not moved out of the House and Senate small business committees. With less than 30 workdays remaining before Congress’s August recess, the best hope for a quick fix may be to attach the parity amendment to other legislation that has a higher priority.