Sect. 809 idea rejected

Set-asides won’t be cut

      The Sect. 809 Panel’s controversial recommendation to eliminate most small business set-asides at the Defense Dept. and to replace them with a 5% price preference has been rejected by Congress and by DOD officials, according to the Women Impacting Public Policy (WIPP) advoacy group.

      “This recommendation will not be adopted,” WIPP wrote in a July 31 news release.

      The 809 panel’s bold recommendation to upend billions of dollars worth of set-asides was always a long shot, considering that there is generally broad support for assisting small businesses.

      In April, WIPP and 25 other organizations sent a letter to members of the House and Senate Armed Services committees denouncing the recommendation.

      The letter stated that the 5% price preference would not provide enough incentive for agencies to contract with small vendors. Calling set-asides the “lifeblood” of small firms’ contracting, the letter said there would be no gains from a switch to a 5% pricing preference. “We summarily reject the notion that small businesses would benefit from this change,” WIPP and others wrote in the letter.

More information:
Letter to Senate Armed Services Committee: https://bit.ly/2UfeXzS
WIPP press release: https://bit.ly/2H84n8E

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