SDB Price Preference To Be Ended The price evaluation adjustment for small disadvantaged businesses would be abolished under a proposed amendment to the Federal Acquisition Regulation, because a federal court has declared it unconstitutional. The move will have no immediate effect. The price adjustment has not been used for a decade because the participating agencies—the Defense Department, NASA and the Coast Guard—have achieved their 5% goal for contracting with SDBs. The FAR councils said other provisions concerning SDB contracting will not be affected by the court ruling. Prime contractors will still be eligible for monetary incentives to encourage subcontracting with SDBs and agencies may use an evaluation factor to give preference to primes who hire SDBs as subcontractors. The court decision arose from a lawsuit by Rothe Development Corp., a white-owned Texas firm that challenged the SDB price preference on grounds that it was an unconstitutional application of affirmative action. After more than 11 years of litigation, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit agreed, and a federal district court blocked the use of the preference. The proposed rule is FAR case 2009-016 in the Sept. 9 Federal Register. Comments are due Nov. 8.