An Alabama congressman has proposed a grandfather clause for incumbent contractors who outgrow small business status by the time their contract is recompeted.

The Small Business Fair Competition Act, H.R. 3558, would allow the incumbent to compete for a set-aside contract if the company was a small business at the time of the initial contract award but is no longer small at the time of the recompetition, and would shrink to small business status if it lost the contract.

Rep. Parker Griffith, D-AL, introduced the bill Sept. 14. Because it came so late in the congressional session, it is not likely to be considered this year.

Contractors hired to investigate discrimination cases work faster and cheaper than the government’s own investigators, according to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

A contractor’s investigation cost an average of about $2,300 last year, less than half as much as the average in-house investigation. Contract investigators completed their jobs in 165 days on average, while in-house investigators took an average of 213 days.

EEOC said short-staffing and bureaucratic procedures may hamper federal investigators. The findings were first reported by Federal Times.

A high-ranking NASA scientist has been charged with using his position to provide financial benefits to his wife, the owner of an educational software company.

The U.S. attorney’s office for Maryland said Mark R. Schoeberl is accused of one felony count of acts affecting a personal interest. Schoeberl is chief scientist for NASA’s Earth Sciences Division at the Goddard Space Flight Center.

The Washington Post reported that a company owned by Schoeberl’s wife, Animated Earth LLC, has received $190,727 from NASA for products and services.

Schoeberl’s attorney said his client believed in the usefulness of the software.

SBA is terminating the nonmanufacturer rule class waiver for radio telephones, identified under PSC 5805 and NAICS code 334220. The agency said it has discovered a small business manufacturer of the products.

Terminating the waiver will require recipients of set-aside contracts to provide the products of small business manufacturers on those contracts.