Congress Poised to Endorse Parity Rule for Set-Asides A House-Senate conference committee said there is no need for legislation guaranteeing parity in set-asides because the Justice Department has already upheld SBA’s rule giving equal treatment to 8(a), service-disabled veteran and HUBZone companies. The conference dropped the parity amendment from the final version of the 2010 Defense authorization bill, which mandates many changes in contracting policy. The House has approved the bill; it is pending in the Senate and is expected to be passed and signed by President Obama. The Government Accountability office had ruled that HUBZone companies were entitled to first priority in set-asides, but Justice said GAO had misinterpreted the law. Justice’s opinion is binding on executive-branch agencies. The Senate had passed the parity amendment, but the House version of the Defense bill contained no such provision. Sponsors of the Senate amendment, Small Business Committee chair Mary Landrieu, D-LA, and the committee’s ranking Republican, Olympia Snowe of Maine, said they were disappointed that it was eliminated in conference. However, by adopting the conference report, Congress would record its approval of the SBA rule. The intent of Congress was a key point of contention in GAO and Justice’s disagreement over the rule’s validity. “This is music to our ears,” said Hank Wilfong, president of the National Association of Small Disadvantaged Businesses. The Justice Department opinion said the parity rule furthers Congress’s policy of providing “maximum practicable opportunity” in contracting for service-disabled veteran, 8(a) and HUBZone small businesses. SBA’s parity rule sets no order of priority among the three programs, but gives contracting officers discretion to set aside contracts for firms in either category, based on the agency’s needs in reaching its procurement goals.