SBA is gearing up to go another round over size standards. The agency plans to issue an advance notice of proposed rulemaking soon, to solicit public comment on how to simplify the standards, said Allegra McCullough, associate deputy administrator for government contracting and business development. She said SBA hopes to publish a final rule by July 2005.

SBA issued a proposed rule last March setting size standards according to a company’s employment, with additional ceilings on revenues in some industries. The rule was withdrawn in July after it ran into widespread criticism. (SAA 7/9)

President Bush signed the $445.6 billion 2005 Defense Authorization Act Oct. 28. The law opens the Defense Department’s mentor-protégé program to HUBZone companies and those owned by service-disabled veterans.

Among other provisions, the law allows federal employees to petition their managers to appeal the outcome of public-private job competitions.

The FBI and the Defense Department inspector general are reportedly investigating new allegations about the award of a no-bid contract to Halliburton, the company formerly headed by Vice President Cheney.

Time magazine reported the Army Corps of Engineers’ top procurement official, Bunnatine Greenhouse, charges the Corps tried to demote her after she objected in writing to the award of a sole-source contract to Halliburton last year for oil-field repairs in Iraq.

Time reported that the former Corps commander, retired Lt. Gen. Joseph Ballard, said in a sworn affidavit that “members of the upper Corps management made racist remarks” about Greenhouse, who is African American, and that a senior official repeatedly threatened to have her fired. Ballard, who is also African American, said “an old boys’ network” in the Corps was out to get Greenhouse, who is the sister of former basketball star Elvin Hayes.

Federal information technology-related prime contracts reached $20 billion during the fourth quarter of fiscal 2004, according to a report by the market research firm Input. Defense spending on IT outnumbered civilian-agency awards by more than three to one.

Input notes that set-aside awards to small businesses totaled $1.4 billion in the fourth quarter, down from more than $2.2 billion awarded during the same time period in 2003. Set-asides accounted for 7% of the total contract dollars. For the second consecutive quarter, the Navy led all agencies with 25 set-aside competition awards. The Department of Health and Human Services awarded the highest dollar amount, $382 million.

SBA is terminating the waiver of the Nonmanufacturer Rule for Power-Driven Handtools Manufacturing, NAICS code 333991, because it has learned that there is a small business manufacturer for those products. Terminating the waiver, effective Nov. 18, will require recipients of set-aside contracts to provide the products of the small manufacturers on those contracts.