Buy American makes no sense for services: PSC

      While the Professional Services Council supports the “fundamental intent” of the recent Buy American proposed rule, the group says the rule is not appropriate for services contracts.

      In a recent comment letter on the proposed rule, PSC maintained that historically, services contracts have not included Buy American requirements.

      “The requirements outlined in the proposed rule do not make sense for services contracts,” PSC wrote in a news release about its comment letter. “The FAR rule as proposed could burden both agencies and contractors.”

     The group also takes issue with the rule’s proposed post-award reporting requirements, exemptions for commercial IT and waivers for Commercial Off-the-Shelf items.

Read more:
PSC press release: https://bit.ly/3ovVACh
Proposed rule: https://bit.ly/3ouYzec

FAR limits manufacturing set-aside awards

      DOD, GSA and NASA issued a final rule to reduce the maximum award price threshold for manufacturing contracts for 8(a) sole source, 8(a) competitive and HUBZone sole-source set-asides to $7 million, down from $7.5 million. This is to harmonize with a provision in the fiscal 2021 NDAA. The threshold for the WOSB and SDVOSB programs remains unchanged at the current threshold of $7 million.

Read more at:
Final rule: https://bit.ly/3HsMS0f

Details on HUBZ changes in House 2022 NDAA

      The House version of the NDAA for fiscal 2022 allows the SBA’s OHA judges to hear appeals of formal protest decisions regarding a HUBZone firm’s status.

      Currently, the only appeal available is to request a review by SBA’s Associate Administrator for GovCon & BizDev.

      Currently, there is no opportunity to go before an administrative judge, to review or cite prior decisions as precedent or to review a record of the decision, according to a recent blog by attorney Shane McCall. Moreover, these appeals are considered very quickly, within 5 days.

      Another proposed change would clarify that the HUBZone price evaluation preference applies “at the order level, not just the base contract level, for purposes of price competition,” McCall wrote.

Read more at:
McCall analysis: https://bit.ly/3FnPg6y

Inside this edition:

Biden’s $1.2T infrastructure bill approved with bipartisan votes

Vaccinations due by Jan 18

SBA proposes new standards for determining size of business

Final rule on sole sourcing

DBE awards to get boost

Buy Indian rule

CMMC gets a revamp

Column: In-Person Events are Back -- What’s Your Plan?

Washington Insider:

Coronavirus Update