Rule for past performance

The Small Business Administration has proposed a rule to make it easier for small business federal contractors to obtain past performance ratings.

Published on Nov. 18, it implements Section 868 of the fiscal 2021 national defense law. Comments are due by Jan. 18, 2022.

The proposed rule is intended to address the difficulties that small contractors may have in obtaining a qualifying past performance rating.

It would provide small businesses with two new methods for obtaining qualifying past performance:

First, a small business “may use the past performance of a joint venture of which it is a member, provided that the small business worked on the joint venture's contract or contracts”;
Second, a small business “may use past performance it obtained as a first-tier subcontractor on a prime contract with a subcontracting plan. For this latter method, section 868 authorizes the small business to seek a past performance rating from the prime contractor and submit the rating with the small business' offer on a new prime contract.”

More information:
Federal Register notice https://bit.ly/3D9l1i9