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Federal Market Intelligence for Small Business |
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Defense authorization bill allows sole-source contracts for WOSBsNDAA also continues DOD subcontracting test programSupporters of women-owned small businesses (WOSBs) are cheering a provision that Congress included in the annual national defense authorization bill that gives the women owners of small firms access to sole-source federal contract awards. “In the end, we won,” Ann Sullivan, government relations director for Women Impacting Public Policy advocacy group, said in a statement. “Women business owners won.” As it has done in recent years, Congress inserted a handful of non-defense-related small business provisions into the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) of fiscal 2015, which passed Congress last week and is expected to become law shortly. Those include the WOSB provision along with renewal of a controversial Defense Department small business subcontracting test program, among others. The WOSB measure originated as the Women’s Procurement Program Equalization Act of 2013, sponsored by Rep. Nydia Velasquez, D-NY, the senior Democrat on the House Small Business Committee, and was approved by that committee. “When it comes to federal procurement, women-owned companies too often face an uphill battle winning their fair share of contracts,” Velázquez said in a statement. “The legislation approved today will mean greater opportunity for female entrepreneurs and a fairer procurement process.” Under the WOSB language, federal contracting officers may award sole-source contracts to WOSBs or Economically-Disadvantaged WOSBs if there is only one WOSB or EDWOSB who can perform the work and if the value of the contract is below $4 million, or below $6.5 million for manufacturing. It provides WOSBs and EDWOSBs with the same sole-source authority currently available to HUBZone and Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Businesses. The NDAA provision also eliminates the current WOSB self-certification mechanism and requires the Small Business Administration to create its own certification process, according to Velazquez’ statement ( http://goo.gl/y3HyOs ). Details were not immediately available. Sullivan believes the WOSB measure will bring parity to the WOSB program because WOSBs previously were the only socioeconomic category of small businesses that did not have access to sole-source federal contracts. Sole-source contracts are “a critical tool used by the federal government to award contracts to minorities, veterans and HUBZone firms to access the federal market,” Sullivan wrote in a statement on WIPP.org ( http://goo.gl/PzjaI6 ). As with every other regulatory provision in law, the WOSB sole-source authority will not go into effect until the government approves rules and regulations to implement it. That typically takes six to 12 months or longer. Sullivan also noted that the provision is the latest in a series of steps to expand and strengthen the SBA’s WOSB program. The WOSB program was authorized by Congress in 2000, but was not implemented until 2011. Congress approved lifting caps on federal contracts for WOSBs in the NDAA of fiscal 2013. Another small business federal contracting provision included in the House and Senate bills will renew a controversial DOD small business subcontracting test program that has been in existence since 1990. A spokesman for Rep. Sam Graves, R-MO, chair of the House Small Business Committee, told Set-Aside Alert that Graves endorsed the provision and supported renewing the subcontracting program with the goal of “reforming and improving” it and requiring that data be collected on its effectiveness. The program allows some large contractors to avoid preparing small-business subcontracting plans for each contract. The contractors are allowed to use company-wide small-business subcontracting plans instead. Critics have complained that the program has never been adequately evaluated for effectiveness since it was created in 1990. “The Pentagon has been testing the (subcontracting program) for 25 years,” advocate Lloyd Chapman wrote in The Hill. ( http://goo.gl/VCDEas ) Meanwhile, DOD appears to be lukewarm about the program. A DOD executive earlier this year told Government Executive that the department’s position is that Congress should not extend the test program( http://goo.gl/ODkO46 ). Other provisions Other small business contracting provisions in the NDAA, which were supported by the House small business panel, included: Two-Step Design-Build Sponsored by Graves, the provision in Section 814 is intended to simplify and reduce costs for competing for design-build contracts in the Defense Department. Supporters say the goal is to lower the cost to small businesses by creating a two-phase bidding process, so that more contractors can afford to bid in the preliminary round. Only top-ranked contractors submit bids in the final round. Contract bundling data Section 822 of the NDAA, also sponsored by Graves, is intended to improve transparency for federal data on bundled and consolidated contracts. It requires the SBA, along with the White House Office of Procurement Policy and the General Services Administration, to develop a plan, along with policies and procedures, to improve the data collected on bundled and consolidated contracts, and to improve the accuracy of the data. Reverse auctions Section 824 of the NDAA, sponsored by Rep. Richard Hanna, R-NY, addresses reverse auctions. “Within (DOD), this provision limits the use of reverse auctions by banning the use of single-round reverse auctions, single-bid reverse auctions absent price protections, third-party reverse auctions that include inherently governmental functions or private past performance evaluations, and reverse auctions for design-build work,” according to a news release from the small business panel. More information: House Small Business Committee release http://smallbusiness.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=397838 .
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