Thursday, May 9, 2024
Thursday, May 9, 2024
The Defense Department and other government agencies are proposing an amendment to federal acquisition regulations that would implement regulatory changes made by the Small Business Administration to "update and clarify" requirements related to size and socioeconomic protests, according to a notice in the Federal Register.
The proposed rule to the Federal Acquisition Regulation, which also has the backing of the General Services Administration and NASA, would address the SBA’s new requirements for submission of size and/or socioeconomic status protests in certain circumstances for the set aside or reserve of a multiple-award contract.
The Federal Register published final rules in October 2013, October 2020 and November 2022, reflecting the SBA’s requirements for submission. However, due to lack of clarification, the SBA revised the language in 13 Code of Federal Regulations 121.1004 that was last updated on Sept. 29.
In this new CFR, the SBA specifies thresholds for size protests related to “the set aside or reserve of a multiple-award indefinite-delivery indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) contract and for orders that are set-aside for small business under an unrestricted multiple-award IDIQ contract.”
Although, the CFR did specify that an exception for a submission can occur if a blanket purchase agreement or an order was placed under a Federal Supply Schedule.
SBA also amended 13 CFR 126.801, 13 CFR 125.28 and 13 CFR 127.603 to allow “socioeconomic protests for set-aside order for HUBZone, SDVOSB, or EDWOSB/WOSB concerns placed under a multiple-award IDIQ contract that is not partially or totally set aside or reserved for that particular socioeconomic category.”
In SBA’s final rule, published Nov. 29, 2022, its regulations to remove references to the service-disabled veteran small business program at 13 CFR part 125 were amended and moved to 13 CFR part 128 and 13 CFR part 134.
If this proposed rule is implemented, the Federal Register notes that agencies expect it would allow contracting officers, SBA and other interest parties to “protest the size of a concern for partial set asides and reserves of multiple-award contracts and orders that are set aside under multiple-award contracts” and “protest an order placed against a multiple-award contract where the contracting officer requested representation for the order.”
Furthermore, the proposed rule is expected to help economically disadvantaged businesses so that factors like gender and disability do not limit the company when it is placed against a multiple-award contract that is not completely in the company’s socioeconomic category, according to the Federal Register.
Finally, agencies expect that the implementation of this proposed rule would be beneficial to the government, contractors and offerors and that any cost to the government is not expected to be significant.