small business goals | The Contracting Education Academy

November 29, 2011 By AMK

OFPP, SBA team up on procurement data

Agencies may soon have a smoother and faster process to deal with small-business contracting data. The Office of Federal Procurement Policy and the Small Business Administration said Nov. 14 in a memo that they are aligning operations.

Each year, SBA sends individual reports to agencies on anomalies related to small-business contracting awards. The reports help officials answer questions about data before SBA releases its small-business contracting scorecards. Then agencies turn in reports to OFPP and the General Services Administration, certifying that their procurement data is accurate and complete.

This fiscal year, OFPP and SBA will begin integrating the two processes. Officials said integrating the small-business data quality reviews will reduce the acquisition workforce’s work and improve acquisition planning. They also said the new alignment will improve accuracy of the data.

For the fiscal 2011 data reviews, SBA will provide agencies with anomaly reports. These reports will be focused on high-risk areas though.

OFPP and SBA want something in return for their changes.

“We ask that you increase the attention given to small-business data quality as part of your ongoing data validation efforts,” they wrote in the memo.

Officials expect agencies to incorporate a stronger focus on small-business data.

To help with that, GSA is developing standard anomaly reports available in the Federal Procurement Data System. These reports use the protocols currently available to agencies. They will be easier to use with a standard form.

About the Author: Matthew Weigelt is a senior writer covering acquisition and procurement for Federal Computer Week. This article appeared Nov. 18, 2011 at http://fcw.com/articles/2011/11/18/ofpp-sba-small-business-procurement-data.aspx.

October 27, 2011 By AMK

House subpoenas four agencies for small-business noncompliance

Four federal agencies were issued subpoenas by the House Small Business Committee on Oct. 20 for not complying with the Small Business Act’s procurement policies, according to a committee staffer.

The departments of Justice, Agriculture, Treasury and State were summoned to appear before the the Small Business subcommittee on contracting and workforce on Nov. 1 to testify why they are in noncompliance.

At issue is the “structure” of these agencies’ Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization Offices (OSDBU) and “the fact that they are not reporting to the agency head or deputy head,” wrote Darrell Jordon, house committee spokesman, in an e-mail to Washington Technology.

OSDBUs were conceived in 1978 with the purpose of having federal agencies set aside contracts for small and disadvantaged businesses. The Small Business Act also has requirements that agencies report their procurement activities with small and disadvantaged businesses.

Justice, Agriculture, Treasury and State were warned of their missteps and given a chance to remedy the situation after a June Government Accountability Office small business contracting report found seven agencies not in compliance.

Following that report, letters to agencies were sent by subcommittee Chairman Mick Mulvaney (R-SC). As a result, the Interior Department and Social Security Administration are now in compliance, and a third, the Commerce Department, was pardoned due to an administrative issue.

In September, agencies were reminded of their noncompliance by memo and a hearing was held on Sept. 15 by the subcommittee to examine the GAO report and the economic impact of noncompliance.

As part of the subpoena procedure, the four agencies must produce a number of documents, including paperwork relating to their small business procurement programs, attainment of small business goals or challenges to decisions not to restrict competition to small business between Jan. 20, 2009, and Sept. 30, 2011.

About the Author: Alysha Sideman is an online content producer with 1105 Government Information Group. Published by Washington Technology – Oct. 21, 2011 at http://washingtontechnology.com/articles/2011/10/21/small-biz-committee-subpoenas.aspx

October 17, 2011 By AMK

SBA proposals could make small-biz credit easier to get

The Small Business Administration is considering changes to its rules that would allow an agency spending its money through a task or delivery order to chalk up the awards to its own subcontracting plans, according to a Oct. 5 Federal Register notice.

Agencies could start to get credit toward their annual small-business subcontracting goals for their orders placed against multiple-agency contracts, a perk for agencies as procurement policy officials push strategic sourcing.

Each agency has to set its own annual goal to make sure that various types of small businesses have an opportunity to participate in its contracts.

Currently though, when purchases come through an inter-agency contract, the agency that holds the contract gets the credit. That applies to the General Services Administration Schedules contracts too.

For example, consider an agency that places an order against a governmentwide acquisition contract. Say a large company gets the award and subcontracts some of the work to a small business subcontractor. The agency that hosts the GWAC gets the credit for hiring a small business, not the agency placing the order.

Prime contracts work differently. If an agency awards an order placed on a GWAC directly to a small business, the purchasing agency gets the points.

Agency officials have told SBA they would like to get the small-business subcontracting credit when they’re spending the money. SBA is also considering giving discretion to the contracting officer from the agency that’s placing the order to establish the subcontracting goals related to the individual orders.

Officials also want real-time insight into subcontracting on interagency contracts. Contractor may have to report their subcontracts with small businesses to the host agency’s contracting officer for each order.

Currently, contractors are reporting to the agency twice a year at the most.

“Reporting on an order-by-order basis will allow the funding agency to receive credit towards its small-business subcontracting goals,” SBA writes in its proposal.

SBA is taking input on the proposal through Dec. 5.

In light of SBA’s changes, Dan Gordon, administrator of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy, has pushed agencies to think beyond their own purchasing and, instead, buy with the government in mind.

Strategic sourcing gives the government leverage over the contractor in setting prices. A greater quantity of potential orders encourages contractors to lower prices.

Office of Management and Budget officials believe agencies want to use more interagency contracts in order to squeeze the most out of their funds and lessen their employees’ workload.

“Particularly in this tight budgetary environment, agencies have told us they are eager for tools that can help them stretch a dollar further and do more with less,” an OMB spokeswoman said Oct. 5.

SBA’s proposed change may make subcontracting goals slightly easier to meet, especially if agencies are turning more toward the interagency contracts, said Ken Dodds, senior attorney at SBA.

He said agencies would find it more difficult to meet subcontracting goals if they didn’t credit.

About the Author: Matthew Weigelt is a senior writer covering acquisition and procurement for Washington Technology. This article appeared Oct. 12, 2011 at http://washingtontechnology.com/articles/2011/10/12/sba-subcontracting-credit-multiple-agency-contracts.aspx?s=wtdaily_141011.

Search this Website