Tag Archives: subcontracting

House Small Business Committee on a Roll, Passing Eight Bipartisan Bills

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The House Small Business Committee continued its streak as one of the most productive and bipartisan committees in Congress, with the passage of eight bills after they held a markup.  A number of the bills addressed issue impacting government contracting.  Below highlights some of the bills of importance to women business owners:

This bill gets rid of the requirement that the sole source award can only be $4 million for the life of the contract, allowing sole source awards to now be $4 and $7 million per year. Additionally, for WOSBs and SDVOBs, the bill implements a new eligibility determination process for sole source awards. In addition to the current requirement that contracting officers must verify eligibility before awarding the contract, this bill requires SBA to also verify eligibility.

There was an amendment to the legislation that extends elimination of option years to the 8(a) program as well and will get rid of WOSB eligibility verification once SBA comes up with their own process to verify, which is in the works.

  • Incentivizing Fairness in Subcontracting Act of 2018 (R. 6367) – introduced by Rep. Al Lawson (D-FL) and Rep. Trent Kelly (R-MS)

This bill creates incentives for prime contractors to reach their subcontracting goals by receiving credit. Prime contractors will be required to keep records of subcontracting credit claimed at lower tiers. It also designates the OSDBUs in agencies to resolve issues of non-payment of subcontractors.

One amendment was made to this bill requiring subcontractors to tell the primes that they are doing dispute process for non-payment and if primes want to get credit, they have to report on what work is actually going to the small businesses.

  • Clarity on Small Business Participation in Category Management Act of 2018 (R. 6382) – introduced by Rep. Alma Adams (D- NC) and Chairman Steve Chabot (R-OH)

This bill creates a reporting requirement on small business participation on Best in Class (BIC) vehicles.  An amendment added to this legislation puts an effective date that the data must be reported, which is once it is available in SAM.

  • Small Business Runway Extension Act of 2018 (R. 6330) – introduced by Rep. Steve Knight (R-CA) and Rep. Yvette Clarke (D-NY)

This bill would modify the SBA reporting requirements to have businesses report their average earnings over the last five years, rather than three which will provide more certainty to small businesses as they ramp up their operations and grow over time. This is important for growing businesses who may slow their growth to avoid being pushed out of the “small” category before they have the capacity to compete with larger businesses.

  • Encouraging Small Business Innovators Act (R. 6368) – introduced by Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-NY) and Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC)

This bill makes a series of changes to the Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer programs, making them easier for small firms to use and allowing experienced firms in the SBIR/STTR programs to mentor younger companies.

For the full list of bills passed, click here.

From the Hill: Small Contractors Make Big Gains in New Legislation

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By: Jake Clabaugh WIPP Government Relations

 

ChabotThe House Small Business Committee is leading off 2016 by continuing its
efforts to make federal contracting more accessible to small businesses. Committee Chair Steve Chabot’s (R-OH) legislation, Defending America’s Small Contractors Act of 2016, makes an array of changes to procurement policy.

Although impossible to summarize all of the changes in a few paragraphs, which is why we have the link to the bill above, here are the highlights. The bill tackles transparency by rewriting – in plain English – the requirements for small business procurements. Since getting past performance is an obstacle for contractors getting started in federal contracting, the bill establishes a pilot program that enables them to get a past performance rating by submitting a request to the contracting officer and prime contractor. Offices of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization (OSDBUs) will now have increased authority to recommend which small business set-aside programs are most appropriate for each contract at their agency. The Act even touches the Department of Defense (DOD) by requiring that Mentor-Protégé plans in DOD’s program be approved by SBA – an update aimed at adding consistency to Mentor-Protégé Programs government-wide – but controversial since the last time we looked the Defense Department does not generally defer to SBA.

If some of these changes sound familiar, it’s because Anne Crossman, a member of WIPP’s Leadership Advisory Council, proposed several of these improvements during a Subcommittee hearing last fall.  Specifically, Anne noted WIPP’s “if you list us, use us” policy for prime contractors’ subcontracting plans and in her testimony she advocated for prime contractors to be accountable to the subcontractors listed on their plans. This bill incorporates Anne’s recommendations by requiring commercial market representatives (CMRs) assist prime contractors in identifying small business subcontractors and assess the prime’s compliance with their subcontracting plans.

The intent of the legislation is to assist federal agencies in meeting their small business contracting goals. The goal for women owned companies of 5% has never been met. A continued push for data transparency surfaces in the bill as well, requiring agencies to do a better job of reporting the contracting dollars awarded to small businesses.

The Committee is expected to hold a markup to consider this legislation during the week of January 11.  The WIPP Government Relations team will continue to provide updates as the bill moves through Congress.

WIPP Testifies to Congress on Challenges Facing Small Contractors

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Anne Crossman

The House Small Business Committee hearing last week focused on one of WIPP’s key priorities: ongoing issues affecting small companies trying to do work with the federal government. Anne Crossman, a member of WIPP’s Leadership Advisory Council, used her expertise in subcontracting to testify before the Committee regarding the challenges faced by small subcontractors.

 

In particular, many WIPP members have questioned to what extent subcontracting plans are enforced. WIPP has long advocated for a policy of “if you list us, use us” and it is still unclear if prime contractors are being held to these plans.

 

Subcontracting is a staple of many small contractors and facilitates the flow of federal contract dollars into small businesses, which provide jobs and boosts local economies. Agencies have subcontracting goals to ensure that small firms get a fair shot at contracting dollars.

 

The Committee delved into these and many other challenges facing small subcontractors. The hearing can be found in full here.