13 CFR 121 - SMALL BUSINESS SIZE REGULATIONS

The United States Small Business Administration (SBA) is increasing 37 small business size standards for 34 industries and three sub-industries (“exceptions” in SBA's table of small business size standards) in North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) Sector 54, Professional, Technical, and Scientific Services. SBA is also increasing the one size standard in NAICS Sector 81, Other Services, which it did not review in 2010. These size standards are all receipts based. SBA is retaining the current standards for the remaining industries in NAICS Sector 54. This rule also removes “Map Drafting” as the “exception” to NAICS 541340, Drafting Services. As part of its ongoing comprehensive review of all size standards, SBA has evaluated every receipts based size standard in NAICS Sector 54 as well as the one previously unreviewed size standard in NAICS Sector 81 to determine whether the existing standards should be retained or revised.

The United States Small Business Administration (SBA) is increasing 37 small business size standards for 34 industries and three sub-industries (“exceptions” in SBA's table of small business size standards) in North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) Sector 54, Professional, Technical, and Scientific Services. SBA is also increasing the one size standard in NAICS Sector 81, Other Services, which it did not review in 2010. These size standards are all receipts based. SBA is retaining the current standards for the remaining industries in NAICS Sector 54. This rule also removes “Map Drafting” as the “exception” to NAICS 541340, Drafting Services. As part of its ongoing comprehensive review of all size standards, SBA has evaluated every receipts based size standard in NAICS Sector 54 as well as the one previously unreviewed size standard in NAICS Sector 81 to determine whether the existing standards should be retained or revised.

SBA is reopening the comment period for the proposed rule published in the Federal Register on October 5, 2011 at 76 FR 61626. In that rule SBA proposed to amend its regulations to implement provisions of the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010 (Jobs Act) pertaining to small business subcontracting. SBA proposed to amend its program regulations to provide for a “covered contract” (a contract for which a small business subcontracting plan is required, currently valued above $1.5 million for construction and $650,000 for all other contracts), a prime contractor must notify the contracting officer in writing whenever the prime contractor does not utilize a subcontractor used in preparing its bid or proposal during contract performance. SBA also proposed to amend its regulations to require a prime contractor to notify a contracting officer in writing whenever the prime contractor reduces payments to a subcontractor or when payments to a subcontractor are 90 days or more past due. In addition, SBA proposed to clarify that the contracting officer is responsible for monitoring and evaluating small business subcontracting plan performance. SBA also proposed to clarify which subcontracts must be included in subcontracting data reporting, which subcontracts should be excluded, and the way subcontracting data is reported. SBA also proposed to make other changes to update its subcontracting regulations, including changing subcontracting plan thresholds and referencing the electronic subcontracting reporting system (eSRS). Some of the SBA's proposed changes would require the contracting officer to review subcontracting plan reports within 60 days of the report ending date. Finally, SBA also proposed to address how subcontracting plan requirements and credit towards subcontracting goals can be implemented in connection with Multi-agency, Federal Supply Schedule, Multiple Award Schedule and Government-wide Acquisition indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity, (IDIQ) contracts. SBA is reopening the comment period in response to the significant level of interest generated by the proposed rule among small businesses. Given the scope of the proposed rule and the nature of the issues raised by the comments received to date, SBA believes that affected businesses need more time to review the proposal and prepare their comments.

SBA is reopening the comment period for the proposed rule published in the Federal Register on October 7, 2011. In that rule SBA proposed to amend its regulations to implement provisions of the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010 (Jobs Act) pertaining to small business size and status integrity. SBA proposed to amend its program regulations to implement statutory provisions establishing that there is a presumption of loss equal to the value of the contract or other instrument when a concern willfully seeks and receives an award by misrepresentation. SBA proposed to amend its program regulations to implement statutory provisions that provide that the submission of an offer or application for an award intended for small business concerns will be deemed a size or status certification or representation in certain circumstances. SBA proposed to amend its program regulations to implement statutory provisions that provide that an authorized official must sign in connection with a size or status certification or representation for a contract or other instrument. SBA proposed to amend its regulations to implement statutory provisions that provide that concerns that fail to update their size or status in the Online Representations and Certifications Application (ORCA) database (or any successor thereto) at least annually shall no longer be identified in the database as small or some other socioeconomic status, until the representation is updated. SBA proposed to amend its regulations to clarify when size is determined for purposes of entry into the 8(a) Business Development and HUBZone programs. The proposed rule provided a 30-day comment period closing on November 7, 2011. SBA is reopening the comment period for an additional 30 days in response to the significant level of interest generated by the proposed rule among small businesses. Given the scope of the proposed rule and the nature of the issues raised by the comments received to date, SBA believes that affected businesses need more time to review the proposal and prepare their comments.

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA or Agency) is proposing to amend its regulations to implement provisions of the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010 (Jobs Act) pertaining to small business size and status integrity. SBA is proposing to amend its program regulations to implement statutory provisions establishing that there is a presumption of loss equal to the value of the contract or other instrument when a concern willfully seeks and receives an award by misrepresentation. SBA is proposing to amend its program regulations to implement statutory provisions that provide that the submission of an offer or application for an award intended for small business concerns will be deemed a size or status certification or representation in certain circumstances. SBA is proposing to amend its program regulations to implement statutory provisions that provide that an authorized official must sign in connection with a size or status certification or representation for a contract or other instrument. SBA is proposing to amend its regulations to implement statutory provisions that provide that concerns that fail to update their size or status in the Online Representations and Certifications Application (ORCA) database (or any successor thereto) at least annually shall no longer be identified in the database as small or some other socioeconomic status, until the representation is updated. Finally, SBA is proposing to amend its regulations to clarify when size is determined for purposes of entry into the 8(a) Business Development and HUBZone programs.

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA or Agency) is proposing to amend its regulations to implement provisions of the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010, which pertain to small business subcontracting. SBA is proposing to amend its regulations to provide for a “covered contract” (a contract for which a small business subcontracting plan is required, currently valued above $1.5 million for construction and $650,000 for all other contracts), a prime contractor must notify the contracting officer in writing whenever the prime contractor does not utilize a subcontractor used in preparing its bid or proposal during contract performance. SBA is also proposing to amend its regulations to require a prime contractor to notify a contracting officer in writing whenever the prime contractor reduces payments to a subcontractor or when payments to a subcontractor are 90 days or more past due. In addition, SBA is proposing to clarify that the contracting officer is responsible for monitoring and evaluating small business subcontracting plan performance. SBA is also proposing to clarify which subcontracts must be included in subcontracting data reporting, which subcontracts should be excluded, and the way subcontracting data is reported. SBA is also proposing to make other changes to update its subcontracting regulations, including changing subcontracting plan thresholds and referencing the electronic subcontracting reporting system (eSRS). Some of the SBA's proposed changes would require the contracting officer to review subcontracting plan reports within 60 days of the report ending date. Finally, SBA is also proposing to address how subcontracting plan requirements and credit towards subcontracting goals can be implemented in connection with Multi-agency, Federal Supply Schedule, Multiple Award Schedule and Government-wide Acquisition indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contracts.

The Small Business Administration (SBA) published a document in the Federal Register on Friday, March 25, 2011, concerning the Small Business Act Tour: Selected Provisions Having an Effect on Government that announced a series of public meetings on the implementation of provisions of the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010 (SBJA). This document corrects the DATES section and the Event Information table.

The U.S. Small Business Administration's (SBA) Office of Government Contracting and Business Development (GC/BD) is tasked with implementing several provisions of the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010 (SBJA). On Monday, March 7, 2011, SBA announced a series of public meetings on its implementation of these provisions. The dates, times and locations, as well as registration information, are set forth below. SBA is providing this supplementary information on the government contracting provisions of the SBJA to provide background and focus input.

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) proposes to increase small business size standards for 35 industries and one sub-industry in North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) Sector 54, Professional, Scientific and Technical Services and one industry in NAICS Sector 81, Other Services. As part of its ongoing comprehensive review of all size standards, SBA has evaluated 45 industries and three sub-industries in NAICS Sector 54 and one industry in NAICS Sector 81 to determine whether the existing size standards should be retained or revised. This proposed rule is one of a series of proposals that will examine size standards of industries grouped by an NAICS Sector. SBA has issued a White Paper entitled “Size Standards Methodology” and published in the October 21, 2009 issue of the Federal Register a notice that “Size Standards Methodology” is available on its Web site at http://www.sba.gov/size for public review and comments. The “Size Standards Methodology” White Paper explains how SBA establishes, reviews and modifies its receipts based and employee based small business size standards. In this proposed rule, SBA has applied its methodology that pertains to establishing, reviewing and modifying a receipts based size standard.

This rule makes changes to the regulations governing the section 8(a) Business Development (8(a) BD) program, the U.S. Small Business Administration's (SBA or Agency) size regulations, and the regulations affecting Small Disadvantaged Businesses (SDBs). It is the first comprehensive revision to the 8(a) BD program in more than ten years. Some of the changes involve technical issues such as changing the term “SIC code” to “NAICS code” to reflect the national conversion to the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS).

SBA is introducing a new Dealer Floor Plan Pilot Program to make available 7(a) loan guaranties for lines of credit that provide floor plan financing. This new Dealer Floor Plan Pilot Program was created in the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010. Under the new Dealer Floor Plan Pilot Program, which will be available through September 30, 2013, SBA will guarantee 75 percent of a floor plan line of credit between $500,000 and $5,000,000 to eligible dealers of new and used titleable inventory, including but not limited to automobiles, motorcycles, boats (including boat trailers), recreational vehicles and manufactured housing (mobile homes).

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA or Agency) is amending its regulations to clarify the effect, across all small business programs, of initial and appeal eligibility decisions on the procurement in question; increase the amount of time that SBA has to render formal size determinations; require that SBA's Office of Hearings and Appeals (OHA) issue a size appeal decision within 60 calendar days of the close of the record, if possible; increase the amount of time that SBA has to file North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code appeals; alter the NAICS code appeal procedures to comply with a Federal Court decision; clarify that contracting officers must reflect final agency eligibility decisions in Federal procurement databases and goaling statistics; and make other changes to size status protest and appeal rules.