13 CFR Part 127, Subpart E - Federal Contract Assistance

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA or Agency) is amending its regulations to implement provisions of the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010, and the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2013. Based on authorities provided in these two statutes, the rule establishes a Government-wide mentor-protégé program for all small business concerns, consistent with SBA's mentor-protégé program for Participants in SBA's 8(a) Business Development (BD) program. The rule also makes minor changes to the mentor-protégé provisions for the 8(a) BD program in order to make the mentor-protégé rules for each of the programs as consistent as possible. The rule also amends the current joint venture provisions to clarify the conditions for creating and operating joint venture partnerships, including the effect of such partnerships on any mentor-protégé relationships. In addition, the rule makes several additional changes to current size, 8(a) Office of Hearings and Appeals and HUBZone regulations, concerning among other things, ownership and control, changes in primary industry, standards of review and interested party status for some appeals. Finally, SBA notes that the title of this rule has been changed.

This rule amends the U.S. Small Business Administration's (SBA or Agency) regulations to implement provisions of the National Defense Authorization Act of 2013, which pertain to performance requirements applicable to small business and socioeconomic program set-aside contracts and small business subcontracting. This rule also amends SBA's regulations concerning the nonmanufacturer rule and affiliation rules. Further, this rule allows a joint venture to qualify as small for any government procurement as long as each partner to the joint venture qualifies individually as small under the size standard corresponding to the NAICS code assigned in the solicitation.

The Small Business Administration (SBA) is amending its regulations to adjust for inflation the amount of certain civil monetary penalty that is within the jurisdiction of the agency. This adjustment is required by the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act of 1990, as amended by the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 2015. This rule also makes technical amendments to the regulations governing misrepresentations in SBA contracting programs to add a cross reference to the regulation that contains the applicable penalty amounts for misrepresentations and to correct a citation in the same regulations. Finally, the rule makes a technical amendment to an existing regulation governing small business investment companies to add a cross reference to a new civil penalty provision.

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) is seeking input and comments on certification of Women-Owned Small Businesses (WOSB) and Economically Disadvantaged Women-Owned Small Businesses (EDWOSB) in connection with the Women-Owned Small Business Federal Contract Program (WOSB Program). SBA is planning to amend its regulations to implement section 825 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2015 (2015 NDAA). Section 825 of the 2015 NDAA removed the statutory authority allowing WOSBs and EDWOSBs to self-certify. SBA intends to draft regulations to implement the statutory changes.

This rule makes changes to the regulations governing the Women-Owned Small Business (WOSB) program. The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) is making changes to those regulations to implement section 825 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2015. Specifically, this rule implements the authority set forth in section 825 of the 2015 NDAA allowing sole source awards to Women-Owned Small Businesses (WOSBs) or Economically Disadvantaged Women-Owned Small Businesses (EDWOSBs) in appropriate circumstances.

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) proposes to amend its regulations to implement section 825 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2015 (2015 NDAA). Section 825 of the 2015 NDAA included language granting contracting officers the authority to award sole source contracts to Women- Owned Small Businesses (WOSBs) and Economically Disadvantaged Women-Owned Small Businesses (EDWOSBs). Section 825 of the 2015 NDAA also changed the deadline for SBA to conduct a study to determine the industries in which WOSBs are underrepresented to January 2, 2016. As a result, SBA is proposing to amend its definitions of underrepresentation and substantial underrepresentation.

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) is extending the comment period for the proposed rule published in the Federal Register on February 5, 2015. The comment period is scheduled to close on April 6, 2015. SBA is extending the comment period an additional 30 days in response to the significant level of interest generated by the proposed rule and requests from multiple stakeholders for an extension. 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) is reopening the comment period for the proposed rule published in the Federal Register on December 29, 2014 at 79 FR 77955. In that rule SBA proposed to implement provisions of the National Defense Authorization Act of 2013, which pertain to performance requirements applicable to small business and socioeconomic program set aside contracts and small business subcontracting. SBA also proposed to make changes to its regulations concerning the nonmanufacturer rule and affiliation rules. Further, SBA proposed to allow a joint venture to qualify as small for any government procurement as long as each partner to the joint venture qualifies individually as small under the size standard corresponding to the NAICS code assigned in the solicitation. Finally, SBA requested comments on the timeline and procedures for North American Industry Classification System code appeals. The comment period closed on February 27, 2015. SBA is reopening the comment period in response to the significant level of interest generated by the proposed rule and due to the request of multiple stakeholders. 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 fully 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 and the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2013. Based on authorities provided in these two statutes, the proposed rule would establish a Government-wide mentor-protégé program for all small business concerns, consistent with SBA's mentor-protégé program for Participants in SBA's 8(a) Business Development (BD) program. The proposed rule would also make minor changes to the mentor-protégé provisions for the 8(a) Business Development program in order to make the mentor-protégé rules for each of the programs as consistent as possible. The proposed rule would amend the current joint venture provisions to clarify the conditions for creating and operating joint venture partnerships, including the effect of such partnerships on any mentor-protégé relationships. Finally, the proposed rule would make several additional changes to current size, 8(a) Office of Hearings and Appeals or HUBZone regulations, concerning among other things, ownership and control, changes in primary industry, standards of review and interested party status for some appeals.

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA or Agency) is proposing to amend its regulations to implement provisions of the National Defense Authorization Act of 2013, which pertain to performance requirements applicable to small business and socioeconomic program set aside contracts and small business subcontracting. SBA is also proposing to make changes to its regulations concerning the nonmanufacturer rule and affiliation rules. Further, SBA is proposing to allow a joint venture to qualify as small for any government procurement as long as each partner to the joint venture qualifies individually as small under the size standard corresponding to the NAICS code assigned in the solicitation. Finally, SBA is requesting comments on the timeline and procedures for North American Industry Classification System code appeals.

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) published a final rule in the Federal Register on October 2, 2013, which amended its regulations governing small business prime contracting by implementing provisions of the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010. That rule was published with inadvertent errors in two of the regulatory sections. Those errors are corrected in this document.

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) is amending its regulations governing small business contracting procedures. Specifically, this rule amends SBA's regulations to establish policies and procedures for setting aside, partially setting aside and reserving Multiple Award Contracts for small business concerns. SBA is also is establishing policies and procedures for setting aside task and delivery orders for small business concerns under Multiple Award Contracts. In addition, SBA is addressing how it will determine size under certain Agreements and when recertification of status will be required. Finally, SBA is establishing a new definition of consolidation and reorganizing its prime contracting assistance regulations.

This rule implements provisions of the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010 (Jobs Act) pertaining to small business size and status integrity. This rule amends the U.S. Small Business Administration's (SBA or Agency) program regulations to implement statutory provisions establishing that there 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. The rule implements 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; an authorized official must sign in connection with a size or status certification or representation for a contract or other instrument; and concerns that fail to update their size or status in the Online Representations and Certifications Application (ORCA) database or a successor thereto (such as the System for Award Management (SAM) database) at least annually shall no longer be identified in the database as small or some other socioeconomic status, until the representation is updated. The rule also amends SBA's regulations to clarify when size is determined for purposes of entry into the 8(a) Business Development, HUBZone and Small Disadvantaged Business (SDB) programs.

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) is amending its regulations to implement Section 1697 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2013 (NDAA). Section 1697 of the NDAA removed the statutory limitation on the dollar amount of a contract that women-owned small businesses can compete for under the Women-Owned Small Business (WOSB) Program. As a result, contracting officers may now set-aside contracts under the WOSB Program at any dollar level, as long as the other requirements for a set-aside under the program are met.

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) proposes to amend its regulations governing small business contracting procedures. This proposed rule would amend SBA's regulations to implement the following sections of the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010: section 1311 (definition of multiple award contract); section 1313 (consolidation of contracts definitions, policy, limitations on use, determination on necessary and justified); and section 1331 (reservation and set-aside of multiple award contracts and orders against multiple award contracts for small businesses). In addition, the proposed rule revises 13 CFR part 125 by reorganizing the part for clarity and creating a definition section.