United States Code
USC most recently checked for updates: Dec 13, 2024
Determinations made pursuant to paragraph (1) may be made for individual awards or contracts, any part of an award or contract or task order, or for classes of awards or contracts or task orders.
If the procurement center representative believes that the proposed procurement will make the participation of small business concerns as prime contractors unlikely, the procurement center representative, within 15 days after receiving the statement described in subparagraph (B), shall recommend to the contracting agency alternative procurement methods for increasing prime contracting opportunities for small business concerns.
If the procurement center representative and the contracting agency fail to agree on an alternative procurement method, the Administrator shall submit the matter to the head of the appropriate department or agency for a determination.
With respect to a contract for the sale of Government property, small business concerns shall receive any such contract if, in the determination of the Administrator and the disposal agency, the award of such contract is in the interest of assuring that a fair proportion of the total sales of Government property be made to small business concerns.
Nothing in this subsection shall be construed to change any preferences or priorities established by law with respect to the sale of electrical power or other property by the Federal Government.
A contract may not be awarded under this subsection if the cost of the contract to the awarding agency exceeds a fair market price.
With respect to any work to be performed the amount of which would exceed the maximum amount of any contract for which a surety may be guaranteed against loss under section 694b of this title, the contracting procurement agency shall, to the extent practicable, place contracts so as to allow more than one small business concern to perform such work.
For purposes of this section priority shall be given to the awarding of contracts and the placement of subcontracts to small business concerns which shall perform a substantial proportion of the production on those contracts and subcontracts within areas of concentrated unemployment or underemployment or within labor surplus areas. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, total labor surplus area set-asides pursuant to Defense Manpower Policy Number 4 (32A C.F.R. Chapter 1) or any successor policy shall be authorized if the Secretary or his designee specifically determines that there is a reasonable expectation that offers will be obtained from a sufficient number of eligible concerns so that awards will be made at reasonable prices. As soon as practicable and to the extent possible, in determining labor surplus areas, consideration shall be given to those persons who would be available for employment were suitable employment available. Until such definition reflects such number, the present criteria of such policy shall govern.
Before proceeding with an acquisition strategy that could lead to a contract containing consolidated procurement requirements, the head of an agency shall conduct market research to determine whether consolidation of the requirements is necessary and justified.
In the case of a solicitation of offers for a bundled or consolidated contract that is issued by the head of an agency, a small business concern that provides for use of a particular team of subcontractors or a joint venture of small business concerns may submit an offer for the performance of the contract.
When evaluating an offer of a small business prime contractor that includes a proposed team of small business subcontractors, the head of the agency shall consider the capabilities and past performance of each first tier subcontractor that is part of the team as the capabilities and past performance of the small business prime contractor.
When evaluating an offer of a joint venture of small business concerns, if the joint venture does not demonstrate sufficient capabilities or past performance to be considered for award of a contract opportunity, the head of the agency shall consider the capabilities and past performance of each member of the joint venture as the capabilities and past performance of the joint venture.
Participation of a small business concern in a team or a joint venture under this paragraph shall not affect the status of that concern as a small business concern for any other purpose.
In this subsection, the term “disaster area” means the area for which the President has declared a major disaster, during the period of the declaration.
An agency shall provide a contracting preference for a small business concern located in a disaster area if the small business concern will perform the work required under the contract in the disaster area.
If an agency awards a contract to a small business concern under the circumstances described in paragraph (2), the value of the contract shall be doubled for purposes of determining compliance with the goals for procurement contracts under subsection (g)(1)(A).
To assist in the implementation of this section, the Administrator shall have access to information collected through the Federal Procurement Data System, Federal Subcontracting Reporting System, or any new or successor system.
On the date that the Administrator makes available the report required under paragraph (2), the Administrator of the General Services Administration shall submit to the President and Congress, and shall make available on a public website, a report in the same form and manner, and including the same information, as the report required under paragraph (2). The report shall include all procurements made for the period covered by the report and may not exclude any contract awarded.
To assist in the implementation of this section, the head of each contracting agency shall provide, upon request of the Administrator, procurement information collected through agency data collection sources in existence at the time of the request. Contracting agencies shall not be required to establish new data collection systems to provide such data.
The term “best in class” has the meaning given such term by the Director of the Office of Management and Budget.
The Administrator shall report on the information described by subparagraph (A) beginning on the date that such information is available in the Federal Procurement Data System, the System for Award Management, or any successor to such systems.
Nothing in this chapter or any other provision of law precludes exclusive small business set-asides for procurements of architectural and engineering services, research, development, test and evaluation, and each Federal agency is authorized to develop such set-asides to further the interests of small business in those areas.
All procurement center representatives (including those referred to in subsection (k)(6)), in addition to such other duties as may be assigned by the Administrator, shall increase, insofar as possible, the number and dollar value of procurements that may be used for the programs established under this section and section 637(a) of this title.
For purposes of this section, the determination of labor surplus areas shall be made on the basis of the criteria in effect at the time of the determination, except that any minimum population criteria shall not exceed twenty-five thousand. Such determination, as modified by the preceding sentence, shall be made by the Secretary of Labor.
A concern may not be awarded a contract under subsection (a) as a small business concern unless the concern agrees to satisfy the requirements of section 657s of this title.
In this subsection, the term “bundled or consolidated contract” has the meaning given in subsection (s).
Not later than 1 year after
To assist in the implementation of this section, the Administration shall have access to information collected through the Federal Procurement Data System.
Each Federal agency shall include in each solicitation for any multiple award contract above the substantial bundling threshold of the Federal agency a provision soliciting bids from any responsible source, including responsible small business concerns and teams or joint ventures of small business concerns.
When evaluating an offer of a small business prime contractor that includes a proposed team of small business subcontractors for any multiple award contract above the substantial bundling threshold of the Federal agency, the head of the agency shall consider the capabilities and past performance of each first tier subcontractor that is part of the team as the capabilities and past performance of the small business prime contractor.
When evaluating an offer of a joint venture of small business concerns for any multiple award contract above the substantial bundling threshold of the Federal agency, if the joint venture does not demonstrate sufficient capabilities or past performance to be considered for award of a contract opportunity, the head of the agency shall consider the capabilities and past performance of each member of the joint venture as the capabilities and past performance of the joint venture.
Not later than 30 days after the date on which the head of a Federal agency submits data certifications to the Administrator for Federal Procurement Policy, the head of the Federal agency shall publish on the website of the Federal agency a list and rationale for any bundled contract for which the Federal agency solicited bids or that was awarded by the Federal agency.
Not later than
The Administrator of the Small Business Administration shall submit the plan to the Committee on Small Business of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship of the Senate not later than
Not later than
The Administrator shall annually provide to the Committee on Small Business of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship of the Senate a certification of the accuracy and completeness of data reported on bundled and consolidated contracts.
The terms “Chief Acquisition Officer” and “senior procurement executive” have the meanings given such terms in section 657q(a) of this title.
The term “bundled or consolidated contract” means a bundled contract (as defined in section 632(o) of this title) or a contract resulting from the consolidation of contracting requirements (as defined in section 657q(a)(2) of this title).
Not later than one year after
The Administrator shall provide to small business development centers and entities participating in the Procurement Technical Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program under chapter 388 of title 10 and shall make available on the website of the Administration, a list of resources for small business concerns seeking education and assistance on compliance with contracting regulations (including the Federal Acquisition Regulation) after award of a contract or subcontract.
If an agency awards a prime contract to Puerto Rico business or a covered territory business, or a prime contractor awards a subcontract (at any tier) to a subcontractor that is a Puerto Rico business or a covered territory business, during the period beginning on
Along with the report required under subsection (h)(1), the head of each Federal agency shall submit to the Administrator, and make publicly available on the scorecard (as defined in subsection (y)), an analysis of the number and dollar amount of prime contracts awarded pursuant to paragraph (1) for each fiscal year of the period described in such paragraph.
The Administrator shall use a scorecard to annually evaluate whether each Federal agency is creating the maximum practicable opportunities for the award of prime contracts and subcontracts to small business concerns, small business concerns owned and controlled by service-disabled veterans, qualified HUBZone small business concerns, small business concerns owned and controlled by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals, and small business concerns owned and controlled by women, by assigning a score to each Federal agency for the previous fiscal year.
The scorecard used by the Administrator under this subsection shall be submitted to the President and Congress along with the report submitted under subsection (h)(2).