Latest Federal Acquisition News You Don’t Want To Miss

There have been a number of changes lately that are important to government contracting that you need to know about. But before I delve into them, I wanted to let you know that our November capture and proposal 2-day training courses in Rockville, MD are now half-full, with some people traveling from out of town to attend. We won’t have more than 20 people in each session to keep classes highly personalized and full of individual attention, and will close registration soon. If you were thinking about registering and would like to make sure the space is still available, don’t delay. You may register at http://www.ostglobalsolutions.com/capture-training and/or http://www.ostglobalsolutions.com/proposal-training.

So, here are the recent changes:

The Small Business Administration announced the publication of a final rule to implement the federal procurement program for women-owned small businesses (WOSB) that has been a long time in the making. There are at least 83 industries where WOSBs are underrepresented among federal contractors, and the 8(m) program seeks to open up more opportunities for WOSBs working in these industries. To be eligible, the company has to be small under the primary NAICS code, be 51% woman-owned. There will also be “economically disadvantaged” WOSBs – or EDWOSBs. It will take at least 4 months for the program to go into effect, circa February 2011. This new ruling will have impact on teaming when you are a large business, and of course could give you a leg up if you happen to be a qualifying woman-owned small business.

Also, the government has lifted the thresholds for contract awards due to inflation.

* The threshold under which contracts are required to be set aside exclusively for small
businesses are now $150,000 instead of $100,000.
* Value of awards that can be sole-sourced to an 8(a) or competed among 8(a) firms is up from
$3.5 million to $4 million (and from $5.5 million to $6.5 million for manufacturing). Same
increases apply to the sole source HUBZone awards.
* SDVOSBs threshold for sole source awards is now up from $3 million to $3.5 million ($5.5 to $6
million for manufacturing).
* The prime contractor subcontracting plan threshold is up from $550,000 to $650,000 and from $1
million to $1.5 million for construction.
* Threshold is up for the evaluation of acquisitions for participation in the small disadvantaged
business participation program from $550,000 to $650,000, and from $1 million to $1.5 Million for
construction.
* A contracting officer’s justification for other than full and open competition is now enough for
awards that are $650,000 rather than $550,000 (unless the agency procedures require higher
approvals).
* Another FAR provision amends various thresholds relating to the acquisition of supplies and
services including construction, research and development, and commercial items, the
aggregate amount of which does not exceed the simplified acquisition threshold. For example,
the $100,000 threshold under FAR § 13.003(b)(1), under which the acquisition of supplies or
services shall be set aside exclusively for small business concerns was increased to $150,000,
and the $250,000 threshold for acquisitions for supplies and services that are to be used to
support a contingency operation or to facilitate defense against or recovery from nuclear,
biological, chemical or radiological attack and are awarded and performed or purchase to be
made inside the United States, was increased to $300,000.

P.S. Our November capture and proposal 2-day training courses in Rockville, MD are now half-full, with some people traveling from out of town to attend. We won’t have more than 20 people in each session to keep classes highly personalized and full of individual attention, and will close registration soon. If you were thinking about getting capture and proposal training to win more government proposals and would like to sign up while the space is still available, don’t delay. You may register at http://www.ostglobalsolutions.com/capture-training and/or http://www.ostglobalsolutions.com/proposal-training.