Today, the Office of Management and Budget’s Office of Federal Procurement Policy and other members of the FAR Council, in close consultation with the Small Business Administration (SBA), released streamlined regulatory coverage on small business contracting. Small businesses are the cornerstone of the U.S. economy.
The nation’s 34 million small businesses now account for well over 40 percent of U.S. economic activity and are creating two out of every three net new private sector jobs. Promoting strong small business participation in the federal market is a core objective of the Revolutionary Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Overhaul (RFO), which is returning the FAR to its statutory roots, rewritten in plain language, while removing non-statutory rules when they are not essential to sound procurement.
The release simplifies coverage and reduces the burden on small businesses seeking contracts while preserving important policies requiring agencies to set aside new contracts when there are two or more competitive small businesses capable of performing the work. The FAR coverage also promotes greater competition in the 8(a)-business development program so that small and disadvantaged businesses are better prepared to win work when they graduate from the program.
“The streamlining and common-sense stewardship that has been unleashed by the RFO is a once-in-a-generation win-win for agencies and the many tens of thousands of small business contractors that provide capability to our country. Small businesses will have more manageable access to the federal market, and agencies will be able to leverage their talents to meet mission demands,” said Dr. Kevin Rhodes, senior advisor to OMB Director Russell Vought.
The preservation of set-asides and more competitive 8(a) awards will work in conjunction with other regulatory streamlining actions taken by the FAR Council through the RFO that are expected to strengthen small business participation.
SBA will continue working closely with the FAR Council to ensure consistency between updates to its own government-wide rules on small business contracting programs and the changes released today.
BACKGROUND
The Revolutionary FAR Overhaul is the most significant reform to the FAR in its 41-year history. As the FAR Council completes the first phase of the overhaul, the FAR Council has provided relief from more than 1,600 burdensome requirements for agencies and contractors. These reforms open the door for increased participation by innovative small businesses, manufacturers, new entrants, and others who have not traditionally worked with federal agencies.
The streamlined FAR and non-regulatory resources will collectively form the Strategic Acquisition Guidance (SAG) that provides a common-sense authoritative foundation for nimble response and delivery of mission capability.
During the second phase of the RFO, the FAR Council will turn to formal rulemaking and invite public comment through the Federal Register. The proposed rules will be informed by the deviations issued in phase one, public input on the text received on the RFO website, agency feedback, and other appropriate inputs.
Regulatory streaming actions taken by the FAR Council that are expected to strengthen small business participation in addition to those announced today include:
- One-third fewer boilerplate government-unique requirements that are not required by statute or executive order for commercial work, which will lower burden for the majority of contracts with small business contractors;
- Increased use of simplified acquisition procedures that shorten the time from solicitation to award and reduce carrying and other transaction costs;
- Easier access to government-wide and agency enterprise-wide task and delivery order contracts through encouraged use of “on-ramps” to existing contracts and set-asides for orders under these contracts, both of which are recognized under the RFO as essential tools to sound procurement;
- Greater emphasis on post-award debriefings that give small businesses the insight they need to be more competitive in future competitions;
- Reforms that will make it easier over time for contractors to sign up and maintain their registration to do business with the Federal Government in the System for Award Management; and
- Spotlighting non-regulatory best practices in the new FAR Companion and Practitioner Albums to accelerate adoption of practices that reduce barriers to small business participation, such as use of technical demonstrations that allow small businesses to showcase their capabilities as they would to their private sector customers instead of engaging in costly proposal writing contests.
In addition, direction issued by OMB and adopted by the FAR Council as part of the RFO for agencies to consider government-wide contracts when buying commercial products and services is expected to increase small business awards under contracts that the General Services Administration (GSA) created to build a more resilient federal market. This includes the OASIS+ family of contracts, the premiere government-wide contracts to acquire services and strengthen the contractor base across HubZone small businesses, service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses, women-owned small businesses, and small disadvantaged businesses. OASIS+ offers a full range of professional, technical and support services vital to missions across Government.
For more information about the RFO, visit: https://www.acquisition.gov/far-overhaul