Federal Small Business Regulatory Watch
March 21, 2008 to Present
2010
March 2, 2010 SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION 13 CFR Parts 121, 127, and 134 Women-Owned Small Business Federal Contract Program Notice of proposed rulemaking; withdrawal of proposed rule
SUMMARY: The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) proposes to amend its regulations governing small business contracting procedures. This Proposed Rule would amend part 127, that was promulgated in a Final Rule on October 1, 2008, and entitled "The Women-Owned Small Business Federal Contract Assistance Procedures,” RIN 3245–AF40. This Proposed Rule would implement procedures authorized by the Small Business Act (Act) (Public Law 85-536, as amended) to help ensure a level playing field on which Women-Owned Small Businesses (WOSBs) can compete for Federal contracting opportunities. SBA proposes changes to part 127 that include eliminating the requirement for an agency-by-agency determination of discrimination, adopting both “numbers” and “dollars” measures of underrepresentation, and using the Fiscal Year 2006 Central Contractor Registration (CCR) database as the data source for determining eligible industries under the WOSB Program. This Proposed Rule thus identifies the eligible industries under the Program as those industries in which WOSBs are underrepresented or substantially underrepresented using either the numbers or the dollars approach. This Proposed Rule seeks to retain, for the most part, parts 121 and 134 of the Final Rule published on October 1, 2008, titled “The Women-Owned Small Business Federal Contract Assistance Procedures,” RIN 3245–AF40; these portions of the rule govern various implementation procedures of the Program, as more fully discussed below. In addition, SBA is withdrawing its proposed rule entitled “The Women-Owned Small Business Federal Contract Assistance Procedures,” which was published on
October 1, 2008 in the Federal Register together with a request for comments on two data sets used to determine the eligible industries under the WOSB Program.February 8, 2010 VA Veteran-Owned Small Business Verification Guidelines
2009
SUMMARY: This rule proposes to make changes to the regulations governing the 8(a) Business Development (8(a) BD) and Small Disadvantaged Business (SDB) programs, and to the U.S. Small Business Administration's (SBA or Agency) size regulations. 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. Other changes are more substantive and result from SBA's experience in implementing the current regulations. For example, SBA has learned through experience that certain of its rules governing the 8(a) BD program are too restrictive and serve to unfairly preclude firms from being admitted to the program. In other cases, SBA has determined that a rule is too expansive or indefinite and has sought to restrict or clarify that rule. In one case wording changes are being proposed to correct past public or agency misinterpretation. Also, new situations have arisen that were not anticipated when the current rules were drafted and the proposed rule seeks to cover those situations. Finally, one of the changes, involving Native Hawaiian Organizations (NHO's), implements a statutory change.
SUMMARY: The Civilian Agency Acquisition Council and the Defense Acquisition Regulations Council (Councils) are proposing to amend the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to clarify the criteria that need to be met in order to conduct a sole source Service-disabled Veteran-owned Small Business (SDVOSB) concern acquisition.
April 13, 2009 Federal Acquisition Regulation; FAR Case 2006-005, HUBZone
Program Revisions
2008
November 6, 2008 Court Decision Voids Major Small Business Contracting Law
SUMMARY: A federal appeals court has thrown out a law establishing a 5 percent goal for awarding defense contracts to small businesses owned by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals.
United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit Decision [PDF]
October 3, 2008 Small Disadvantaged Business Program Interim Final Rule [PDF]
SUMMARY: This final rule amends the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) regulations governing small business contracting programs to set forth procedures that will govern the new Women-Owned Small Business (WOSB) Federal Contract Assistance Procedures as authorized in the Small Business Act.
September 19, 2008 GAO Decision of the Comptroller General [PDF]
SUMMARY: The Government Accountability Office said agencies must give precedence to the HUBZone small-business program before using the other set-aside programs.
May 1, 2008 Small Business Size Standards; Waiver of the Nonmanufacturer Rule, 24102 [E8–9550]
SUMMARY: The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) is granting a waiver of the Nonmanufacturer Rule for Paper Products Manufacturing. The basis for waiver is that no small business manufacturers are supplying this class of product to the Federal government. The effect of a waiver would be to allow otherwise qualified regular dealers to supply the products of any domestic manufacturer on a Federal contract set aside for small businesses; service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses or SBA's 8(a) Business Development Program.
May 1, 2008 Small Business Size Standards: Waiver of the Nonmanufacturer Rule, 24101–24102 [E8–9552]
SUMMARY: The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) is granting a waiver of the Nonmanufacturer Rule for Trash Bags Manufacturing. The basis for waiver is that no small business manufacturers are supplying this class of product to the Federal government. The effect of a waiver would be to allow otherwise qualified regular dealers to supply the products of any domestic manufacturer on a Federal contract set aside for small businesses; service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses or SBA's 8(a) Business Development Program.
May 1, 2008 Small Business Size Standards: Waiver of the Nonmanufacturer Rule, 24101 [E8–9551]
SUMMARY: The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) is granting a waiver of the Nonmanufacturer Rule for Safety Zone Rubber Gloves Manufacturing. The basis for waiver is that no small business manufacturers are supplying this class of product to the Federal government. The effect of a waiver would be to allow otherwise qualified regular dealers to supply the products of any domestic manufacturer on a Federal contract set aside for small businesses; service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses or SBA's 8(a) Business Development Program.
SUMMARY: This document is issued under the joint authority of the Secretary of Defense, the Administrator of General Services and the Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. This Small Entity Compliance Guide has been prepared in accordance with Section 212 of the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act of 1996. It consists of a summary of rules appearing in Federal Acquisition Circular (FAC) 2005-25 which amend the FAR. An asterisk (*) next to a rule indicates that a regulatory flexibility analysis has been prepared. Interested parties may obtain further information regarding these rules by referring to FAC 2005-25 which precedes this document. These documents are also available via the Internet at http://www.regulations.gov.
April 22, 2008 Federal Acquisition Circular 200525; Introduction, 21772–21773 [E8–8402]
SUMMARY: This document summarizes the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) rules agreed to by the Civilian Agency Acquisition Council and the Defense Acquisition Regulations Council in this Federal Acquisition Circular (FAC) 2005-25. A companion document, the Small Entity Compliance Guide (SECG), follows this FAC. The FAC, including the SECG, is available via the Internet at http://www.regulations.gov.
March 21, 2008 Small Business Size Standards: Waiver of the Nonmanufacturer Rule
SUMMARY: The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) is granting a waiver of the Nonmanufacturer Rule for All Other Miscellaneous Electrical Equipment and Component Manufacturing (Indoor and Outdoor Electrical Lighting Fixtures). The basis for waiver is that no small business manufacturers are supplying this class of product to the Federal government. The effect of a waiver would be to allow otherwise qualified regular dealers to supply the products of any domestic manufacturer on a Federal contract set aside for small businesses; service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses or SBA's 8(a) Business Development Program.