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The government Website Regulations.gov posts documents concerning Federal regulations that are open for comment and published in the Federal Register, the government’s legal newspaper. Some of these pertain to government contracting. Members of the public can submit comments about these regulations.
SBA Issues Temporary Alternative size standards
The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) has temporarily amended the size eligibility criteria for loan assistance provided under its 7(a) Business Loan Program. SBA issued an interim final rule on May 5, 2009 that temporarily establishes the same alternative small business size standard that applies to SBA’s Certified Development Company (CDC) Program. The U.S. Congress passed and the President signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act). The purposes and goals of the Recovery Act are to promote economic recovery and to preserve and create jobs. SBA prepared this rule as an interim final rule, effective immediately, because it will help alleviate the pressing needs of many small businesses for financial assistance in the current economic environment.
The Small Business Administration has revised the small business size standards for Heating Oil Dealers and Liquefied Petroleum Gas Dealers. The final rule revises the standard for North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code 454311, Heating Oil Dealers, from $11.5 million in average annual receipts to 50 employees; and it revises the size standard for NAICS code 454312, Liquefied Petroleum Gas (Bottled Gas) Dealers, from $6.5 million in average annual receipts to 50 employees. The revised size standards stabilize the definition of the size of a small business in these industries based on a review of the latest available data on industry characteristics and other relevant information.
The U.S. Small Business Administration has issued a final rule that adjusts monetary-based small business size standards for inflation. The rule finalizes the Agency's December 6, 2005, interim final rule that also amended monetary-based small business size standards for inflation. However, this rule adds an additional 8.7 percent to the inflation-adjusted size standards of the December 2005 interim final rule. This additional 8.7 percent accounts for inflation that has occurred since then. This rule also adopts the interim final rule's two-step process for determining eligibility for SBA's Business Loan and Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) programs. Furthermore, the rule adopts the revised date that SBA uses to determine size status for purposes of EIDL applications for businesses located in declared disaster areas as a result of Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma.
SBA has prepared a brief discussion paper on affiliation for interested parties. The overview provides some guidance on how affiliation affects a small business concern's eligibility for Federal government programs, such as SBA's Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program. The discussion also provides some examples.
The discussion is not, nor is it meant to be, inclusive of each and every situation that could arise where affiliation might arise between two or more entities or persons.
Executive Order 12989, as amended by the Executive Order entitled "Amended Executive Order 12989, as Amended" of June 6, 2008, instructs Federal departments and agencies that enter into contracts to require, as a condition of each contract, that the contractor agree to use an electronic employment eligibility verification system designated by the Secretary of Homeland Security to verify the employment eligibility of all persons hired during the contract term by the contractor to perform employment duties within the United States, and all persons assigned by the contractor to perform work within the United States on the Federal contract.
All Small Business Size Standards
The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) held two public meetings to inform the public about one of the Agency's top priorities—a comprehensive review of all of its small business size standards. Of fundamental importance in assisting the nation's small businesses is appropriately defining which business entities qualify as small businesses. SBA is responsible to the public for ensuring that size-standard levels are sound and rational. Therefore, SBA is undertaking a two-year across-the-board examination of its size standards. This notice discusses SBA's reasons for and its approach to the comprehensive review and provides information about registering to attend a public meeting.
You can read/download the presenter's comments here: PDF
Final Rule
The U.S. Small Business Administration has amended its regulations to address the time at which size is determined for the purposes of long-term Federal contracts including Government-wide Acquisition Contracts, the General Services Administration (GSA) Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) contracts, and multi-agency contracts. SBA also amended its 8(a) Business Development regulations to address when a business concern may receive orders as an 8(a) program participant under GSA's MAS Program and other multiple award contracts. This final action is necessary to ensure that small business size status is accurately represented and reported over the life of these long-term Federal contracts. |