Office
of Federal Procurement Policy
Office of Management and Budget
Comment
Request Entitled Small Business Competitiveness Demonstration Program
AGENCY:
Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP), Office of Management
and Budget (OMB)
ACTION:
Notice of request regarding the reinstatement, with changes, of
a previously approved collection (OMB Clearance 9000-0100) for which
approval is now being requested by OFPP.
SUMMARY:
Under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44
U.S.C. Chapter 35), OFPP notified the public concerning a request
to reinstate, with changes, a previously approved information collection
requirement concerning the Small Business Competitiveness Demonstration
Program. A request for public comment was published at 63 FR 51962,
September 29, 1998. No comments were received. This is a second
request for comments and notice that the proposed information collection
has been submitted to OMB for approval.
COMMENTS:
Comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this
collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this
burden should be submitted to Edward Springer at the Office of Management
and Budget, Desk Officer for OMB, Room 10236, New Executive Office
Building, Washington, DC 20503. Please cite the Small Business Competitiveness
Demonstration Program.
DATES:
Comments may be submitted on or before July 1, 1999
FOR
FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Linda G. Williams, Deputy
Associate Administrator, Office of Federal Procurement Policy, 202-395-3302.
SUPPLEMENTARY
INFORMATION:
A.
Purpose
The
Small Business Competitiveness Demonstration Program Act of 1988
(Title VII, Public Law 100-656), as amended, established the Small
Business Competitiveness Demonstration Program (Program). The Program
was established to (1) demonstrate whether or not small businesses
in certain industry groups can compete successfully on an unrestricted
basis for Federal contracts, and (2) to demonstrate whether or not
targets goaling and management techniques can expand Federal contract
opportunities for small businesses in industry categories where
such opportunities historically have been low despite adequate numbers
of small business contractors in the economy. Section 401 of the
Small Business Reauthorization Act of 1997 (Public Law 105-135)
extends the Program indefinitely.
Under
the current Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), small businesses
are required only to represent their status (i.e., whether small,
small disadvantaged, or women-owned small businesses). Section 714(c)
of the Small Business Competitiveness Demonstration Program Act
requires each participating agency to collect data pertaining to
the size as well as the status of the small business concern receiving
any award for services in the designated industry groups and products
or services in the agencies' ten targeted industry categories. The
size of the small business is collected in terms of the number of
employees or dollar volume of sales. The number of employees is
based on the average of the pay periods for the last twelve months.
The volume of sales is based on the average annual gross revenue
for the last three fiscal years (See FAR 19.101). The size information
is collected during the solicitation process as part of the representation
requirement. This data will be used to evaluate the small business
impact of the Program.
The
former information collection requirements set forth in Section
714 (b) of the Small Business Competitiveness Demonstration Program
Act, pertaining to the simplified system to collect data on the
participation of small business concerns as subcontractors under
prime contracts for architectural and engineering (A&E) services,
expired on September 30, 1997. Accordingly, this proposed reinstatement
excludes that data collection requirement.
B.
Annual Reporting Burden
Public
reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated
to average five minutes per response, including the time to gather
the information and complete the solicitation provision. The annual
reporting burden is estimated as follows: Respondents, 603,524;
responses per respondent, 1; total annual responses, 603,524; preparation
hours per response, .08333, and total response burden hours, 50,273.
The collection is voluntary.
COPIES
OF THE PROPOSAL:
A copy
of the Paperwork proposal is available from the Office of Federal
Procurement Policy, Room 352, OEOB, Washington, DC 20503. Please
cite the Small Business Competitiveness Demonstration Program in
all correspondence.
Deidre
A. Lee
Administrator
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