Small Business Provisions in the FY16 National Defense Authorization Act:
Section 821 - Acquisition strategy required for each major defense acquisition program, major automated information system, and major system
• Emphasizes that the use of small business must be addressed as part of the acquisition strategy.
Section 844 - Mandatory requirement for training related to the conduct of market research
• Requires training on market research, which will make it easier to identify potential small contractors.
Section 851 - Procurement of commercial items
• Standardizes commercial item determinations, so that small businesses don’t have to repeat the same process again and again when selling commercial goods to the government.
Section 854 - Report on defense-unique laws applicable to the procurement of commercial items and commercially available off-the-shelf items
• Requires the Department of Defense (DoD) to explain and justify why it cannot use the same rule the rest of the government does when buying commercially available goods and services.
Section 857 - Treatment of goods and services provided by nontraditional defense contractors as commercial items
• Helps new entrants to defense contracting by allowing them to use the simpler commercial item purchase procedures rather than the more complex traditional government contracting regulations.
Section 861 - Amendment to Mentor-Protégé´ Program
• Extends the DoD Mentor-Protégé program for an additional three years
Section 862 - Amendments to data quality improvement plan
• Based on H.R. 1410, introduced by Rep. Amata Coleman Radewagen and H.R. 1481, the Small Contractors Improve Competition Act of 2015 (Rep. Chabot)
• Implements provisions to ensure that agencies are properly identifying, justifying and mitigating decisions to bundle or consolidate contracts, in order to defend opportunities for small businesses participation and competition
Section 863 - Notice of contract consolidation for acquisition strategies
• Based on H.R. 1481, the Small Contractors Improve Competition Act of 2015 (Rep. Chabot)
• Requires that bundling and consolidation justifications be published with a solicitation, so that small businesses can challenge agencies that are unfairly taking away opportunities for small businesses.
Section 864 - Clarification of requirements related to small business contracts for services
• Based on H.R. 1583, the Small Business Contractor's Clarification Act of 2015, and H.R. 1481, the Small Contractors Improve Competition Act of 2015 (Rep. Chabot)
• Prevents agencies and courts from applying the nonmanufacturer rule to small service contractors, so that small service contractors can continue providing incidental items as part of the procurement.
Section 865 - Certification requirements for Business Opportunity Specialists, commercial market representatives, and procurement center representatives
• Based on H.R. 1481, the Small Contractors Improve Competition Act of 2015 (Rep. Chabot)
• Protects small contractors by ensuring that the small business procurement advocates at the Small Business Administration have the correct skill and are receiving the necessary training.
Section 866 – Modifications to requirements for qualified HUBZone small business concerns located in a base closure area
• Based on: H.R.2950, Small Business Contracting Clarity Act of 2015 (Rep. Takai)
• Expands the historically underutilized business zone program to better assist small businesses in disasters areas and base closure areas, and to provide for equal treatment of small businesses owned by Native Hawaiian Organizations
Section 867 - Joint venturing and teaming
• Based on H.R. 1390, the Small Business Joint Venturing Act of 2015 (Rep. Knight) and H.R. 1481, the Small Contractors Improve Competition Act of 2015 (Rep. Chabot)
• Allows small business teams and joint ventures to rely upon the past performance and qualifications of the team members and joint venturers when pursuing large contracts.
• This expands the number of contracts where small businesses will be able to successfully compete for federal contracts.
Section 868 - Continued Modification to and scorecard program for small business contracting goals
• Based on H.R. 1481, the Small Contractors Improve Competition Act of 2015 (Rep. Chabot)
• Requires the SBA to prioritize prime contracting, subcontracting, participation rates, and industrial diversification when grading agencies on how well they do contracting with small businesses.
• This addresses the problem of the SBA awarding “A” grades to federal agencies even though 100,000 small businesses no longer compete for federal contracts, the agencies are not meeting their small business goals, and numerous industries have little or no small business participation.
Section 869 - Establishment of an Office of Hearings and Appeals in the Small Business Administration (SBA); petitions for reconsideration of size standards
• Based on H.R. 1429, the Stronger Voice for Small Business Act of 2015 (Reps. Bost, Connolly, Cubelo, and Hanna) and H.R. 1481, the Small Contractors Improve Competition Act of 2015 (Rep. Chabot)
• Creates a statutorily independent office to hear challenge to size standard
• Empowers the office to review the process by which SBA decides the industry-specific small business size standards, since currently small businesses must go to federal court with these challenges.
Section 870 - Additional duties of the Director of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization
• Allows the small business advocates in each agency to assist small businesses when contracts are being structured to exclude small business participation.
Section 871 - Including subcontracting goals in agency responsibilities
• Based on H.R. 1386, the SESO Act (Reps. Curbelo, Chabot and Gibson) and H.R. 1481, the Small Contractors Improve Competition Act of 2015 (Rep. Chabot)
• As the use of small subcontractors continues to drop, this provision holds agency executives accountable for meeting the small business subcontracting goals.
Section 872 - Reporting related to failure of contractors to meet goals under negotiated comprehensive small business subcontracting plans
• Requires DoD to notify Congress when companies are not meeting subcontracting goals under the comprehensive small business subcontracting plan.
Section 873 - Pilot program for streamlining awards for innovative technology projects
• Creates a pilot program to make it easier to award contracts to small, nontraditional government contractors
Section 873 - Surety bond requirements and amount of guarantee
• Based on H.R.838, Security in Bonding Act of 2015 (Reps. Hanna, Chabot, Knight, and Meng).
• Protects taxpayers and subcontractors by ensuring that private sureties have the assets necessary to fulfill bonds.
• Makes it easier for small businesses to obtain compliant bonds.
