Small Business Contracts-Are They Fair

Small Business Contracts-Are They Fair?

Regulation requires that if your agency has contracting authority you must have a Small Business Office. This office is responsible for making sure that small businesses have the maximum practical opportunities available to them. If a contract comes in that is from 10 to 150 thousand dollars those are normally set aside for small businesses. If the procurement side does not want to use a small business for this contract then it must be reviewed by the agency’s Small Business Office to see if everything is within federal guidance.

The Department of Defense has goals they must meet for small businesses. Each agency within the DOD has their own goals. The Small Business Office inside these agencies coordinate these goals and contracts by reviewing what is referred to as DD2579 or the Small Business Coordination form. The breakdown of the percentage is a little strange based on each preference category but it has been explained to me that this is because of the amount of the types of business in each category. The HUBZone is authorized 3%, Women owned is 5%, Disable Veteran’s 3%, Small Disadvantaged is 5%. Other Small Businesses contracts goals are negotiated yearly by the DOD and are currently for 2010-2011 at 22.28%.

The one thing I did find interesting when I asked the question is if as a disabled veteran woman if I can double dip into the money that is offered. My answer is yes, as of right now there are no regulations saying that I cannot apply for contracts under both. Congress is in the process of discussing legislation to stop this. There are a lot of checks and balances in place by the government to make these contract awards as fair as possible, such as DOD regulation 4205.01 which breaks down the directives from the top of the agency to the procurement team on their responsibilities. The goal for the federal government across the board is 23% of the contracts to be awarded to small businesses, as I said before...