On December 19, 2022, the US Small Enterprise Administration (SBA) issued a proposed rule that will amend the SBA laws to implement Part 870 of the Nationwide Protection Authorization Act (NDAA) of 2020. Part 870 makes noteworthy modifications to the necessities federally the contractor should comply when making an attempt to acquire subcontract credit score for decrease tier subcontracts.
Federal prime contractors performing contracts that exceed the simplified procurement threshold ($250,000) should “guarantee[e] that small corporations have the utmost practicable risk of taking part within the execution of the contract, together with subcontracting for subsystems, assemblies, parts and associated providers for giant methods, per the environment friendly execution of the contract. Moreover, most federal contracts require prime contractors to enter into subcontracting plans that incorporate sure share targets for small enterprise utilization and even particular subcategories of small companies.
Earlier laws, outlined within the SBA’s ultimate rule launched on Dec. 23, 2016, required prime contractors to obtain credit score for lower-tier subcontractors in sure conditions. That requirement would change beneath the proposed December 2022 rule with 4 main revisions:
- Get rid of mandate to permit prime contractors to decide on whether or not to obtain credit score for subcontracting in sure conditions.
- Prohibit companies from setting particular tier objectives for prime contractors utilizing decrease tier subcontracting credit.
- Implement new report holding necessities.
- Improve the brink for a required subcontract plan to $750,000.
Get rid of the mandate
The proposed rule would take away the prior mandate, permitting prime contractors to decide on whether or not to obtain credit score just for first-level subcontracts or subcontracts of any degree, topic to sure situations. The elective possibility offers prime contractors extra freedom to evaluate the executive prices and strategic advantages of taking credit score for work carried out by decrease tier subcontractors.
Importantly, a major contractor might solely think about lower-level subcontracts as credit score in the direction of its targets when the subcontract plan applies to a single contract with a single federal company. If the plan applies to multiple contract, a multi-agency contract, a industrial plan, or is a full subcontract plan, the prime contractor can solely use the prime subcontract credit score to fulfill its targets. Equally, prime contractors executing government-level contracts and multi-agency awards are prohibited from utilizing lower-level subcontract credit.
Nonetheless, these restrictions might change with the implementation of the ultimate rule. The Fiscal 12 months 2020 NDAA states, “If subcontracting targets cowl multiple contract with a number of federal companies, or one contract with multiple federal company, the prime contractor might obtain credit score just for first-level subcontractors.” which are small industrial considerations.” In the meantime, the restrictions outlined within the proposed rule appear overly broad. Many within the business consider that the intent behind Part 870 was to not apply these restrictions to government-level or multi-agency contracts Moreover, the restrictions inhibit the federal government’s potential to assemble worthwhile insights into small enterprise participation by limiting the depend of small enterprise subcontractor information beneath the primary tier.
As well as, the place an eligible primary contractor elects to obtain credit score for a subcontractor’s work at any degree, the next necessities apply:
- The subcontracting plan targets of subcontractors beneath the principle contractor shall be included into the person subcontracting plan targets.
- Decrease tier subcontractors will need to have subcontractor particular particular person subcontracting plans in place.
- The principle contractor and different subcontractors with subcontract plans are accountable for reporting subcontract efficiency beneath their first degree contracts or subcontracts. This is applicable to each particular person and abstract subcontracting reviews.
- The principle contractor’s efficiency will likely be calculated by combining the principle contractor’s first tier subcontract with the outcomes of the principle contractor’s decrease tier subcontractors with descending subcontract plans.
Ban on degree particular objectives
The 2016 ultimate rule conditioned a major contractor receiving credit score beneath the primary subcontracting degree with two units of subcontracting targets: one goal for the primary degree and one for decrease ranges. Contractors have lengthy expressed their distaste for the apply because it imparts extra reporting necessities and efficiency dangers. The proposed rule would ban this sort of tier-specific targets, as a substitute requiring primary contractors to have just one set of subcontracting targets. The prime contractor would come with “the subcontract plan targets of its decrease degree subcontractors in its particular person subcontract plan targets”.
New report holding necessities
The proposed rule additionally requires contractors with subcontracting plans to take care of sure information to “affirm the credit score they obtain for subcontracting at a decrease degree.” Now, the prime contractor should present in a written assertion the forms of paperwork he’ll present to display that he has acquired the suitable sub-level subcontract credit score.
Elevate the brink
At present, these awarded contracts that “supply federal subcontracting alternatives in extra of $650,000 … should submit a subcontract plan to the suitable contracting company.” The proposed rule would increase this threshold to $750,000, aligning it with Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) subpart 19.7 and different elements of 13 CFR § 125.3.
Going ahead
The proposed rule is a welcome replace to the subcontracting plan structure which ought to confer advantages on each primary contractors and subcontractors, albeit with some limitations on its scope of applicability.
Main contractors have lengthy argued that the multilevel reporting system, which this proposed rule eliminates, required resource-intensive oversight and created compliance and efficiency dangers. As well as, the earlier rule required primary contractors to be accountable for making certain that subcontractors obtain their subcontracting targets, which resulted in one other degree of prices by way of the executive burden of amassing related information and impacting efficiency evaluations of the subcontractor’s non-compliance. The optionality within the proposed rule ought to be notably enticing to some prime contractors who consider that the prices outweigh the advantages of participation.
The proposed rule also needs to assist the small enterprise neighborhood by stimulating better participation. Optionality ought to incentivize prime contractors to make use of smaller, decrease tier companies as a substitute of shrinking the pool to cut back oversight prices.
Bass, Berry & Sims authorities contracting attorneys will proceed to watch the implementation of the Closing Rule and can replace our subscribers on any materials modifications made by the Closing Rule.
