A new report by the Bipartisan Policy Center, Goldman Sachs and Center Forward is calling on Congress to re- form small business federal contracting with a series of 18 actions, possibly to be included in the Small Business Administration reauthorization legislation, the report says. The 18 recommendations are:
- Establish specific annual goals for new small business vendor entrants;
- End “double-dipping”: If a contractor has more than one certification, such as a woman-owned firm in a HUBZone, count the award for one program only;
- Provide resources to SBA to raise WOSB and HUBZone small business contracting;
- Raise the Simplified Acquisition Threshold to $250,000;
- Expand “Past Performance” possibly to include private sector performance;
- Streamline all small business certifi- cations through one central system;
- Assist would-be federal contractors in obtaining training before becoming cer- tified;
- Create processes for training and counseling new contractors entering the federal market, and for those who soon will lose their “small” designations;
- Lower specific bonding thresholds or strengthen the SBA’s Surety Bond Guarantee Program;
- Increase staffing and resources at SBA and for contracting officers across agencies;
- Improve data collection in the elec- tronic subcontracting reporting system (eSRS) regarding prime contractors and subcontractors;
- Enforce payment schedules for primes and subcontractors;
- Enhance the Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting System (CPARS) regarding subcontracting plans and contracting officers;
- Modernize the 8(a) program;
- Remove the need for SBA approvals for 8(a) mergers and acquisitions;
- Increase 8(a) sole-source thresh- olds;
- Order a congressional oversight in- quiry into category management; and
- Create a cross-agency task force to evaluate the small business impact of “best-in-class” contracts and GWACs.
Click here for the full report