Consolidation of Mentor- Protégé Programs and other Government Contracting Amendments
The U.S Small Business Administration (SBA) initiated a review of their regulations in order to determine which might be revised or eliminated because of government wide regulatory reform initiative. As a result, 8(a) Business Development (BD) Mentor-Protégé Program and the All Small Mentor-Protégé Program merges in order to eliminate unnecessary duplication of functions within SBA. This eliminates the requirement that 8(a) Participants seeking to be awarded an 8(a) contract as a joint venture submit the joint venture agreement to SBA for review and approval prior to contract award, revises several 8(a) BD program regulations to reduce unnecessary or excessive burdens on 8(a) Participants, and clarifies other related regulatory provisions to eliminate confusion among small businesses and procuring activities. This rule became effective on November 16, 2020, except for § 127.504 which went into effect October 16, 2020.
The proposed rule initially called for a 70-day comment period, with comments required to be made to SBA by January 17, 2020. SBA published a notice in the Federal Register on January 10, 2020, extending the comment period an additional 21 days to February 7, 2020. SBA considers tribal consultation meetings a valuable component of its deliberations and believes that these tribal consultation meetings allowed for constructive dialogue with the Tribal community, Tribal Leaders, Tribal Elders, elected members of Alaska Native Villages or their appointed representatives, and principals of tribally-owned and Alaska Native Corporation (ANC) owned firms participating in the 8(a) BD Program.
SBA held a Listening Session in Honolulu, HI to obtain comments and input from key 8(a) BD program stakeholders in the Hawaiian small business community, including 8(a) applicants and Participants owned by Native Hawaiian Organizations (NHOs). SBA received 189 timely comments, with a high percentage of commenters favouring the proposed changes during the proposed rule’s 91-day comment period. A substantial number of commenters applauded SBA’s effort to clarify and address misinterpretations of the rules. For the most part, the comments supported the substantive changes proposed by SBA. The Jobs Act was designed to protect the interests of small businesses and increase opportunities in the Federal marketplace. The Jobs Act was drafted by Congress in recognition of the fact that mentor-protégé programs serve an important business development function for small businesses and therefore included language authorizing SBA to establish separate mentor-protégé programs for the Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business Concern (SDVO SBC) Program, the HUBZone Program, and the Women-Owned Small Business (WOSB) Start Printed Page 66147Program, each of which was modelled on SBA’s existing mentor-protégé program available to 8(a) Participants. Thereafter, on January 2, 2013, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2013 (NDAA 2013), Public Law 112-239 was enacted. Section 1641 of the NDAA 2013 authorized SBA to establish a mentor-protégé program for all small business concerns. This section further provided that a small business mentor-protégé program must be identical to the 8(a) BD Mentor-Protégé Program, except that SBA could modify each program to the extent necessary, given the types of small business concerns to be included as protégés.
The explicit purpose of the 8(a) BD Mentor-Protégé relationship has been to enhance the capabilities of protégés and to improve their ability to successfully compete for both government and commercial contracts. All Small Mentor-Protégé Program is designed to require approved mentors to aid protégé firms so that they may enhance their capabilities, meet their business goals, and improve their ability to compete for contracts. If a protégé firm is an 8(a) Program Participant, a joint venture between the protégé and its mentor could seek any 8(a) contracts, regardless of whether the mentor-protégé agreement was approved through the 8(a) BD Mentor-Protégé Program or the All Small Mentor-Protégé Program. Moreover, a firm could be certified as an 8(a) Participant after its mentor-protégé relationship has been approved by SBA through the All Small Mentor-Protégé Program and be eligible for 8(a) contracts as a joint venture with its mentor once certified.
A mentor-protégé relationship approved by SBA through the 8(a) BD Mentor-Protégé Program will continue to operate as an SBA-approved mentor-protégé relationship under the All Small Mentor-Protégé Program. It will continue to have the same remaining time in the All Small Mentor-Protégé Program as it would have had under the 8(a) BD Mentor-Protégé Program if that Program continued. Any mentor-protégé relationship approved under the 8(a) BD Mentor-Protégé Program will count as one of the two lifetime mentor-protégé relationships that a small business may have under the All Small Mentor-Protégé Program. This rule also revises regulations pertaining to the 8(a) BD and size programs in order to further reduce unnecessary or excessive burdens on small businesses and to eliminate confusion or more clearly delineate SBA’s intent in certain regulations. Specifically, this rule makes additional changes to the size and socioeconomic status recertification requirements for orders issued against Multiple Award Contracts (MACs).