On July 16, AGC filed comments on proposed Small Business Administration (SBA) rules on multiple award contracts (MAC), bundling and consolidation. If finalized, the proposed rules would further streamline and clarify SBA regulations on the books regarding MACs and small business set-asides. Although generally supportive of the proposed rules, AGC made the following points:
- Contracting officers should not be provided with authority to create discrete categories within a contract and to assign individualized North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) codes to each category;
- In the mentor/protégé context, size recertification requirements should not extend to large business mentors;
- Waiver of the limitations on subcontracting requirement under 8(a) contracts is currently limited to 8(a) Business Development Participants. This waiver should be extended to all programs to provide the same flexibility and additional business development opportunities to all small business concerns; and
- The inclusion of a good faith evaluation for a small business when a contracting officer documents whether that business met or did not meet the applicable limitation on subcontracting.