1. Procurement Team Responsibilities in Support of the Small Business Utilization Program _{(Revised 01/2003)}

a. Effective implementation of the FAA’s small business utilization programs in their contracting actions, including achieving program goals;

b. Develop small businesses by taking all reasonable action to increase small business participation in the FAA’s procurements (including subcontracts);

c. Consider the feasibility of breaking out requirements to increase opportunities for small businesses to successfully compete for prime contracts;

d. Consider the extent of small business participation in contract performance during procurement planning;

e. Obtain guidance from the Office of Small Business Utilization (OSBU)/liaison as it relates to small business utilization issues. In doing-so, the IPT/PT must coordinate with representatives of the cognizant local FAA Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization staff as soon as requirements estimated to exceed $100,000 are defined to receive assistance in identifying opportunities for small businesses and small businesses owned and controlled by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals. In addition, any requirements that had previously been procured through the SEDB/8(a) Program, but not currently proposed for reprocurement through the SEDB/8(a) program must be approved by the cognizant local FAA Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization staff. If agreement cannot be reached, the FAA Acquisition Executive 's approval is required prior to any public notice or solicitation of the requirement; and _{(Revised 01/2003)}

f. Participate and assist in the development of small business conferences and outreach efforts sponsored by the OSBU.

The OSBU maintains a direct working relationship with the procurement teams. When appropriate, the OSBU interacts with all procurement teams in the following areas to provide support and ensure effective and consistent program implementation:

a. Participates in procurement workshops to increase access to and award of FAA contracts by small businesses;

b. Participates in acquisition and procurement planning meetings and other scheduled meetings with the procurement team as advisors;

c. Identifies potential small businesses that qualify for a particular procurement;

d. Provides the procurement team with source lists of small businesses;

e. Ensures that the source selection criteria used to select firms for award is fair, consistent and does not limit opportunities for small businesses;

f. Provides advertising recommendations to the integrated products teams to ensure all requirements are being advertised in media accessible to small businesses;

g. Responds to written and telephone inquires from small businesses and small businesses owned and controlled by a socially and economically disadvantaged individuals regarding procurement opportunities with FAA;

h. Reviews final source lists to ensure an adequate representation of small businesses;

i. Reviews questions presented at conferences, preparing answers to questions submitted by small businesses, interacting with the integrated product teams for distribution of responses to all potential contractors;

j. Reviews business declarations and accompanying documentation;

k. Reviews subcontracting plans;

l. Ensures that small businesses and small businesses owned and controlled by a socially and economically disadvantaged individuals are entered into the OSBU database;

m. Assists in the proposal evaluation process as a non-voting member of the evaluation team;

n. Conducts on-site pre-award verifications to verify that a sufficient percentage of the ownership, as well as the business control and management of the firm is vested in a disadvantaged group member(s) or woman (woman) and verify compliance with small business program requirements;

o. Participates in debriefings of unsuccessful small businesses to ensure fair and equitable treatment to all firms;

p. Participates in postaward meetings with successful offerors to ensure a clear understanding of small business program guidelines and engagement of small businesses as subcontractors; and

q. Conducts on-site compliance reviews of contractors with subcontracting plans to ensure compliance with program requirements.

3. Prime Contracting with Small Business _{(Revised 07/2003)}

a. While the use of small business set-asides as a method of procurement is not mandatory, small businesses must be afforded reasonable opportunities to compete for all procurements. Thus, procurement teams should take the following actions when appropriate:

(1) Set-aside procurements competitively in accordance with the policies and guidance contained in Acquisition Management System (AMS) Section 3.2.2 Source Selection;

(2) Consider the capabilities of small businesses and small businesses owned and controlled by a socially and economically disadvantaged individuals during the screening phase of each procurement;

(3) Breakout large requirements (if severable) into smaller sized requirements to provide for greater small business participation;

(4) Plan procurements of supplies and services so that more than one small business firm may perform the work (if the work exceeds the amount that a single small business can handle);

(5) Ensure that delivery schedules are established on a realistic basis to encourage small business participation to the extent consistent with actual requirements of FAA;

(6) Encourage teaming relationships among small and large businesses to enhance competition; and

(7) Utilize small businesses on qualified vendor lists on a rotational basis to increase opportunities to the greatest number of small businesses.

b. Conducting set-asides with small businesses, very small businesses, and small businesses owned and controlled by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals:

(1) All set-asides are to be conducted directly with small businesses independent of the Small Business Administration (SBA);

(2) Procurements may be set-aside exclusively for small businesses and very small businesses;

(3) Procurements may also be set-aside exclusively for competitive award among socially and economically disadvantaged businesses (SEDB’s) that are expressly certified by the Small Business Administration (SBA) for participation in the SBA’s 8(a) program. Each firm claiming 8(a) status is required to provide a copy of its SBA 8(a) certification letter to the Contracting Officer (CO) as evidence of eligibility. There is no requirement to obtain the SBA's approval to make award to the selected socially and economically disadvantaged business (SEDB). _{(Revised 10/2002)}

(4) Procurements may not be exclusively set-aside for women-owned businesses

(5) Industry should be notified of the applicable North American Industry Classification (NAIC) System code representing the predominant portion of the overall requirement in the public announcement to ensure small business size eligibility requirements are timely known; and  _{(Revised 01/2003)}

(6) The IPT/PT will state the date when the firm must be 8(a) certified. _{(Revised 10/2002)}

c. Noncompetitive Awards to SEDB (8(a)) Firms. A rational basis for the decision to award a noncompetitive SEDB(8(a)) procurement should be documented. As a minimum, the rational basis should be based on a comparison of technical capabilities, past performance and market prices of two or more SEDB(8(a)) vendors. Procurement decision makers should consider potential SEDB(8(a)) sources of supply contained in "Source-Net" located at http://www.sbo.faa.gov and/or "Pro-Net" located at http://www.sba.gov." The public announcement requirements of the AMS Section 3.2.1.3.12 are not applicable to noncompetitive awards to SEDB (8(a)) firms. _{(Revised 07/2003)}

4. Subcontracting with Small Business _{(Revised 10/2002)}

In procurements estimated to exceed $5,000,000 ($1,000,000 for construction), the CO must incorporate subcontracting provisions (including attainable and reasonable subcontracting goals for the participation of small businesses and small businesses owned and controlled by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals). Subcontracting provisions are not required for commercial items or when there are no subcontracting possibilities or when the prime contractor is a small business or a small business owned and controlled by a socially and economically disadvantaged individual. The contract should include requirements for contractors to periodically report data on subcontracting accomplishments in sufficient detail to determine the extent of the contractor’s attainment of subcontracting goals. 

The following is a listing of the subcontracting considerations as a guide that should be used in procurements that have subcontracting provisions as appropriate: _{(Revised 10/2002)}

a. Establishment of goals requires much care to ensure that they are realistic and motivate the contractor. Percentage goals that are unrealistically low will only create a false sense of success and should be avoided. Likewise, goals that are too high can be counterproductive.

b. Subcontracting requirements should be a subject for review and discussion at postaward conferences. It is important to monitor contractor performance in meeting goals. This is particularly important early in the life of the contract when the majority of subcontracts will be awarded. Prompt corrective action should be taken if it appears that a contractor will not meet its goal. The CO is responsible for ensuring that the contractor attains all subcontracting goals. Subcontracting data (accomplishments) must be timely forwarded to the individual responsible for the preparation of the Major Procurement Program Goal Report.

c. The procurement team should notify the OSBU/liaison of the opportunity to review the subcontracting proposal in sufficient time to provide the representative a reasonable time to review the material and submit advisory recommendations prior to award.

d. The CO should provide a listing of potential small business subcontractors for information purposes. The FAA should not make any warranty as to their capabilities or abilities to perform any portion of the contract. The listing may be obtained from the OSBU.

e. Evaluate the percentage and dollar volume of planned subcontracting, total dollar volume of expected awards to small business subcontractors (including small businesses owned and controlled by a socially and economically disadvantaged individuals and women-owned concerns).

f. There should be separate subcontracting goals for small businesses and small businesses owned and controlled by a socially and economically disadvantaged individuals and women-owned concerns expressed as a percentage of total planned subcontracting dollars.

g. Principal product and service areas to be subcontracted and an identification of those areas where it is planned to use small business, small businesses owned and controlled by a socially and economically disadvantaged individuals, and women-owned subcontractors.

h. Review business declarations of principal proposed small business and small disadvantaged business subcontractors, including the type of product or service and the dollar value thereof to be awarded to each principal subcontractor. This information is to be used to assist the CO in making a determination as to the acceptability of the proposed subcontracting goals. The contractor is not contractually bound to make awards to the designated subcontractors nor is the Government approving the subcontracts.

i. Evaluate extent of complexity and variety of work to be performed by small businesses with greater weight on performance of substantive or high technology components or services. In this way, the FAA can ensure that small businesses will receive technologically challenging or a meaningful portion of the overall contract;

j. Include subcontracting monetary incentives such as including an award fee provision to provide incentives for providing meaningful, technically substantive subcontracting work to small businesses. Under this approach subcontracting proposals that provide appropriate percentage commitments would be accepted, but an award fee contract line item would be incorporated as part of the contract. Receipt of the award fee would be after either preliminary design review, critical design review, or other appropriate milestones. The percentage amount of the award fee pool would be based on the extent the contractor has provided meaningful, technically substantive work to eligible small businesses within the previously accepted percentage goals;

k. Evaluate past performance related to the offeror's compliance with prior subcontracting proposals and subcontracting plans with greater weight on subcontracting proposals received from concerns that have successfully attained, or exceeded subcontracting goals in the past.

l. Evaluate level of participation of small businesses evaluated based on the percentage of the total contract value (if appropriate). This is particularly recommended for requirements traditionally performed by small businesses that perhaps will be displaced due to the bundling of smaller set-aside requirements into one larger contract.

m. Contractors should be required to flow down similar subcontracting requirements under the prime contract to all subcontractors (except small businesses).

n. If an offeror submits an offer that does not address each of the subcontracting provisions, the CO should advise the offeror of the deficiency and request submission of a revised offer by a specific date; and

o. If the offeror does not submit an offer which incorporates the subcontracting requirements within the time allotted, the offeror should be ineligible for award.

a. To promote the financial assistance programs available from the OSDBU (S-40), procurement teams should add the following information in each public announcement of a procurement containing a bonding requirement:

"This Notice is for informational purposes for Minority, Women-Owned and Disadvantaged Business Enterprises: The Department of Transportation (DOT), Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization, has programs to assist small businesses, small businesses owned and controlled by a socially and economically disadvantaged individuals, and women-owned concerns to acquire capital and bonding assistance for transportation-related contracts. This is applicable to any eligible prime or subcontract at any tier. The DOT Bonding Assistance Program enables firms to apply for bid, payment, and performance bonds up to $1.0 million per contract. The DOT provides an 80 percent guaranty on the bond amount to a surety against losses. Loans are also available under the DOT short Term receivable financing. The maximum line of credit is $500,000. For further information regarding the bonding and lending programs. , please call the DOT Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization at (800) 532-1169."

b. The following should be included in all public announcements of all other procurements that do not require bonding:

"This Notice is for informational purposes for Minority, Women-Owned and Disadvantaged Business Enterprises: The Department of Transportation (DOT), Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization, has a program to assist small businesses, small businesses owned and controlled by a socially and economically disadvantaged individuals, and women-owned concerns to acquire short-term working capital assistance for transportation-related contracts. Loans are available under the DOT Short Term Lending Program (STLP) at prime interest rates to provide accounts receivable financing. The maximum line of credit is $500,000. For further information and applicable forms concerning the STLP, call the OSDBU at (800) 532-1169."

6. Business Declaration _{(Revised 10/2002)}

To preserve the integrity and foster the objectives of the small business program, the FAA must satisfy itself that the ownership, control, and day-to-day management requirements of the program are fulfilled. Each business claiming eligibility as a small business or small business owned and controlled by a socially and economically disadvantaged individual must be required to provide evidence of eligibility prior to award. The FAA reserves the right to review and verify each firm’s program eligibility. If the firm is not a small business as defined by the North American Industry Classification (NAIC) code size standards, it will not qualify as a small business. _{(Added 10/2002)}

a. A successful small business program rests with the FAA’s ability to limit participation to bona fide small businesses and small businesses owned and controlled by socially and economically disadvantaged individual for they are the intended recipients of the agency’s procurement dollars earmarked for small business set-asides.

b. To that end, the business declaration is:

(1) A tool used to ensure that the small business program benefits only those businesses that are bona fide small businesses and small businesses owned and controlled by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals by establishing a basis for determining a firm’s eligibility to participate in a small business set-aside; and

(2) A tool used internally by the OSBU/Liaison to accurately report awards made to small businesses and small businesses owned and controlled by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals on the Major Procurement Program Goal (Accomplishments) Report.

c. In order for the owner of the firm to be found to have controlling interest in the company the following must exist:

(1) The eligible owner holds the position of chairperson of the board, president or Chief Executive Officer;

(2) The eligible owner has the right to vote his or her shares or other equity interest to elect the majority of voting members of the Board of Directors or other governing body;

(3) The eligible owner holds at least 51% unconditionally ownership and control of the operation;

(4) The eligible owner has direct full-time responsibility for the day-to-day management of the business, as evidenced by all of the following:

(a) Directly related managerial or technical experience and competency;

(b) Establishment of company policies;

(c) Determination and selection of business opportunities;

(d) Supervision and coordination of projects;

(e) Control of major expenditures;

(f) Hiring and dismissing key personnel;

(g) Marketing and sales decisions; and

(h) Signature on major business documents.

7. Contract Bundling _{(Revised 11/2000)}

a. Definitions:

1. A bundled contract is a contract that is entered into to meet requirements that are consolidated.

2. Bundling is consolidation of two or more requirements for supplies or services, previously provided or performed under separate smaller contracts, into a SIR for a single contract that renders a contract likely to be unsuitable for award to a small business concern (including socially and economically disadvantaged (8(a)), small disadvantaged, and women-owned businesses) due to:

(a) The diversity, size, or specialized nature of the elements of the performance specified;

(b) The aggregate dollar value of the anticipated award;

(c) The geographical dispersion of the contract performance sites; or

(d) Any combination of the factors described in paragraphs (2)(i), (ii), and (iii) of this definition.

3. Measurably Substantial Benefits are the dollar amount of benefits accruing from the bundling of requirements. These benefits can be in many forms to include cost savings, price reduction, quality efficiency, enhance performance, result in better terms and conditions, reduce acquisition cycle times and any other benefits

b. This section is not applicable to contracts whose total estimated bundled value (including all options) is less than $10 Million.

c. Bundling of contractual requirements is discouraged unless it is necessary and justified. Bundling is necessary and justified if there are substantial benefits which are measurable and quantifiable. The IPT shall document the measurably substantial benefits to the government . Benefits shall be equivalent to 10% if the total anticipated contract value is $75 million or less; or 5% if the contract value exceeds $75 million.

d. To ensure that prime contract opportunities are provided to small businesses, the following alternatives shall be considered prior to bundling:

(1) Breaking up the procurement into smaller discrete procurements to render them suitable for small business set asides;

(a) Breaking out discrete components, where practicable, to be set aside for small business; or

(b) When issuing multiple awards against a single solicitation, reserving one or more awards for small businesses.

e. If an IPT determines that contract bundling is to be used, the IPT shall so inform the administrator and include written justification in the file (a part of the acquisition strategy plan, separate memo, etc.) outlining the need for bundling and documenting the impact on attaining the FAA socioeconomic goals. Additionally, if bundling would result in any adverse impact to achievement of the agency's socio-economic goals, the SIR for the bundled procurement must be approved by the FAA Acquisition Executive (FAE). _{(Revised 05/2000)}

In addition, the IPT shall notify the local FAA Small Business Office prior to issuance of the SIR.

f. In a bundled procurement, the acquisition strategy should provide for maximum practicable participation by small business concerns. Some of the ways this can be accomplished include the following:

1. Authorizing two or more small businesses to form a contract team and for that team to be considered a small business for purposes of a bundled requirement provided that each small business partner to the teaming arrangement individually qualifies as a small business under the assigned NAIC codes for the requirement. _{(Revised 11/2000)}

2. For SIRs that offer a significant opportunity for subcontracting, the CO should include proposed small business, small disadvantaged business and women-owned business subcontracting participation in the subcontracting plan as an evaluation factor.

3. Including small business, small disadvantaged business and women-owned subcontracting goals in SIRs and contracts based on contract dollars versus planned subcontracting dollars.

4. Consulting the local FAA Small Business Office and Source Net

g. The requirements of this section do not apply to bundled contracts that are awarded in accordance with OMB Circular A-76 if a cost comparison has been performed under A-76 procedures.

h. The requirements of this section do not apply to contracts to be awarded and performed entirely outside of the United States.

8. Mentor-Protégé _{(Revised 10/2002)}

a. Definitions:

(1) SOCIALLY, AND ECONOMICALLY DISADVANTAGED BUSINESSES (SEDB), as used in the Mentor-Protégé Program, means small business concerns owned and controlled by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals as defined by the Acquisition Management System (AMS).

(2) HISTORICALLY BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES (HBCU) means institutionsdetermined by the U.S. Secretary of Education to meet the requirements of 34 CFR 608.2 and listed therein.

(3) MINORITY EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS (MI) means institutions verified by theU.S. Secretary of Education to meet the criteria set forth in 34 CFR 637.4. MIs include Hispanic-serving institutions as defined by 20 USC 1059c(b)(1).

(4) WOMEN-OWNED SMALL BUSINESSES (WO), as used in the Mentor-Protégé Program,means a small business where ownership and controlling interest (at least 51%) in the company is held by a women.

(5) HIGH-TECH: As used herein , means research and/or development efforts that are within or advances the state-of-the-art in technology discipline and are performed primarily by professional engineering, scientists, and highly skilled and trained technicians or specialists.

b. Purpose

(1) The FAA Mentor-Protégé Program is designed to motivate and encourage firms to assist Small Socially and Economically Disadvantaged Businesses (SEDB), Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU), Minority Institutions (MI) and Women-Owned (WO) Small Businesses in enhancing their capabilities to perform FAA prime contracts and subcontracts, foster the establishment of long-term business relationships between these entities and Mentor Firms, and increase the overall number of these entities that receive FAA prime contract and subcontract awards. The "Mentor-Protégé Program Guide" may be obtained from the FAA's Small Business Utilization staff. _{(Revised 10/2002)}

c. Incentives for Mentor Participation 

(1) Mentors may receive additional evaluation points (for Mentor-Protégé Program participation) toward the award of contracts during the evaluation of competitive offers.

(2) Mentors may receive credit toward attaining subcontracting goals contained in their FAA subcontracting plan(s) for Mentor-Protégé participation.

(3) Costs incurred by a mentor to provide developmental assistance (i.e., technical or managerial) described in Section 1.12 are allowable as indirect costs (appropriate documentation shall be provided) unless the contract contains a line item specifically for the Mentor-Protégé Program. A ceiling on allowable developmental costs shall be established at time of contract award.

(4) Procurements may be set-aside exclusively for competition among firms that are participants in the FAA Mentor-Protege Program.

d. Review and Approval on Mentor - Protégé Application and Agreement

(1) The Mentor-Protégé application and agreement is reviewed by FAA Team (OSDBU, the responsible Integrated Product Team (IPT)/Product Team (PT)). The review should be completed no later than 30 days after receipt by the FAA Team. FAA OSDBU should provide a copy of the submitted information to the cognizant FAA IPT/PT for a parallel review and concurrence.

(2) Upon agreement approval, the mentor may implement the developmental assistance program.

(3) An approved agreement should be incorporated into the mentor or protégé firm's contract or memorandum of understanding with the FAA. It should be added to the subcontracting plan in contracts which contain such a plan.

(4) If the application is disapproved the mentor may provide additional information for reconsideration. The review of any supplemental material should be completed within 30 days after receipt by the OSDBU. Upon finding deficiencies that the FAA considers correctable, the OSDBU should notify the mentor and request information to be provided within 30 days that may correct the deficiencies.

e. Mentor-Protégé Program Guidance Additional Mentor-Protégé Program guidance is located at web site http://www.faa.gov/sbo.

B. CLAUSES Click here to access applicable clauses

C. FORMS Click here to access applicable forms _{(Revised 07/2003)}