Rep. Parker Griffith’s small-business bill leaves a lot of gray areas regarding small-business set-asides, even though legislation likely would shake up how agencies view individual contracts undergoing a recompete.

For instance, how would the government handle a recompete if the new procurement is a governmentwide acquisition contract or an indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract or a blanket purchase agreement, asked a reader named Pattie.

“Current wording [of the bill] would only support full and open competition or multiple award schedule contract[s] where the incumbent holds the schedule that is being used,” she writes. “Text is brief and to the point, but in this case it’s too brief.”

For those who have yet to read the 300-word bill, it’s at the bottom of the post. The bill would allow agencies to still consider an incumbent contractor to be a small business if the company was a small business at the time of a initial contract award, even though it may no longer be small at the time the recompete rolls around and is in danger of reverting to a small business again if it is not awarded the contract.

Lloyd Chapman, president of the American Small Business League advocacy group, said the bill would create “a colossal, anti-small business loophole.”

Griffith’s office didn’t respond to an e-mail yesterday for background information on the legislation and a statement on it.

The questions to answer are:

How do you think the Small Business Fair Competition Act (H.R. 3558) would affect small-business contractors?

Would it add anything to the competition between small businesses for set-asides?

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the `Small Business Fair Competition Act.'

SEC. 2. REPRESENTATION BY CONTRACTORS AS SMALL BUSINESSES.
(a) Eligibility of Incumbent Contractors To Re-Compete as Small Businesses — In the case of a solicitation for bids or proposals by the Government for a proposed contract award, if the goods or services to be provided or performed under the proposed contract are substantially the same as the goods or services being provided or performed under a current contract, then the incumbent contractor is eligible to re-compete for the proposed contract as a small business if the incumbent contractor represents in good faith that it is a small business in accordance with this section. Such representation may be made if —

(1) the incumbent contractor meets the definition of a small business concern applicable to the solicitation and has not been determined by the Small Business Administration to be a concern other than a small business; or

(2) the incumbent contractor was a small business at the time of initial award of the current contract to the incumbent, is no longer a small business at the time of the solicitation, and will revert to being a small business (as defined in the solicitation for the proposed contract) if not awarded the proposed contract.

(b) Small Business Set-Aside — In the case of a proposed contract referred to in subsection (a) being awarded to the incumbent contractor, the Government may qualify the contract as a small business set-aside for the duration of the contract.

(c) Incumbent Contractor Defined — In this section, the term 'incumbent contractor,' with respect to a contract, means the contractor currently performing the contract.

(d) Amendment of Federal Acquisition Regulation — The Federal Acquisition Regulation shall be revised within 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act to implement this Act.

Source:  http://fcw.com/blogs/acquisitive-mind/2009/09/small-business-fair-competition-act-set-aside-status.aspx