“The General Services Administration extended the ceiling of its popular governmentwide small business contract vehicle STARS II in June but also made changes that place limits on the period of performance that has some lawmakers complaining.”
“GSA raised the ceiling value of the 8(a) Streamlined Technology Application Resource for Services II governmentwide acquisition contract from $15 billion to $22 billion as the contract vehicle was about to hit its limit. But that change included scaling back period of performance deadlines for contract task orders from August 30, 2024 to June 30, 2022, according to a July 28 letter to the agency from House Government Operations Subcommittee Chairman Gerry Connolly (D-Va.).”
“In his letter, Connolly told the General Services Administration that although lawmakers welcomed the decision to raise the STARS II ceiling, the shorter POP deadlines “will have several unintended consequences” that GSA and the Small Business Administration should take a closer look at. Those changes could affect almost 800 contractors…”
“Although arcane, the changes will force federal agencies to scramble to move to other contracts or plans because the shortened periods of performance could cancel their 8(a) STARS II bidding proposals either outright, or in mid-stream, said James Fontana, managing partner at Tysons, Va.-based contracting law firm Dempsey Fontana.”
“The main concern for small businesses on the contract, said Fontana in an Aug. 5 email to FCW, is changing the task order completion deadline from four to less than two years…” Read the full article here.
Source: Lawmakers push back on STARS shutoff date – By Mark Rockwell, August 6, 2020. FCW.
