“For many of the 700 or so companies on the 8(a) STARS II contract, the Small Business Administration pulled the rug out from under them.”
“Many believe SBA’s decision to let the General Services Administration increase the ceiling of the popular governmentwide acquisition contract by $7 billion only if the contract’s period of performance ended in June 2022 — nearly two years sooner than the original contract had laid out when awarded in 2009 — is shortsighted and misinformed, and reverses decades of small business policy and precedence.”
“And similar to the decision that the Department of Health and Human Services made with its Program Support Center, SBA is putting its customer agencies and the companies they are supposed to support at risk for a flawed set of reasons and rationales.”
“’What is unfair is the way SBA surprised everyone with their decision to limit the period of performance,’ said John Shoraka, a former associate administrator of government contracting and business development at SBA and now co-founder and managing director of GovContractPros. ‘If the decision was made several years ago, then maybe I could see it as being fair. But if I’m an 8(a) firm or a government buyer, I’ve planned on this contract being available to use until 2024 and the decision to limit the period of performance is throwing everything into upheaval.’”
“The upheaval is even more pronounced because GSA and SBA made the decision as agencies entered the fourth quarter buying season…” Read the full article here.
Source: Limiting period of performance is killing highly successful 8(a) GWAC – By Jason Miller, August 24, 2020. Federal News Network.
