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Panoptic Enterprises' FEDERAL CONTRACTS DISPATCH

DATE: January 14, 2002

SUBJECT: Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR); Subcontracting Goal for Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Businesses

SOURCE: Federal Register, January 14, 2002, Vol. 67, No. 9, page 1857

AGENCIES: Department of Defense (DOD), General Services Administration (GSA), and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

ACTION: Interim Rule Corrections

SYNOPSIS: Federal Acquisition Circular (FAC) 2001-01 contained a interim rule (Item 5) revising Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Subpart 19.7, The Small Business Subcontracting Program, to implement the Veterans Entrepreneurship and Small Business Development Act of 1999 (Public Law 106-50) and the Small Business Reauthorization Act of 2000 (Public Law 106-554), which expanded the eligibility of small business assistance programs to include veteran-owned small businesses and service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses. Inadvertently, some of the FAR language intended for deletion did not appear in the interim rule.

EDITOR'S NOTE: For more on FAC 2001-01, see the October 22, 2001, FEDERAL ACQUISITION DISPATCH "Federal Acquisition Circular (FAC) 2001-01, Miscellaneous Amendments."

EFFECTIVE DATE: January 14, 2002.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Rhonda Cundiff, 202-501-0044.

SUPPLEMENTAL INFORMATION: Item 1 of FAC 97-20 consisted of an interim rule implementing the Veterans Entrepreneurship and Small Business Act of 1999 (Public Law 106-50), which expanded the eligibility of small business assistance programs to include veteran-owned small businesses and service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses (see the October 11, 2000, FEDERAL CONTRACTS DISPATCH "Federal Acquisition Circular (FAC) 97-20, Veterans Entrepreneurship and Truth in Negotiations Act Threshold"). It also established a requirement that subcontracting plans submitted under FAR 52.219-9, Small Business Subcontracting Plan, include a goal for subcontracting with veteran-owned small businesses. However, no requirement to include a goal for service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses was included in FAC 97-20 because those were not addressed in that particular part of the legislation.

On December 21, 2000, the Small Business Reauthorization Act of 2000 (Public Law 106-554) was enacted, and Section 803 added an additional subcontracting plan goal for service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses. Therefore, the interim rule in FAC 97-20 was amended by FAC 2001-01 to add a new subcontracting plan goal requirement for service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses to FAR 52.219-9. However, FAC 2001-01 inadvertently failed to delete language in FAR 52.219-9 and FAR Subpart 19.7 which stated that subcontracts to service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses are part of the veteran-owned small business goal.

The language that should have been deleted by FAC 2001-01, and is now deleted by this correction, is the following:

• The last two sentences of paragraph (a)(1) of FAR 19.704, Subcontracting Plan Requirements, and paragraph (d)(1) of FAR 52.219-9: "Service-disabled veteran-owned small business concerns meet the definition of veteran-owned small business concerns, and offerors may include them within the subcontracting plan goal for veteran-owned small business concerns. A separate goal for service-disabled veteran-owned small business concerns is not required."
  
  
• The last sentence of paragraph (d)(6) of FAR 19.705-4, Reviewing the Subcontracting Plan: "The contracting officer should ensure that the contractor has considered the use of service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses in developing its veteran-owned small business goal (see [FAR] 19.704(a)(1) and 52.219-9(d)(1))."

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Panoptic Enterprises at 703-451-5953 or by e-mail to Panoptic@FedGovContracts.com.

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