Buy from small business MAS contractors

SBA policy allows you to credit Multiple Award Schedule buys in your small business goals

See FAR Subpart 8.405-5(b) for details.

Socioeconomic categories of small businesses

Approximately 80% of our contractors are small businesses. The categories of small businesses are defined at FAR 19.000(a)(3), and we use the following indicators in our contractor listing on eLibrary and our online shopping and ordering system, GSA Advantage. You can rely on the small business representations MAS contractors make at the contract level, according to FAR 8.405-5(b), and you can request a recertification at the order level.

Company status and indicators

• Small business — s
• Other than small business — o
• Women-owned small business — w
• Veteran-owned small business — v
• Service-disabled, veteran-owned small business — dv
• SBA-certified small disadvantaged business — d
• 8(a) Sole Source Pool business — 8aS
• SBA-certified 8(a) firm (used as 8(a) competitive pool) — 8a
• SBA-certified HUBZone firm — h

You can set aside MAS orders for small business, but it’s not required

You can set aside orders and BPAs for small businesses in any of the socioeconomic categories, according to FAR 8.405-5. Don’t set aside BPAs for small businesses if you don’t have at least three small business concerns competing. If you intend to set aside orders under a BPA, clearly state that in your solicitation document.

You aren’t required to set aside MAS orders for small business. It’s up to the ordering contracting officer to decide whether or not it is in the best interest of the government to do so. If you do not set aside orders for small business concerns, you can use the socioeconomic status as an evaluation factor in RFQs.

Steps to set aside an order

Do market research to determine whether three or more MAS contractors can provide the required products, services, or both. At a minimum, if available, you should consider at least one from each of the categories, according to FAR 8.405-5(c).

You can place MAS sole source 8(a) orders up to $4.5 million, or up to $7 million for orders (with assigned manufacturing NAICS). Otherwise, if you choose to limit competition to fewer than three small business sources, you must prepare documentation to justify the limitation. With tens of thousands of small business MAS contractors, this should happen infrequently.

For orders or BPAs, include a statement in the request for quote that it will be set aside. Here is language you can use:

This is a notice that this order is a total set-aside for [insert either small business concerns or specify a subset of small business concern]. Only quotes submitted by [insert either small business concerns or specify a subset of small business concerns] will be accepted by the government. Any quote that is submitted by a contractor that is not [insert either small business concerns or specify a subset of small business concern] will not be considered for award.

If you use eBuy, this is automatically in the set-aside RFQ posting. We have also configured eBuy so that MAS contractors who aren’t eligible to respond to set-aside orders won’t be able to see those RFQs. For example, if you set aside an order for service-disabled, veteran-owned small businesses, only the SDVOSBs in that SIN will be able to view it. We also include language to warn MAS contractors who aren’t eligible to respond that their quotes will not be considered.

For SINs like Temporary Administrative and Professional Staffing Services that are totally set aside for small business concerns, you can further set aside orders for a specific category, such as for HUBZone contractors. As always, your market research must indicate that there are sufficient eligible small businesses capable of performing the work before you do this.

Contractor team arrangements

All members of a CTA must be small (or categorized according to the set-aside) to be eligible for the order. Our other requirements for CTAs apply in these cases. A CTA team must perform 50% of the value of the work in the aggregate. For example, a team of three contractors might have a team leader performing 30% of the work and two other team members performing 10% each to meet the 50% requirement. Other subcontractors who work for the team members may perform the other 50% of the work, and those subcontractors aren’t required to be small businesses.

Ordering procedures

We strongly recommend that you indicate in your RFQs that all CTAs be specifically identified as such and that a CTA agreement be submitted as part of the response to the RFQ. Consider telling MAS contractors to indicate if they “propose a contractor team arrangement as evidenced by their CTA agreement.”

Evaluating CTAs

• Ensure the proposed solution meets your needs
• Understand how the arrangement will work
• Clarify areas of responsibility
• Look for deficiencies that could lead to issues with performance
• Verify the proposed prices or rates against the MAS contract prices or rates

Reporting guidance

The small business credit is based on the dollar amount of the work each small business contractor performs under the order.

Since the Federal Procurement Data System only accepts information on one contractor per order, determine which contractor is realizing the majority of revenue for the order and report that information in FPDS.

8(a) credit

You can credit your buys with 8(a) firms to your small disadvantaged business goals.

Non-manufacturer rule

A small business manufacturer has to provide the products you order from small business set-aside orders. A large business MAS contractor cannot use a small business dealer’s size status to compete for small business set-aside orders either.

How to comply with FAR 8.405-5(a)(2)(ii)

Some of the small business programs identified in FAR Part 19 have special circumstances under which you can set aside an acquisition.

For example, on orders to be set aside for WOSB, you need to verify that the offeror:

• Is registered in the System for Award Management
• Is self-certified as an EDWOSB or WOSB concern in SAM
• Has submitted documents verifying its eligibility at the time of initial offer to the WOSB Program Repository. Don’t award the contract until you receive all required documents