HOSTED BY:
WIPP PROCUREMENT COMMITTEE

SOLE SOURCE AUTHORITY TELECONFERENCE
Ann Sullivan
WIPP Government Relations
©2014 WIPP All
Rights Reserved

BIG WOSB VICTORY
SOLE SOURCE AUTHORITY
 Passed in late December as final legislation of the 113 th
Congress
 Signed into law (P.L. 113-291) on Dec. 19th
 Regulatory process – SBA
 To see the legislation text and more information visit
WIPP’s Procurement Page
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BASICS OF THE WOSB PROGRAM
 2000: established to help achieve government’s 5% goal
 2007: was unacceptable: only 4 industry sectors, agency discrimination requirement
 2011: Became effective in for 1/3 rd of industry sectors
 Two Barriers:
1.
Dollar caps – removed in FY13 NDAA, implemented
June 2013
2.
Sole Source Authority
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COMPONENTS OF THE NEW LAW
 Changes to the WOSB Procurement Program
 Sole Source
 Certification Changes
 Expedited study by SBA of eligible industries
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SOLE SOURCE EXPLAINED
 Contracts up to $4 million for most industry codes and
$6.5 million for manufacturing can be sole sourced
 Contracting officer does not have a reasonable expectation that 2 or more WOSBs will submit offers
 Limited to any small business concern owned and controlled by women
 Applies to economically disadvantaged WOSBs as well as substantially underrepresented industries
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CERTIFICATION CHANGES
 Will replace self certification
 Entities that can certify: federal agency, a state government, the SBA or national certifying entity approved by SBA
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REGULATORY ACTIONS REQUIRED
 SBA generates proposed rule to implement statute
 Internal federal agency review
 SBA proposes rule for public comment
 Comments reviewed by SBA
 Final rule proposed –additional comment period
 FAR Council adopts
 Process includes:
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IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGY
 Expedite sole source implementation
 No new rulemaking language required
 Identical to 2 other statutes
 Put certification changes through standard regulatory process
 Not identical to any other program
 Given number of entities included in certification, and potentially new SBA certification, require extensive comment
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WHO SUPPORTS THIS STRATEGY
 WIPP letter to the SBA
 24 organizations
 A copy of the letter is available on WIPP’s website
 SBA
 Capitol Hill
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THANK YOU FOR PARTICIPATING!
For any questions please email Lin Stuart at
LStuart@wipp.org
©2014 WIPP All
Rights Reserved