govt2310 Posted July 20, 2012 Report Share Posted July 20, 2012 I am having this debate with an office co-worker. In my opinion, FAR 19 DOES NOT APPLY to a FAR 16.505 Task Order RFP off of GSA Alliant Small Business. So such a task order should not be categorized in our contract file system as a "Total Small Business Set Aside." My co-worker believes FAR 19 does apply, and that it should be coded as a "Total Small Business Set Aside." I agree that an ordering agency can get "small business preference credit" for awarding a FAR 15.505 task order to a small business off of GSA Alliant SB, but I do not agree that FAR 19 "applies," nor should it be called a "Total Small Business Set Aside." Who is right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Vern Edwards Posted July 20, 2012 Report Share Posted July 20, 2012 See FAR 8.405-5. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
govt2310 Posted July 20, 2012 Author Report Share Posted July 20, 2012 FAR 8.405-5 states that FAR 19 does NOT apply to FAR Part 8 GSA FSS orders. However, my question is about GSA Alliant Small Business, which is not a FAR Part 8 GSA FSS, but rather, it is a GWAC (see FAR 17.501(a)). A GWAC is a different animal than a GSA Schedule order. In my view, the same concept shoud apply, that an order off a GWAC that happens to only have small business vendors on it is just that, and not a "FAR 19" total small business set aside. I am hoping to find some applicable regulation that says this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Vern Edwards Posted July 20, 2012 Report Share Posted July 20, 2012 OK. Sorry. I have reread your question. What are you trying to find out? Are you asking whether an order placed against a multiple award contract under which all the contractor are small businesses can be reported as a total small business set-aside? Or are you asking if FAR Part 19 is applicable to the placement of orders under such contracts? If you are asking the former, I don't know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
govt2310 Posted July 20, 2012 Author Report Share Posted July 20, 2012 I am asking if FAR Part 19 is applicable to the placement of orders under the GSA Alliant Small Business GWAC, which only has small business vendors on it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Vern Edwards Posted July 20, 2012 Report Share Posted July 20, 2012 Well, at least one subsection applies. See FAR 19.502-4( c). Actually, your question is way too broad. I mean, I could say that the definitions in FAR 19.001 apply. But I don't think that's the kind of thing you are thinking about. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
govt2310 Posted July 20, 2012 Author Report Share Posted July 20, 2012 I see what you mean about FAR 19.502-4©. It says the contracting officer may, in his or her discretion, set aside an order off of a MAC IDIQ. Ok. My question is really this: if an ordering agency's contracting officer chooses, in his or her discretion, to NOT set aside the order, but simply does the order off of GSA Alliant SB GWAC under FAR 16.505, is it still proper to call this a "FAR 19 Total Small Business Set Aside"? I have previously worked on orders off of MAC IDIQs that had a mix of vendors, both large and small. A typical scenario involved a MAC IDIQ that had 20 contractors on it, but only 4 of them were small businesses. If an order was set aside for small businesses only, then only those 4 small business vendors were allowed to compete under fair opportunity for the order. But for GSA Alliant SB GWAC, 100% of the vendors on it are small vendors. GSA has already done the "total small business set aside" in awarding the Master Contract. So there is no point in setting the order aside only for small businesses, because no matter what, 100% of the offerors will be small business. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C Culham Posted July 20, 2012 Report Share Posted July 20, 2012 From GSA….”Should be coded as "no set-aside used", even if you used a set-aside GWAC; the entire GWAC is a set-aside, so there is no required set-aside for individual task orders.” At this website http://www.gsa.gov/portal/content/308765 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
govt2310 Posted July 20, 2012 Author Report Share Posted July 20, 2012 Thanks Vern and C Culham! The link is awesome! I will show this thread and the GSA link to my co-worker. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Vern Edwards Posted July 20, 2012 Report Share Posted July 20, 2012 Whoa! Are you asking whether the CO must consider a small business set aside for a new contract as opposed to placing an order against a GWACs? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
govt2310 Posted July 20, 2012 Author Report Share Posted July 20, 2012 No. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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