Postscript: Simplification, Reform, Streamlining by Vernon J. Edwards

[bob7947]

In the July issue, we told of a U.S. Army procurement of grounds maintenance services in which the agency conducted a simplified acquisition for commercial services, set aside for small businesses, to mow less than two acres of grass 18 times a year for one year with four one-year extension options. The work will include edging, trimming, pruning, and general cleanup at a small Army facility in suburban Virginia. We told how in order to do that the Army issued a 90-page Request for Quotations containing 105 Federal Acquisition Regulation and Defense FAR Supplement solicitation provisions and contract clauses and incorporating a 525-page Army grounds maintenance regulation as the standard of quality. See Simplification, Reform, Streamlining, and Innovation: The Government Is Immune to Those Things, 38 NCRNL ¶ 44.

Please read:  Postscript: Simplification, Reform, Streamlining by Vernon J. Edwards

[C Culham]

We all need an advocate to free us of the burdensome procurement rules and regulations that result in contract terms and conditions intended to defend against the litigious society we now live in.

My Verizon agreement for simple cell phone use is 9 pages but I would offer that if all references to such things as the collection agency and the Federal Arbitration Act processes were downloaded it too would expand to hundreds of pages.  Yet like the guy that simply provides maintenance services I simply use my phone.  But the day it's use becomes troublesome I get mired in a bureaucracy that in my view is worse than the Federal government.

My point being it will take a collective effort far beyond the halls of government to change the "business" processes we drowned in everyday.

[joel hoffman]

8 hours ago, C Culham said:

We all need an advocate to free us of the burdensome procurement rules and regulations that result in contract terms and conditions intended to defend against the litigious society we now live in.

My Verizon agreement for simple cell phone use is 9 pages but I would offer that if all references to such things as the collection agency and the Federal Arbitration Act processes were downloaded it too would expand to hundreds of pages.  Yet like the guy that simply provides maintenance services I simply use my phone.  But the day it's use becomes troublesome I get mired in a bureaucracy that in my view is worse than the Federal government.

My point being it will take a collective effort far beyond the halls of government to change the "business" processes we drowned in everyday.

Way to go, Carl. Putting this in perspective,  is the government worse than the myriads of ridiculous terms and conditions imposed every day by businesses. What I think is especially ridiculous are all the exceptions written into the warranties, etc. that you can’t read until you buy the product and open the package…

[REA'n Maker]

There are armies of program analysts just waiting to write the most ridiculous rules and regulations you can imagine, for the mere sake of justifying their existence. My agency has at least 10 policy specialists and we don't even have an agency-level FAR supplement. Perverse incentives are the problem - no one got their 14 by eliminating stupid and wasteful rules, they got their 14 by writing stupid and wasteful rules.

Case in point: How do I evaluate whether an offeror "promotes diversity of perspective, experience, and background in contractor staffing" might you ask? Well, that's an operational issue, not a policy question...

[Voyager]

@Vern Edwards I read this quote ending a section on socioeconomic programs and was left to wonder.

Quote

We doubt that anyone knows the cost of administering and complying with the socioeconomic programs.

Can you give an example of what cost you might see coming from FAR Part 19, Small Business Programs?  The award would have gone to someone, so it's just not clear to me on its face.  In fact, the exemptions to CAS and the DFARS Business Systems criteria, and to a lesser extent the government's reduced lead time for 8(a) and SDVOSB direct awards, all seem to counter your mentioned costs.

[Vern Edwards]

8 hours ago, Voyager said:

Can you give an example of what cost you might see coming from FAR Part 19, Small Business Programs?

Are you serious? Have you made any attempt to think seriously about that? I think not.

 

[Voyager]

21 hours ago, Vern Edwards said:

Have you made any attempt to think seriously about that?

Is the burden of proof on me to prove another scholar's position true?

[joel hoffman]

47 minutes ago, Voyager said:

Is the burden of proof on me to prove another scholar's position true?

Who was the scholar and what is the source ? Did I miss it?

[Vern Edwards]

19 hours ago, Voyager said:

Is the burden of proof on me to prove another scholar's position true?

No. But I was not writing as a scholar, but as an analyst writing for a professional publication. And I don't write for laypersons. You asked:

On 9/24/2024 at 10:41 AM, Voyager said:

Can you give an example of what cost you might see coming from FAR Part 19, Small Business Programs? 

That's a layperson's question.

A professional contracting person would have a sense of the costs associated with administration and oversight of the small business programs as incurred by the SBA and by contracting offices.

• There's the cost of having to prepare a synopsis for every buy in excess of $25,000, instead of in excess of the simplified acquisition threshold, as required by the Small Business Act. Think of how many such synopses are made each year (millions) and the cumulative annual person time devoted to their preparation, posting, and maintenance.
• There's the administrative time and delay of coordinating with SBA Procurement Center Reps.
• There's the cost of documenting the reason for not totally setting a procurement aside.
• There's the cost and delay associated with size protests (roughly 500 per year as of 2012) and appeals and of certificates of competency.
• There's the concern that setting procurements aside, and thus limiting competition, results in higher prices. (Check out SBA's 
• There's the cost to government and industry of preparing and reviewing small business subcontracting plans.
• There's the cost of evaluating offeror small business subcontracting past performance
• There's the general cost of SB program administration and oversight.

Those are just some of the sources of cost.

Really, all a professional need do to identify where the costs would come from out of Part 19 is read Part 19 and use their head. But a professional might subscribe to and search in publications like Public Contract Law Journal and consider articles such as "Questioning the Sacred Cow: Reexamining the Justifications for Small Business Set-Asides" by Andrew George Sakallaris, Summer 2007. A pro might read, Big Is Beautiful: Debunking the Myth of Small Business by Atkinson and Lind (2018), published by MIT Press. A pro with a question like yours might scan SBA's 252-page FY 2025 budget justification.

As I said in my piece, I don't think anyone knows what socio-economic program costs add up to. Procurement offices don't track their costs. I didn't make a cost/benefit analysis. I just pointed out that the programs cost money and time and should be reviewed and perhaps adjusted. But I am confident that they more than offset any savings that you attribute to "the exemptions to CAS and the DFARS Business Systems criteria, and to a lesser extent the government's reduced lead time for 8(a) and SDVOSB direct awards." According to SBA, the VOSB certification program alone will cost them $27.7 million in FY2025.

[formerfed]

Then there’s a huge cost of bureaucracy in administering the program.  SBA has a large number of staff dedicated.  There are dozens of procurement center representatives.  Add in the small business specialist in every agency contracting activity.  Plus there’s the administrative costs of capturing all the award data and reporting.

There’s the legal support effort from challenged set-aside decisions.  Think about the recent thread here on selection of NAICS.  If someone did a comprehensive analysis, the results would be staggering.