Overview
This section prescribes the specific FAR provisions and clauses that contracting officers must include in solicitations and contracts to implement small business set-asides, reserves, and performance requirements. It ensures that the legal protections and obligations associated with small business programs are contractually binding at both the prime contract and task-order levels.
Key Rules
- Total and Partial Set-Asides: Contracting officers (COs) must use FAR 52.219-6 for total small business set-asides and FAR 52.219-7 for partial set-asides, including those applied to multiple-award contracts.
- Limitations on Subcontracting: FAR 52.219-14 is mandatory for small business set-asides exceeding the simplified acquisition threshold and for all socio-economic program awards (8(a), HUBZone, SDVOSB, WOSB) regardless of dollar value.
- Multiple-Award Contract Set-Asides: Specific clauses (52.219-13 and its Alternate I) must be used to notify offerors when orders under a multiple-award contract may or will be set aside for small businesses.
- Small Business Reserves: Solicitations involving "reserves" on multiple-award contracts require the use of provision 52.219-31 and clause 52.219-32 to govern how orders are issued.
- Nonmanufacturer Rule: FAR 52.219-33 must be included in supply or manufacturing contracts set aside for small businesses unless the Small Business Administration (SBA) has issued a formal waiver.
- Compliance Specification: For set-aside contracts, the CO must explicitly state whether compliance with subcontracting limitations is required at the total contract level or at the individual order level.
Practical Implications
- Small business contractors must strictly monitor their "self-performance" percentages, as these clauses provide the government with the legal basis to penalize firms that act as "pass-throughs" for large businesses.
- The inclusion of these clauses in Multiple-Award Contracts gives the government the administrative flexibility to toggle between full-and-open competition and small business set-asides at the task-order level.