National Defense Authorization Acts of 2016 and 2017, Recovery Improvements for Small Entities After Disaster Act of 2015, and Other Small Business Government Contracting

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA or Agency) is amending its regulations to implement several provisions of the National Defense Authorization Acts (NDAA) of 2016 and 2017 and the Recovery Improvements for Small Entities After Disaster Act of 2015 (RISE Act), as well as to clarify existing regulations. This rule clarifies that contracting officers have the authority to request information in connection with a contractor's compliance with applicable limitations on subcontracting clauses; provides exclusions for purposes of compliance with the limitations on subcontracting for certain contracts performed outside of the United States, for environmental remediation contracts, and for information technology service acquisitions that require substantial cloud computing; requires a prime contractor with a commercial subcontracting plan to include indirect costs in its subcontracting goals; establishes that failure to provide timely subcontracting reports may constitute a material breach of the contract; clarifies the requirements for size and status recertification; and limits the scope of Procurement Center Representative (PCR) reviews of Department of Defense acquisitions performed outside of the United States and its territories. This rule also authorizes agencies to receive double credit for small business goaling achievements as announced in SBA's scorecard for local area small business set-asides in connection with a disaster. Finally, SBA is removing the kit assembler exception to the non-manufacturer rule.