As the Department of Energy works on implementing a new rule counting some subcontracts toward small business goals, officials say it should have little impact on DOE prime contracting to small businesses. The appropriations bill passed in January allows DOE first tier subcontracts awarded by management and operating contractors to small and disadvantaged businesses to be considered toward the government-wide small business procurement goals. “We believe that, as it relates to small businesses, opportunities to really grow and develop, we need to make sure we have many prime opportunities available to small businesses, so we will still strongly advocate for small business opportunities,” John Hale, DOE director of the Office of Small And Disadvantaged Business Utilization, said yesterday at the Waste Management Symposia.
DOE is currently working with the White House Office of Management and Budget and the Small Business Administration to implement the changes, which will be reflected in how DOE M&O first tier subcontracts are weighted in the SBA’s small business goals scorecard. “If you look at our profile, we’re a subcontracting agency, meaning 85 percent of our procurement dollars approximately are spent on our large contractors,” Hale said, adding later: “The implication for us is that we feel that hey, we are doing all this work using federal appropriated dollars, we’ll get more credit for that if you will. We’ll be more careful and work with our programs and really advocate that as it relates to prime small business and the subcontracting that we’ll still focus on prime small business and also having meaningful work.”
