If systems don't work, get rid of them

If a classification system isn’t working, get rid of it. It’s as simple as that.

A contracting officer, who commented on an FCW story, had submitted two protests in the past year to the Small Business Administration, challenging businesses claiming to be qualified for service-disabled veteran-owned small business status. And both times the companies were found not to be what they had self-certified themselves to be, according to the officer.

But what’s happened since then?

SBA officials told one of the companies to change its status in the Central Contractor Registration (CCR).

But “I checked the other day, and, lo and behold, they are still listed as a SDVOSB. What a farce,” the officer wrote.

The comment was on a story about a new Senate bill that would tighten restrictions on fraud in federal small-business programs because companies can self-certify themselves. The bill would require the SBA to issue new rules within months to close a loophole in law that allows some non-manufacturers to qualify as manufacturers. It would also force SBA to develop a new industry classification system and get rid of the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code.

“Self-certification under any NAICS code is so easy to do, you can enter any code you want just to make a vendor list, no accountability whatsoever,” the officer wrote.

Another bill, which passed the Senate Sept. 21, would require annual certifications by veteran-owned businesses in the Veteran Affairs Department’s database of contractors called VetBiz.

As for the contracting officer’s other protest, only 4 out of 14 bidders were registered in VetBiz.

“Why should we have them,” if SBA, VA, CCR, the Online Representations and Certifications Application, the Excluded Parties List System, and any other verification system can’t be trusted, the contracting officer wondered.

Posted by Matthew Weigelt on Sep 27, 2011 at 10:40 AM