The NDAA required SBA to generate a report to Congress regarding Small Business Participation in Multiple Award Contracts. SBA was asked specifically to respond to the following questions:
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Are small businesses being utilized in a significant portion of MACs?
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Are there awards reserved for the different small business categories (i.e., Women-OwnedSmall Business, Service Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business, HUBZone, Small Disadvantaged Business)?
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Are small businesses in each concern given the opportunity to perform on MACs? and
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Are MAC performance requirements feasible for small businesses?
The report submitted by SBA to Congress revealed the following:
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Opportunities for small businesses to be prime contractors have decreased. The number of small business contractors fell by 11 percent on MACs and 17 percent on non-MACs.
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The percentage of MAC spend to the socioeconomic categories (WOSB, SDVOSB, HUBZone, SDB) substantially exceeded the percentage of non-MAC spend. An average of 12.5% was awarded to SDBs; 8.2% to WOSBs; 7.2% to SDVOSBs; and 2.6% to HUBZones.
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About 37% of MAC spend from FY12 to FY17 was obligated to small business.
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Dollars obligated per small business or socioeconomic category on MACs significantly exceeded the obligations per small business or socioeconomic category on non-MACs.
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The pace at which obligations grew annually per small business or socioeconomic vendor on MACs more than doubled, at the minimum, the growth rates on non-MACs.
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An increasing percentage of MAC spend was obligated through awards set aside at the base or order level for small business, SDBs, WOSBs, SDVOSBs, or HUBZones.
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Given that the percentage of spend on MACs to small businesses significantly exceeded the percentage on non-MACs, it is determined that the performance requirements for MACs are feasible for small businesses.
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Small businesses represent greater percentages of total prime vendors on MACs than non-MACs and have succeeded in earning the opportunity to perform, innovate, and serve on federal multiple award contracts.
In its summary, it acknowledges that SBA needs to further investigate. The report ends stating that SBA needs to know more about the characteristics of small businesses and SDB, WOSB, SDVOSB, and HUBZone small business vendors on multiple award contracts, particularly the qualities of MAC vendors, such as number of employees, average annual revenue, and geographic location. SBA specifically needs to know if the small businesses on MACs have more employees compared to non-MACs and whether MAC vendors are typically located in a certain geographic area..