The Department of Defense, NASA and the General Services Administration have issued an interim rule to implement the final rules by the Small Business Administration with regard to the certification of service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses.
The provisional rule was introduced as an amendment to the Federal Acquisition Regulation to implement sections of the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal years 2021 and 2022, according to a Federal Register notice published Friday.
Section 862 of FY 2021 NDAA moves the verification of SDVOSBs from the Department of Veterans Affairs to SBA and establishes a certification requirement for such businesses seeking set-aside and sole-source awards under the SDVOSB program within the federal government.
Meanwhile, section 863 of FY 2022 NDAA requires that a small business determined ineligible by SBA for SDVOSB certification to update its status in the System for Award Management within two days of the eligibility determination.
The interim rule intends to implement SBA’s governmentwide certification program for SDVOSBs and update protest procedures for such business concerns.
Interested stakeholders have until April 23 to submit comments that will help inform the final rule.