FAR 19.2—Subpart 19.2

General policy.

FAR 19.201 states the Government’s basic small business policy and explains how that policy is carried out in practice. It covers the requirement to give maximum practicable opportunities to small business, veteran-owned small business, service-disabled veteran-owned small business, HUBZone small business, small disadvantaged business, and women-owned small business concerns, both as prime contractors and subcontractors, consistent with efficient contract performance. It also explains the role of the Small Business Administration (SBA) in counseling and assisting small businesses and supporting contracting personnel. The section assigns responsibility to heads of contracting activities to implement small business programs, achieve goals, and ensure contracting and technical staff understand the rules and actively promote participation. It further requires each agency with contracting authority to maintain an Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization, describes the office’s leadership, reporting chain, and duties, and for DoD notes the redesignation to the Office of Small Business Programs. Finally, it addresses the office’s role in working with SBA procurement center representatives, identifying bundling, advising on set-aside decisions, conducting annual reviews, reporting to agency leadership and SBA, advising on consolidation and market research, and responding when small businesses say a solicitation is too restrictive. In practice, this section is the policy foundation for agency small business advocacy, acquisition planning, and oversight of whether agencies are truly giving small businesses a fair chance to compete.

Specific policies.

FAR 19.202 sets out the specific policy controls that contracting officers must follow to implement the government’s small business participation policy in FAR 19.201(a). It requires contracting officers to comply with the section’s mandatory policies and to consider recommendations from the agency Director of the Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization (OSDBU), or, for the Department of Defense, the Director of the Office of Small Business Programs (OSBP), or that Director’s designee, when deciding whether an acquisition should be set aside or otherwise awarded under the small business programs in subparts 19.5, 19.8, 19.13, 19.14, or 19.15. The section also requires agencies to create internal procedures, including dollar thresholds, for routing acquisitions to the Director or designee for review so they can make those recommendations. In practice, this means the small business office has a formal advisory role in acquisition strategy, and contracting officers must give that advice real consideration rather than treating it as optional. If the contracting officer does not accept the recommendation, the file must be documented in accordance with FAR 19.506, which creates accountability and a record for later review. The section is important because it ties small business policy to acquisition planning, review thresholds, and file documentation, helping ensure that small business opportunities are considered early and consistently.

Relationship among small business programs.

FAR 19.203 explains how the major small business socioeconomic programs relate to one another and to ordinary small business set-asides. It covers the 8(a) Program, HUBZone Program, Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) Program, and Women-Owned Small Business (WOSB) Program, and it also explains how those programs interact with the general small business set-aside rules in FAR subpart 19.5. The section addresses acquisitions at or below the simplified acquisition threshold, acquisitions above the simplified acquisition threshold, and the special rule that an 8(a) requirement accepted by SBA generally stays in the 8(a) Program unless SBA releases it. It also tells contracting officers what factors to consider when choosing among socioeconomic programs, including market research and agency progress toward small business goals. In practice, this section is important because it helps contracting officers choose the correct small business strategy, avoid conflicting set-aside decisions, and understand when a socioeconomic program takes priority over a standard small business set-aside or full and open competition.