This is the twelfth section in our thirteen part series on “The Busy Person’s Guide to Grant Management.”
WHO ELSE WANTS FEDERAL CONTRACTS AND SUBAWARDS? HINT: IT’S NOT JUST THE BIG GUYS ANYMORE!
Do you picture smoke-filled rooms with a bunch of “fat cats” sipping brandy and making inside deals for their share of Federal contracts and Subawards?
Evidently so did the people that wrote the Federal regulations. So much so that the Procurement Standards re-enforce the national policy to award a “fair share” of contracts to small businesses and minority owned firms. Likewise, Grantees are required to take appropriate actions to support women enterprises.
For State, Local and federally recognized Tribal Governments, the regulations also encourages procurement of goods and services from labor surplus areas.
Busy Person’s Guide to Affirmative Steps
In the Procurement Standards for State, Local, and federally recognized Tribal Governments, the efforts to assist these types of business is known as “affirmative steps.” For Non-profit Organizations and Institutions of Higher Learning the term “positive efforts” is used to describe the required support.
Whichever term is used, the Procurement Standards require that Federal Award Recipients endeavor to use small businesses, minority owned firms and women owned business enterprises whenever possible.
7 ways to make sure you support these types of businesses.
The Recipient must take these actions to ensure they are using small businesses and minority and women owned firms to the “fullest extent practicable.”
There are a number of ways that Federal Award recipients can support these types of businesses. Let’s look at seven ways you can support these types of businesses when you are spending Federal dollars:
- #1 Make information about upcoming procurements available to small businesses, and minority and women owned firms.
- #2 Plan the timeframe for procurements to actively encourage and facilitate participation of these types of businesses, to the extent possible.
- #3 Use the services of Federal Agencies like the Small Business Administration or “SBA” during the solicitation process to demonstrate affirmative steps.
- #4 Put qualified small, minority and women owned firms and labor surplus area firms on solicitation lists.
- #5 Solicit them when they are a potential source for an upcoming procurement.
- #6 When economically feasible, divide the total requirements into smaller tasks or quantities to permit the maximum participation by small, minority and women owned businesses.
- #7 When the procurement is expected to be too large for any one small business, the Recipient should encourage the use of consortiums of small businesses to facilitate participation.
You aren’t done yet. You also have to watch your contractors!
Grant recipients should also require their contractors to take “affirmative steps” and “positive efforts” to subcontract with small businesses, minority and women owned firms and labor surplus area firms.
Grant recipients should consider if their contractors are taking “affirmative steps” and “positive efforts” to subcontract with small businesses and minority and women owned firms.
Not just a “nice to do!”
The final word is that active inclusion of small businesses, minority and women owned companies, and labor surplus area firms is not just a “nice to do.”
“Affirmative steps” and “positive steps” are requirements for receiving Federal funds.
P.S. Here’s even more free information.
Check out the Affirmative Steps Video Lesson.
Length: Approx. 3 minutes
Get your own very cool, one page “Quick Reference Guide: Affirmative Steps.”
(Just click on the link to download the .pdf file.)
This is the twelfth section in our thirteen part series on “The Busy Person’s Guide to Grant Management.”
Act now to join other Grant professionals in getting the latest Compliance Warriors and MyFedTrainer.com bonus resources as they become available.
We do not share your information with others. That’s the bottom line. Privacy Policy
