In the Headlines
January 12, 2024
Concerns Over NASA’s SEWP VI Small Business Strategy Come to Surface
Federal News Network
Government Contracts attorney Eric Crusius was quoted in a Federal News Network article about NASA's proposed changes to its Solutions for Enterprise-Wide Procurement (SEWP) VI contract and the potential impact on small businesses. Mr. Crusius warned that the new small business size standard may restrict competition and disadvantage less experienced small firms. However, he offered practical alternatives – like following the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's waiver example or keeping a products-focused track – that could help NASA maintain its successful small business participation rates.
“Small businesses with few employees will now be competing with the largest contractors in the world for those contracts,” he said. “The change in the NAICS Code may result in lower performance metrics because the companies that will qualify as small businesses will be much smaller and may not have the experience of providing large scale product orders to the government. It may also cause more turnover because smaller companies handling these orders will more quickly size themselves out of the small business thresholds."
Mr. Crusius noted another way to solve these concerns is to have a separate track using the products NAICS code for orders focused on products.
“This will allow NASA to keep doing what it has done so well while offering additional solutions building upon the strong base, they have made with the previous versions of SEWP,” he added. “It is not surprising to see Congress taking an interest in this because the impact of the changes in NAICS codes will impact dozens of businesses owned by service-disabled veterans that have been trusted partners with NASA for many years.”
READ: Concerns Over NASA’s SEWP VI Small Business Strategy Come to Surface
“Small businesses with few employees will now be competing with the largest contractors in the world for those contracts,” he said. “The change in the NAICS Code may result in lower performance metrics because the companies that will qualify as small businesses will be much smaller and may not have the experience of providing large scale product orders to the government. It may also cause more turnover because smaller companies handling these orders will more quickly size themselves out of the small business thresholds."
Mr. Crusius noted another way to solve these concerns is to have a separate track using the products NAICS code for orders focused on products.
“This will allow NASA to keep doing what it has done so well while offering additional solutions building upon the strong base, they have made with the previous versions of SEWP,” he added. “It is not surprising to see Congress taking an interest in this because the impact of the changes in NAICS codes will impact dozens of businesses owned by service-disabled veterans that have been trusted partners with NASA for many years.”
READ: Concerns Over NASA’s SEWP VI Small Business Strategy Come to Surface