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Small Business Administration
The
Small Business Administration (SBA) was established in 1953, but its
mission took shape in the Great Depression and World War II.
In 1932,
the
Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC)
was established in an effort to alleviate the Great Depression.
Concern for small business intensified during World War II, when
small businesses were unable to compete with large businesses, and in 1942, Congress created the
Smaller War Plants Corporation (SWPC) to provide direct loans to private
entrepreneurs, to encourage financial institutions to make credit available to
small enterprises, and to advocate small business
procurement with federal agencies and large businesses. After the war, SWPC was
abolished and the RFC took over its lending and contract powers. The Department of Commerce
also assumed
some of SWPC's responsibilities. Congress created
another wartime organization to handle small business concerns during the
Korean War, called the Small Defense Plants Administration (SDPA)
with functions similar to those of the SWPC. The SDPA certified small
businesses for the RFC after it determined the businesses to be competent
to perform the work of government contracts. To continue the
functions of the earlier agencies, the Small Business Act of 1953 was
enacted which created SBA. The current SBA, after several legislative
changes, continues to aid small businesses with loans, technical support,
and assistance with government contracts. It does this with a number
of offices and programs, some of which are briefly described below. |
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SBA Offices & Regulations
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In addition to its headquarters in Washington, D. C., SBA provides its assistance with a variety of offices.
The functions of the SBA offices are explained here:
13 CFR 101.104.1 |
Regional,
District, and Field offices
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Regulations
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SBA issues its own regulations covering its various
programs. |
Title 13
— Business Credit and Assistance.
Chapter I — Small Business
Administration.1 |
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What Is A Small Business?
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SBA's regulations and its program office provide
answers to this question. See
13 CFR 121 dealing with Small Business Size Regulations. |
SBA provides a web page on
Small Business Size Standards that may also help. |
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Procurement Center Representatives (PCR) &
Breakout Procurement Center Representatives (BPCR) &
Commercial Marketing Representatives
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Three important SBA
officials in government contracting are the SBA Procurement Center
Representative (PCR), the SBA Breakout Procurement Center Representative (BPCR),
and the Commercial Marketing Representative.
The responsibilities of
the PCR are explained at are explained at 13 CFR 125.2(b). The
responsibilities of the 13 CFR 125.2(c). Both can be found within
13 CFR 125.2.1
The responsibilities
of the CMR are explained at 13 CFR 125.3(e). To find it, you must go
to
13 CFR 125.3.1 |
SBA Listing of PCRs, BPCRs, and CMRs |
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SBA Contracting Programs
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SBA operates a series of contracting programs centering
around small businesses. Its not easy to follow how SBA sorts things
out in its regulations. However, we will start with
13 CFR 125 which is called "Government Contracting Programs."
The Regulation states: "The regulations in
this part relate to the Government contracting assistance programs of SBA.
There are five main programs: Prime contracting assistance; Subcontracting
assistance; Government property sales assistance; the Certificate of
Competency program; and Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business
Concern contracting assistance. The objective of the programs is to assist
small businesses in obtaining a fair share of Federal Government contracts,
subcontracts, and property sales."
SBA also manages the 8(a) and Small Disadvantaged
Business Development. The regulations are at
13 CFR 124.
Another program that touches on contracting is
Surety Bond Guarantees. The regulations are at
13 CFR 115. |
The
Office of
Government Contracting appears to cover much of the requirements in 13
CFR 125. The
8(a) and
SDB Business Development program appears to cover the requirements of 13
CFR 124.
The
Office of
Surety Guarantees appears to cover the requirements of 13 CFR 115. |
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1
The CFR citations used here are from the
Electronic Code of Federal Regulations (e-CFR). To see how to
use the e-CFR, read information on its
legal status here. To use the CFR,
visit this page. It also provides CFR Titles years into the past
for research. |
