Late January, OFPP released a memo titled, “Increasing Small Business Participation on Multiple-Award Contracts.” The memo suggests procedures that do exactly that by applying the rule of two at the task-order level, including when using so-called best in class (BIC) contracts. The rule of two, many will remember, is the requirement that a procurement be set-aside for small business when two or more of such can satisfy the requirement at fair and reasonable pricing (see FAR § 19.502-2). The BIC portion of the memo is interesting;, it begins with a full-throated defense of the contracts, before segueing to “the agency should consider whether an open market set-aside would be a more effective way to meet its mission while expanding the supplier base” where a BIC fails to do the same. That seems in the eye of the beholder.
