Office of Federal Procurement Policy
Office of Management and Budget

Comment Request Entitled Small Business Competitiveness Demonstration Program

AGENCY: Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP), Office of Management and Budget (OMB)

ACTION: Notice of request regarding the reinstatement, with changes, of a previously approved collection (OMB Clearance 9000-0100) for which approval is now being requested by OFPP.

SUMMARY: Under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. Chapter 35), OFPP notified the public concerning a request to reinstate, with changes, a previously approved information collection requirement concerning the Small Business Competitiveness Demonstration Program. A request for public comment was published at 63 FR 51962, September 29, 1998. No comments were received. This is a second request for comments and notice that the proposed information collection has been submitted to OMB for approval.

COMMENTS: Comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden should be submitted to Edward Springer at the Office of Management and Budget, Desk Officer for OMB, Room 10236, New Executive Office Building, Washington, DC 20503. Please cite the Small Business Competitiveness Demonstration Program.

DATES: Comments may be submitted on or before July 1, 1999

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Linda G. Williams, Deputy Associate Administrator, Office of Federal Procurement Policy, 202-395-3302.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

A. Purpose

The Small Business Competitiveness Demonstration Program Act of 1988 (Title VII, Public Law 100-656), as amended, established the Small Business Competitiveness Demonstration Program (Program). The Program was established to (1) demonstrate whether or not small businesses in certain industry groups can compete successfully on an unrestricted basis for Federal contracts, and (2) to demonstrate whether or not targets goaling and management techniques can expand Federal contract opportunities for small businesses in industry categories where such opportunities historically have been low despite adequate numbers of small business contractors in the economy. Section 401 of the Small Business Reauthorization Act of 1997 (Public Law 105-135) extends the Program indefinitely.

Under the current Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), small businesses are required only to represent their status (i.e., whether small, small disadvantaged, or women-owned small businesses). Section 714(c) of the Small Business Competitiveness Demonstration Program Act requires each participating agency to collect data pertaining to the size as well as the status of the small business concern receiving any award for services in the designated industry groups and products or services in the agencies' ten targeted industry categories. The size of the small business is collected in terms of the number of employees or dollar volume of sales. The number of employees is based on the average of the pay periods for the last twelve months. The volume of sales is based on the average annual gross revenue for the last three fiscal years (See FAR 19.101). The size information is collected during the solicitation process as part of the representation requirement. This data will be used to evaluate the small business impact of the Program.

The former information collection requirements set forth in Section 714 (b) of the Small Business Competitiveness Demonstration Program Act, pertaining to the simplified system to collect data on the participation of small business concerns as subcontractors under prime contracts for architectural and engineering (A&E) services, expired on September 30, 1997. Accordingly, this proposed reinstatement excludes that data collection requirement.

B. Annual Reporting Burden

Public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average five minutes per response, including the time to gather the information and complete the solicitation provision. The annual reporting burden is estimated as follows: Respondents, 603,524; responses per respondent, 1; total annual responses, 603,524; preparation hours per response, .08333, and total response burden hours, 50,273. The collection is voluntary.

COPIES OF THE PROPOSAL:

A copy of the Paperwork proposal is available from the Office of Federal Procurement Policy, Room 352, OEOB, Washington, DC 20503. Please cite the Small Business Competitiveness Demonstration Program in all correspondence.

Deidre A. Lee
Administrator

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