Bundling Increases Sub-Opportunities

Another factor that has increased subcontracting opportunities, while at the same time decreasing prime contracting opportunities, for small businesses is the recent (and controversial) trend by federal agencies of combining or bundling small contracts for different activities or requirements into large contract packages.

The government maintains that combining several smaller projects under one large umbrella contract is more efficient than managing several smaller contracts, allowing it to leverage its purchasing power to its advantage and to reduce its operating costs.

However, the umbrella contracts are too large for small and mid-size companies to realistically handle and often require project management capability that they usually don't have. The upshot is that thousands of small businesses have lost federal contracts in recent years because government agencies bundled contracts into large packages that were awarded to big businesses.

But there is a silver lining in all of this: Many big companies that get these awards are managers, not doers, and therefore must find capable subcontractors to help get the work done.

There is another boon to prospective small business subs. Under new SBA guidelines, if a bundled contract is seen as a necessity by the buying agency, the agency must establish a significant evaluation factor that will allow, to the maximum extent possible, subcontracting by small businesses. Part of this may include evaluating the prime contractor's past efforts in providing small firms with the chance to subcontract.

Effects of bundling. The Small Business Reauthorization Act of 1997 stated that federal agencies are allowed to bundle contracts only to achieve "measurably substantial benefits" in terms of cost, shorter acquisition cycles, or better terms and conditions, among other benefits. Congress and the SBA, which have been tracking the increased use of this trend, have been concerned that if left unchecked the trend could lead to a decrease in prime federal contracting with small and mid-size businesses, which, according to 2009 statistics, was about $96.8 billion of the 2009 total of $442.2 billion.

Recently, the SBA has issued new rules that prohibit government buying agencies from combining contracts unless it is necessary and they can document "measurably substantial benefits" from doing so. In a move that may enable small businesses to compete for big umbrella contracts that, to date, only big companies could handle, the SBA also has established guidelines for small businesses that want to create joint ventures to go after bundled contracts. Under the former rules, small businesses banding together were sometimes disqualified because the resulting new employee count or combined revenues would exceed SBA's definition of a small business. However, the new SBA guidelines provide that, if the firms are small before they enter the arrangement, a joint venture won't change that status.

This bundling issue is making it harder for small businesses to compete. More and more, communities and states are banding companies together regionally to bid on larger contracts (flexible networks). This is one solution to bundling, but it's not going to fix the problem of larger contracts becoming unreachable to small business.