95-30328. Small Business Size Standards; Waiver of the Nonmanufacturer Rule

[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 239 (Wednesday, December 13, 1995)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 63987-63988]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-30328]



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SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

13 CFR Part 121


Small Business Size Standards; Waiver of the Nonmanufacturer Rule

AGENCY: Small Business Administration.

ACTION: Notice of intent to waive the nonmanufacturer rule for 
minicomputers.

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SUMMARY: The Small Business Administration (SBA) is considering 
granting a waiver of the Nonmanufacturer Rule for Minicomputers. A 
Minicomputer is ``a digital computer whose price and capability lies 
above that of a personal computer or workstation, and below that of a 
mainframe computer'' as defined by the Ralston and Reilly Encyclopedia 
of Computer Science Third Edition. The SBA adds that most Minicomputers 
are run in a closed-shop environment, with the user acting as operator, 
programmer, and application analyst. The basis for a waiver of the 
Nonmanufacturer Rule for this product is that there are no small 
business manufacturers or processors available to supply these products 
to the Federal Government. The effect of a waiver would be to allow 
otherwise qualified regular dealers to supply other than the product of 
a domestic small business manufacturer or processor on a Federal 
contract set aside for small businesses or awarded through the SBA 8(a) 
Program. The purpose of this notice is to solicit comments and 
potential source information from interested parties.

DATES: Comments and sources must be submitted on or before December 29, 
1995.

ADDRESSES: David Wm. Loines, Procurement Analyst, U.S. Small Business 
Administration, 409 3rd Street S.W., Washington, DC 20416.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: David Wm. Loines, 202-205-6475.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Public law 100-656, enacted on November 15, 
1988, incorporated into the Small Business Act the previously existing 
regulation that recipients of Federal contracts set-aside for small 
businesses or the SBA 8(a) Program procurement must provide the product 
of a small business manufacturer or processor, if the recipient is 
other than the actual 

[[Page 63988]]
manufacturer or processor. This requirement is commonly referred to as 
the Nonmanufacturer Rule. The SBA regulations imposing this requirement 
are found at 13 CFR 121.906(b) and 121.1106(b). Section 303(h) of the 
law provides for waiver of this requirement by SBA for any ``class of 
products'' for which there are no small business manufacturers or 
processors in the Federal market. To be considered available to 
participate in the Federal market on these classes of products, a small 
business manufacturer must have submitted a proposal for a contract 
solicitation or received a contract from the Federal Government within 
the last 24 months. The SBA defines ``class of products'' based on two 
coding systems. The first is the Office of Management and Budget 
Standard Industrial Classification Manual. The second is the Product 
and Service Code established by the Federal Procurement Data System.
    The Small Business Administration is currently processing a request 
for a waiver of the Nonmanufacturer Rule for Minicomputers (SIC 3571, 
PSC 7010) and invites the public to comment or provide information on 
potential small business sources for this product.
    In an effort to identify potential small business sources, the SBA 
has searched the Procurement Automated Source System (PASS) and Thomas 
Register, and the SBA will publish a notice in the Commerce Business 
Daily. The public is invited to comment or provide source information 
to SBA on the proposed waiver of the Nonmanufacturer Rule for this 
class of products.

    Dated: November 6, 1995.
Judith A. Roussel,
Associate Administrator for Government Contracting.
[FR Doc. 95-30328 Filed 12-12-95; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8025-01-P