02-11244. Small Business Size Standards; Waiver of the Nonmanufacturer Rule

AGENCY:

Small Business Administration.

ACTION:

Notice of intent to waive the nonmanufacturer rule.

SUMMARY:

The Small Business Administration (SBA) is considering a waiver of the Nonmanufacturer Rule for bearings, plain, unmounted and bearings mounted. The basis for waivers is that no small business manufacturers are supplying these classes of products to the Federal government. The effect of a waiver would be to allow otherwise qualified regular dealers to supply the products of any domestic manufacturer 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 source information from interested parties.

DATES:

Comments and sources must be submitted on or before May 23, 2002.

ADDRESSES:

Submit comments to: Edith Butler, Program Analyst, U.S. Small Business Administration, 409 3rd Street, SW, Washington, DC 20416, Tel: [phone].

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 SBA 8(a) Program procurement must provide the product of a small business manufacturer or processor, if the recipient is other than the actual 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.

This notice proposes to waive the Nonmanufacturer Rule for bearings, plain, unmounted and bearings mounted, SIC code 3562 and North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) 333613 public is invited to comment or provide source information to SBA on the proposed waiver of the nonmanufacturer rule for bearings, plain, unmounted and bearings mounted.

Luz A. Hopewell,

Associate Administrator for Government Contracting.