Attachment 20b (revised) SCMACC QA (29_ 34).pdf

Attachment 20b (revised)

RFP Questions and Answers

Q29. “The Joint Venture Agreement must be received by the SBA prior to the proposal due date to allow for processing and SBA approval before award of any resultant contract. Any corrections and/or changes requested must permit adequate review time by the SBA BOS before the proposal due date. No corrections and/or changes are allowed after submission of proposals.

Furthermore, the SBA must approve all Joint Venture Agreements no later than 60 days after the proposal close date and prior to the award of any resulting contracts. A Joint Venture Agreement or Addendum that has not been approved by the SBA will not be eligible for award.” Due to

COVID-19 SBA legal will not be able to approve a Joint Venture prior to the proposal due date.

Can the government eliminate the requirement for SBA approval prior to the due date of the proposal and revised to SBA approval prior to award.

A29. SBA does not have to approve the joint venture agreement and typically do not.

However, the mentor-protégé agreement must be approved prior to the submission of the offeror’s proposal. The offeror can still propose using a non SBA Mentor Protégé JV but would not be afforded the affiliation exemption.

**Attachment 5- SCMACC Section L, L-1, 1.11 has been revised to state the following

“For information regarding the SBA All Small Mentor-Protégé Program see website https://www.sba.gov/federal-contracting/contracting-assistance-programs/all-small-mentor-protege- program. SBA Mentor-Protégé Agreements require SBA approval prior to submitting a proposal.”

REFERENCE:

--13 CFR §125.9(d)(1)(i) states “SBA must approve the mentor-protégé agreement before the two firms may submit an offer as a joint venture on a particular government prime contract or subcontract in order for the joint venture to receive the exclusion from affiliation.” The requirement is to have an active mentor-protégé agreement in place prior to submitting an offer as a joint venture.

--A joint venture agreement does not need to be approved by the SBA. However the contents of the joint venture agreement needs to meet the requirements relevant to the type of set-aside in order for the mentor-protégé formed joint venture firm to claim the exemption to affiliation in accordance with 13 CFR §121.103(h)(2)(ii) or (iii).

--13 CFR §121.103(h)(2)(ii) states, “Two firms approved by SBA to be a mentor and protégé under §125.9 of this chapter may joint venture as a small business for any Federal government prime contract or subcontract, provided the protégé qualifies as small for the size standard corresponding to the NAICS code assigned to the procurement, and the joint venture meets the requirements of §§124.513 (c) and (d), §§125.8(b) and (c), §§125.18(b)(2) and (3), §§126.616(c) and (d), or §§127.506(c) and (d) of this chapter, as appropriate.”

--For a small business set-aside, §§125.8(b) and (c) apply to the joint venture agreement.

Q34. Since we are a newly approved JV entity and do not have past performance but we are approved for the SBA All Small Mentor Protégé Program - what ratio of Protégé versus Mentor projects need to be provided? Can the Mentor provide 6 and the Protégé provide 2? Or do we each need to provide 1 DB and 3 DBBs?

A34. Any combination of either the mentor or the protégé past performance is acceptable per 13 CFR §125.8(e).