Congress Increases SDVOSB Prime Contracting Goal to Five Percent

Source: GOVCON Roundup

Congress has increased the prime contracting goal for service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses from three percent to five percent of total prime contract spending. Together with this major increase, Congress will prohibit the government from counting awards to self-certified SDVOSBs toward its prime and subcontracting goals.

These changes are implemented in the final version of the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act. The 2024 NDAA "conference report," which is a negotiated compromise between the House and Senate over the terms of the 2024 NDAA, was recently agreed upon, and will become law as soon as it is signed by the President.

Section 863 of the 2024 NDAA is titled "INCREASE IN GOVERNMENTWIDE GOAL FOR PARTICIPATION IN FEDERAL CONTRACTS BY SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS OWNED AND CONTROLLED BY SERVICE-DISABLED VETERANS." Section 863 simply deletes the term "3 percent" in the underlying goaling statute, 15 U.S.C. 644(g)(1), and replaces it with "5 percent".

Congress has not included any grace period or other delay in Section 863's effectiveness, meaning--in theory, at least--the new five percent goal will take effect immediately upon the President's signature. Whether the SBA applies the goal to the ongoing fiscal year remains to be seen, but it appears that the five percent goal will be effective, at the latest, in the fiscal year beginning on October 1, 2024.

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House Passes Johnson’s Plan to Avert Shutdown in Bipartisan Vote

Source: NYTIMES

Speaker Mike Johnson was forced on Tuesday to rely on Democratic votes as the House passed legislation to keep federal funding flowing into early 2024, after scores of Republicans opposed his plan to avert a government shutdown at the end of the week.

Almost all Democrats and a majority of Republicans overcame the opposition of G.O.P. conservatives to approve the bill under special expedited procedures that required a supermajority. That approach, hatched by Mr. Johnson in his first weeks as speaker, amounted to a gamble that a substantial number of Democrats would rally to help pass a package that Mr. Johnson’s own members were unwilling to back.

The vote was 336 to 95, easily clearing the two-thirds threshold required for passage. In the end, 209 Democrats and 127 Republicans joined to pass the bill. Ninety-three Republicans opposed it, as did two Democrats.

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AI Adoption Transforming Government Contracting

Source: GOVCIO

Government agencies have quickly adopted artificial intelligence technologies to transform a wide range of programs to include contracting, said Ricky Clark, deputy director, National Institutes of Health Information Technology Acquisition and Assessment Center (NIH NITAAC).

Clark, speaking at a breakout session at AFCEA’s TechNet Indo-Pacific, described how AI is changing government contracting and how those contracting leaders are adapting to the influx of government agencies looking to accelerate AI adoption.

“It’s here to stay,” Clark said when asked if AI is merely a trend. There are those in government who are reluctant to lean into the emerging technology, according to Clark. But this is different than some of the other technology fads he’s seen.

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