Restricting to a community

Restricting by Set-Aside

Set-asides: The government can “set a contract aside” for a particular group. If the government does this, then only companies with that set-aside can apply.
- Example: If the government sets a contract aside for women-owned small businesses, then only companies with the woman-owned designation can bid.
Impact: There are roughly 800,000 registered government contracting companies and there are only tens of thousands of companies with each set aside, dramatically reducing competition.
Note: If you don’t qualify for a set-aside, you may sub-contract to another company which does qualify.

Master Services Agreements (MSA): An MSA is a framework agreement between a buyer and one or more sellers.
- Example: Two years ago the government held a competition for companies that wanted to be on a janitorial services MSA, and 7 companies won spots under that MSA
- The government now wants to buy cleaning services. The government can:
  - Publish a public solicitation and anyone can bid on it
  - Publish a mini-solicitation to the 7 winners of the MSA, and only they can bid on it
Impact: Most MSAs have only a dozen or so companies, dramatically reducing competition.

Setting aside: Before the government restricts competition with a set-aside, it must believe that it will get bids from at least two qualifying companies. And to do this the government:
- Publishes a Sources Sought: A Sources Sought is a request from the government to industry requesting that companies:
  - With set-asides respond
  - Demonstrate that they can do the work requested
- Minimum Competition: If the government gets two or more responses from companies with a set-aside, it is allowed to set that solicitation aside.
MSAs: If the government has an existing MSA to purchase the needed products or services, then it can simply engage the vendors on that MSA and run a “mini-competition” among them.