Notice2023-24206
Procurement Scorecard Program; Exclusion for Certain Department of Veterans Affairs Contracts
Primary source
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Published
November 2, 2023
Issuing agencies
Small Business Administration
Abstract
The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) publishes an annual procurement scorecard (Scorecard) that scores agencies on their performance in contracting with small businesses. This notice modifies the method that SBA uses to calculate contracting dollars for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). Specifically, starting with fiscal year 2023 (FY23), SBA will exclude VA expenditures for Community Care Network (CCN) contracts and any successor contracts.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 88 Issue 211 (Thursday, November 2, 2023)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 211 (Thursday, November 2, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 75362-75364]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2023-24206]
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SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION
Procurement Scorecard Program; Exclusion for Certain Department
of Veterans Affairs Contracts
AGENCY: U.S. Small Business Administration.
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) publishes an
annual procurement scorecard (Scorecard) that scores agencies on their
performance in contracting with small businesses. This notice modifies
the method that SBA uses to calculate contracting dollars for the
Department
[[Page 75363]]
of Veterans Affairs (VA). Specifically, starting with fiscal year 2023
(FY23), SBA will exclude VA expenditures for Community Care Network
(CCN) contracts and any successor contracts.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kevin Doss, Deputy Director, Office of
Government Contracting and Business Development, <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#e2a987948b8ccca68d9191a2918083cc858d94"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="feb59b889790d0ba918d8dbe8d9c9fd0999188">[email protected]</span></a>,
(202) 272-7700. This notice modifies the method that SBA uses to
calculate contracting dollars for the Department of Veterans Affairs
(VA). Specifically, starting with fiscal year 2023 (FY23), SBA will
exclude VA expenditures for Community Care Network (CCN) contracts and
any successor contracts. The phone number above may also be reached by
individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing, or who have speech
disabilities, through the Federal Communications Commission's TTY-Based
Telecommunications Relay Service teletype service at 711.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
SBA issues an annual Scorecard to score Federal agencies on
creating the maximum practicable opportunities for the award of prime
contracts and subcontracts to small business concerns, small
disadvantaged businesses (SDBs), women-owned small businesses (WOSBs),
HUBZone small business concerns, and service-disabled veteran-owned
small business concerns (SDVO SBCs). Sec. 868, Public Law 114-92, 129
Stat. 933 (November 25, 2015). SBA bases an agency's score on several
weighted factors, the most significant of which is the percentage of
prime contracting dollars awarded to small businesses.
SBA strives to account for all Federal contracting dollars on the
annual Scorecard, but, in rare circumstances, SBA will exclude isolated
categories of contracts from the Scorecard. As one example, SBA does
not consider contracts that are not reported into the governmentwide
contract reporting systems, namely the Federal Procurement Data System
(FPDS) and the Electronic Subcontracting Reporting System (eSRS),
because SBA cannot verify their existence. Some other categories are
excluded from the Scorecard by operation of law. See 15 U.S.C.
644(g)(2)(B).
Additionally, SBA has excluded from the Scorecard certain contracts
in which the agency has very little--if any--involvement in incurring
the obligation. SBA believes that the Scorecard measures the agency's
efforts to reach small-business and socioeconomic contractor goals,
and, in the rare cases where the agency is not the primary
decisionmaker in incurring the contract obligation, it is not
unreasonable to consider whether those cases are skewing the agency's
Scorecard achievement through no fault of the agency itself.
On that basis, SBA excludes from the Scorecard certain contracts
awarded under the Department of Defense's TRICARE program, which
provides health care to Servicemembers, retirees and their families.
Under the TRICARE exclusion, SBA disregards all contract obligations
reported by the Defense Health Agency's TRICARE contracting offices
codes H94002 and HT9402. in determining the Department of Defense's
score for the Scorecard. As noted in SBA's Goaling Guidelines, the
TRICARE exclusion recognizes patients' role as the primary
decisionmaker when and where to seek health care under the program.
DHA's contracting arrangements primarily give effect to that patient
decision. Other exclusions operate in the same manner.
All of the exclusions from the Scorecard, as well as other details
on the Scorecard methodology, are listed in SBA's Goaling Guidelines,
available at <a href="https://www.sba.gov/document/report-sba-goaling-guidelines">https://www.sba.gov/document/report-sba-goaling-guidelines</a>.
On May 22, 2023, the VA, through its director of the Office of
Small Disadvantaged Business Utilization, requested that SBA grant an
exclusion from the Scorecard for the VA's Community Care Network (CCN)
contracts used to provide veterans with access to health care from non-
VA providers. SBA has considered the VA's request and the applicable
statutory requirements for an exclusion, and SBA grants the exclusion
beginning with the Scorecard for FY23.
II. The VA's CCN Contracts
Under the CCN contracts, veterans have access to a nationwide
system of healthcare providers that operate outside of the VA system.
The VA states in its exclusion request that the veteran is the primary
decisionmaker on whether to incur an obligation under a CCN contract.
According to the VA, the veteran's choice as to whether to use a non-VA
facilities largely determines whether healthcare will be provided under
a CCN contract or through a VA provider.
The VA's request explains that the CCN contracts are for the
benefit of the veteran, not a procurement for Government use. The VA
analogized the CCN contracts to the Department of Defense's TRICARE
contracts, which SBA already excludes from the Scorecard.
The VA's expenditures through CCN are substantial. In FY22, CCN
obligations accounted for 38.9% of the VA's total procurement base. The
growth in CCN obligations in FY22 caused a steep decline in the
percentage of contracting dollars that the VA spent with small
businesses, even as VA's actual dollars awarded to small business
attained a record high.
III. Statutory Requirements
Section 1631(c)(2) of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA)
for Fiscal Year 2013, Public Law 112-239, constrains SBA's authority to
consider and grant exclusions from the Scorecard. Under section 1631,
SBA is not permitted to exclude categories of contracts on the basis of
three criteria listed in the NDAA: (1) the type of goods or services
for which the agency contracts; (2) whether or not funding for the
contracts is made directly available to the agency by an Appropriations
Act or is made available by reimbursement from another agency or
account; and (3) whether or not the contract is subject to the Federal
Acquisition Regulation.
In its request, the VA explained that an exclusion for the CCN
contracts would not be on the basis of any of those statutorily
identified criteria. First, the CCN exclusion is based on specific
contracts that provide access to non-VA care for veterans, not based on
the type of good or service. The VA states that the exclusion would not
affect other healthcare contracts, such as establishing Community Based
Outpatient clinics, procuring medical supplies, or obtaining temporary
services from health care providers.
Second, the VA found that the CCN exclusion would not be based on
whether the funding is appropriated. Congress appropriates funding for
CCN contracts through a Medical Community Care appropriations account,
but that is not the basis for the VA's request. Instead, the VA bases
its request on the veteran being the primary decisionmaker on whether
to incur an obligation under the CCN contracts.
Third, the VA states that it does not base its request on the
applicability of the Federal Acquisition Regulation. The VA reiterated
that the contracts are for the benefit of the veteran, not the agency.
Based on the foregoing, SBA believes that it is not constrained by
section 1631 in considering and granting the VA's request for an
exclusion.
IV. Exclusion for CCN Contracts
Starting in the Scorecard for F23, SBA will exclude the CCN
contracts and any successor contracts from the VA's prime
[[Page 75364]]
contracting Scorecard and the governmentwide prime contracting
scorecard by disregarding actions using Funding Office code 36135Y.
This code refers to the Office of Integrated Veteran Care within the
Veterans Health Administration, which reports the claims for payments
under the CCN contracts for submission to FPDS.
Larry Stubblefield,
Acting Associate Administrator, Office of Government Contracting and
Business Development.
[FR Doc. 2023-24206 Filed 11-1-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8026-09-P
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