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Moderator:Good morning and welcome to today's live SBA web conference. Please note that all participant lines will be muted for the duration of this event. You are welcome to submit written questions during the presentation, and Deborah Crumity will repeat the questions that come in for the benefit of the entire group. To send a note, please select the Participants menu at the top of your screen, and opt to send note to all presenters. If you are logged in using the web-based application, use the Notes function on the lower right-hand side of your screen and address your note to all moderators. In addition, to adjust the presentation view on your screen, on the participant application, click on the "fit to whiteboard" icon located on the lower left hand section of your screen. If you are connected via the web-based application, you can adjust the presentation view by simultaneously clicking on the control and the plus or minus button on your keyboard. I would now like to formally begin today's conference and turn the call over to Jan Kaiser. Jan, please go ahead.Jan:Thank you, Carla. Hello everyone and welcome to the SBA's First Wednesday 2017 webinar series. This webinar focuses on the SBA's subject matter experts to provide information you can use in the performance of your job in the federal procurement process in directly assisting small business concerns. Today's First Wednesday webinar is the last program of this fiscal year, and we will cover SBA's 8(a) Business Development Program. As we head toward the end of the fiscal year, maybe this is a program you would like to use more, or can incorporate into your FY '18 acquisition forecast. My name is Jan Kaiser and I work as a procurement center representative, or PCR, in Chicago, in SBA's area 4 and with me today is Deborah Crumity. Deb is the SBA PCR assigned to the Rock Island Arsenal, and she will be reading your questions submitted during the program for our speakers to address towards the end of today's session. Let's talk about how today's webinar works. We will address questions we receive during the program at the end of our speakers' presentations, and once again, if you are having technical problems and can hear my voice, but cannot log into the AT&T Connect application, which is the online portion of the webinar, call the AT&T Connect Support desk at 1-888-796-6118. Now if you didn't get that, the telephone numbers for the AT&T Connect Support desk are on the email invitation for today's program and on slide three of the PowerPoint slide deck that accompanied the SBA email notifying you of today's training. Otherwise, just keep listening and following along with the PowerPoint that accompanied the invitation for today. This is why we will periodically announce the page numbers, so that those of you who are following along with your printed PowerPoint version of today's presentation, you will be able to keep up with us.And for more SBA small-business program training, you can also visit the SBA Learning Center at .The Association of Procurement Technical Assistance Centers – and right now we are on slide four – hosts a website where they post past First Wednesday programming, and their website is provided here on slide four. PTACs are a great resource and partnering with a PTAC for an industry day, sharing sole-source notices and RSI notices with them to share with their clients or referring small business concerns to a PTAC are just a few of the reasons that PTACs are a useful resource for acquisition personnel.This slide, slide five, reviews the program schedule that we have for this year. The Association of Procurement Technical Assistance Centers website is where you would go to view any of these previous programs that you may have missed during the year. Right now we are working on next year's program list and reviewing the topics suggested by the audience as a part of a survey we conducted earlier this year. If you want to receive an email directly from us notifying you of the First Wednesday webinar events, email us at sbalearning@. Just enter "add to list" in the subject line and we'll know what to do.Remember that we will not have a program in September. So the 8(a) Business Development Program is the last one for this year. So don't expect an email from us for next month, because in September, everyone is so busy that we are not going to schedule something, or schedule speakers for the September program and not have anybody show up. So we will be looking forward to the first program in October.So thank you to our 2017 audience for our super successful year. We will return on October 4, 2017 for the 2018 First Wednesday Learning series. And the revised time of 2 o'clock to 3 o'clock p.m. Eastern. So that the folks who are further west can participate at a more reasonable hour during the day, in this training opportunity.So on slide seven, we are just going to talk a little bit about – and I want everybody to stop for just a second – and listen to this slide. Because invariably we receive inquiries about how do I get my Continuous Learning points. Okay? And the way that this works is that this is a self-service function. We do not interact with FAITAS, or whatever your training tracking program is. So we don't load your CLPs. This is something that you are going to do yourself. So on slide eight, there is a copy of the training certificate, that you are going to edit yourself. And this is a part of the PowerPoint slide deck that accompanied the invitation for today. And you just go to slide eight, and insert your name there and edit it. It's kind of an honor system. You edit that slide. And then download that particular slide, and upload it into your training system, or whatever your agency's process is to request the CLP for today.So today's program, and we're now on slide nine, we're going to begin today's presentation here on slide nine. Now, the speaker directs me to change the page, and there may be some delay as the slide changes on your screen, sometimes. This is just one of those remote location webinar issues. Since I change the slide remotely here in Chicago.Our speakers today are Van Tran, the director of the office of Certification and Eligibility and K.A. Perkins, a Business Management Specialist. And with them is Laura Foster, Attorney Advisor from SBA's Office of General Counsel. To our speakers, I must express our gratitude. We are very pleased that you could meet with us today and I will turn the program over to you.Van:Thanks, Jan. Good morning everyone. My name is Van Tran. I'm so excited to be here and to be part of this webinar. Jan, I know that you saved the best for last, which is the 8(a) programs. As Jan indicated, I just want to introduce again K.A., our superstar Business Management Specialist. And Laura Foster an awesome community law attorney. So for those of you who are . . . (indiscernible) . . . I know you love to hear words from an attorney.So thank you for joining us in today's webinar to learn or refresh yourselves about the 8(a) programs. To repeat that, we are going to cover the . . . (indiscernible) . . . in the 8(a) programs. We are going to talk about the 8(a) eligibility requirements, and lastly, the . . . (indiscernible) . . . which the majority . . . (indiscernible) . . . Next slide.So I'm going to . . . (indiscernible) . . . the slides with regard to the life of the firm in the 8(a) program, from cradle-to-grave. . . . (indiscernible) . . . application to the 8(a) program, it goes to my office. The Office of Certification and Eligibility. My staff reviews and processes the application . . . (indiscernible) . . . And then it goes to the Associate Administrator for Business Development. He or she is the only one who is able to make a final decision whether to decline or to approve.And then, if a firm is certified into the program . . . (indiscernible) . . . As many of you know, we have about 58 district offices across the country. So they are the ones who service the firm for nine years. . . . (indiscernible) . . . certify program . . . (indiscernible) . . . if they did the orientation. They talk about the requirements . . . (indiscernible) . . . to take advantage of the program.As I indicated, this is a nine year program and the firm has to maintain the eligibility in order to remain in the program. . . . (indiscernible) . . .. A firm is able to receive 7(j) assistance, participate in the mentor-protégé program, and can receive 8(a) contracts. . . . (indiscernible) . . . The 8(a) program is where you can get sole-source contracts, and without doing . . . (indiscernible) . . . So this is perfect timing for you to learn about the program and have . . . (indiscernible) . . . for the year end.In addition, the district office – the staff over there in the field . . . (indiscernible) . . . As I indicated, we have to make sure the firm is still eligible . . . (indiscernible) . . . to make sure they meet the other requirements. So we review their financials and business plans to make sure the firm is growing as we would like all firms to be successful. And we also perform an exit interview.And lastly, my office, in addition to processing initial applications, we determine continuing eligibility for those complex firms, such as entity owned firms, the Alaska Native Corporation, the Natives of Hawaii organization – but we also process leaving the program, such as termination, voluntary withdrawal, as well as suspension and change in ownership. Next slide.So, this slide is a (?) for many of you. This is our 8(a) eligibility requirements. In order to be eligible, you have to be a US citizen, the person who is (?) to participate in the program, you have to be a US citizen. The firm has to be small. They need to be socially disadvantaged. They have to be economic disadvantaged. They have to own at least 51% of the firm. And they have to have unconditional control and management of the firm . . . (indiscernible) . . . We have to see that the firm has the potential to succeed in the program. And lastly, another requirement is good character, one time eligibility, and make sure that they don't owe any federal taxes and stuff like that.So if you have any questions in regard to our eligibility requirements, I'm happy to answer the questions or go off-line or anything else about the program. So I will give this to K.A. to tell us about the . . . (indiscernible) . . . K.A.Good morning everyone. My name is K.A. Perkins. I'm a Business Management Specialist in the office of Management and Technical Assistance. Today we are actually going to talk about Construction and Bona Fide Offices. If you would go to the next slide. The header slide. So this is just going to give you the nuts and bolts of bona fides. So what is a bona fide? Why do you guys do bona fide? We get asked that question quite a bit. How does this really integrate with what I do as an 1102 procurement professional? Next slide please.So in the agenda today, we are essentially going to talk about six things. And then, you will just kind of have a chance to look at some exercises and see if you really understood everything that was going on today.So the first thing we're going to talk about is kind of the "Why"? The authority. Where is this thing about bona fides and where do you get it from? Next we are going to talk about bona fides. What is a bona fide? And when I am looking at the definition, what is it that I really need to pay attention to. Third, we will talk about bona fide determination. Bona fide determination on determinations for eligibility – it's kind of a back of the house type thing. These are things that SBA, to basically determine whether a firm indeed has a bona fide office, does. And then secondly, are they eligible for specific procurement? Next, the offer letters, which is where the procurement side of this comes in. So basically, you send an offer letter, but a lot of times with construction, to which office do you send the offer letter? So we will talk about that. And then, finally, we will talk about geographic boundaries. So when do I need to be concerned about geographic boundaries? To whom do I send my geographic boundary paperwork or package? And then, finally, again, we'll just kind of test your knowledge with exercises.And so, with that, we will go straight into the authority. Slide 16. Actually, if you could move forward. Just one more slide. This is just kind of a separator. So this is essentially why we do bona fides. So let me just give you a little bit of context. Van did a really good job earlier of talking about the 8(a) program and the qualifiers that a firm needs to become an 8(a). Two of the things that she mentioned, was that you have to be socially and economically disadvantaged. So there are the large businesses out there, of course, that are doing millions upon millions of dollars of work. And because of that, they don't normally have the cash flow that other firms would have. And especially when you are talking about construction, there's a lot of upfront costs. A lot of costs that the firm has to incur themselves before they make any profit. So you put together the socially, economically disadvantaged part of it with the construction industry. And this is one of those sheltered or safeguards that we have in place to make sure that an 8(a) firm actually develops its business throughout its nine-year tenure in the program. So that's kind of the context behind why we need to do bona fides.If you read some of the language here, it basically says the whole purpose of this is to promote efficiency and cost-effectiveness. In fulfilling construction requirements. Because of the capital intensity – and that's just the upfront costs essentially – costs should be lower, the closer the contractor is to the construction project. And this comes directly from our SOP, internally. But where do we get this? Go to the next slide, please.So, where we get this specifically is from section 8(a) of the Small Business Act. Which basically says – to the maximum extent practicable, 8(a) construction requirements should be awarded to an 8(a) participant firm within the county or state where the work is to be performed. So, essentially, the closer the firm is to the project, the lower the cost that they are basically going to incur. So bona fides is essentially the way that SBA executes that notion, if that makes sense. Next slide please. The slide after that.So what is a bona fide? We know why we have it, but what is it? Essentially, there's two pieces of that definition that you really need to pay attention to and that is the term, "regularly maintain" and "full-time individual." So the first part of that gives the definition itself. For the purposes of the 8(a) construction procurement, it needs a location where the participant regularly maintains an office which employs at least one full-time individual within the appropriate geographical boundary.Now to be really clear about this – it does not include any type of construction trailer. Believe it or not we get asked that question quite a bit. Recently, I was just asked the question about whether a trailer was a bona fide because the wheels were removed from the trailer. A construction trailer is a trailer, is a trailer, is a trailer. It's always going to be a trailer. There is one exception that I have heard of, but for the most part, that is not going to be considered a bona fide office.So, how does an 8(a) meet the standards? Next slide please. So when we were talking about "regularly maintain" what do we mean by that? So, regularly maintain basically means conducting business or activity in an ongoing business concern from a fixed location, i.e. not a trailer, on a daily basis.So what does this look like? What are the things that a district office is going to look at when trying to figure out whether a firm meets this "regularly maintain" standard? I'll start with what is crossed out at the very bottom, which is a construction license. This, I believe, was part of some older regulation, but is no longer. So a construction license itself is not required. However, some different types of evidence of "regularly maintain" include a lease agreement, for example. Payroll records. Bills. Correspondence. Local, county and state filings.One thing that I would actually like to mention on this slide, and I have heard this from a number of district offices as well, there is usually a question about – well, doesn't the lease have to be for one year? There really isn't a regulation that supports that. There's no regulation that I have read – and I have talked to Laura about this, as well – that really says it has to be for at least one year. However, there are some things – a BOS, a Business Opportunity Specialist within a district office – would actually use his or her good judgment. So if you saw, for example, that there was a one month lease, that of course would create a red flag. But is there anything that really supports one year? Not really. So this is basically what the district office is looking for when it comes to "regularly maintain." Next slide please.The second part of that definition is whether there is at least one full-time individual. So what does that mean and what does that look like? So for a full-time individual – and by the way, full-time is considered to be 40 hours. This is someone who is conducting business activities for the participant, the 8(a) firm, during normal business hours. They are not working for any other person during that time. Anyone from a temp agency or a contractor would also qualify under this standard, if you will, for full-time individual. So when a district office is actually looking at this documentation, what is some of the documentation that they would look for?Some of that documentation includes employee agreements, payroll records, tax documentation, and employee benefits documentation. So those are some of the things that the district office would look for. Next slide please, and would you mind forwarding two sides, please.Now we know why we do this. We even know what some of the standards are that the district office is going to look at. This next slide basically speaks to the process from a kind of 30,000 foot level. So this is essentially how it looks. You have a participant who has a bona fide office in a specific geographical area. So let's say I am from Kansas City, so let's say it's a Kansas City firm. And they want to do work in San Antonio. So, basically, that participant wants to do work down there and they go to their Kansas City firm to actually process that package and put that package together. Once that package is put together, that BOS in Kansas City, is going to submit that package to the District Office in San Antonio. And then that District Office is going to take a look at it.Now, you will see on the bottom half of the slide, I have two bubbles, if you will, circled. And the reason that those are circled is that there is a requirement that says that there is a 15 working days window in which a bona fide or 8(a) firm has to submit its documentation. So within that 15 days, a District Office has 10 working days to conduct a site visit. And this is basically where they are going to see, okay, what type of office is this? Do they have signage? Does this look like someone is actually conducting business in this office? And then, based on the documentation they have, and based on the site visit that they conduct, they have five days to make a bona fide office determination.Now, there's two things that are going to happen in this determination. Either they are going to say yes, you do have a bona fide office, or they are going to say no. If they say yes, then the firm will receive a bona fide letter. Then if they say no, then that denial actually comes to my office, the Office of Management and Technical Assistance. Next slide please.Let's discuss what happens if there is a yes. So the district office will issue a bona fide letter. That letter essentially says, based on whatever we have seen, this is a legitimate bona fide, but it is valid as long as there is no material changes. And if you don't mind, Laura, I wanted you to speak just briefly on what material changes might bring up questions and then what material changes are material changes, but they don't bring up any questions.Laura:Sure. A material change could be anything from a change of address to a change of employees at the site. And we expect the firms to notify us of those changes. If it's a change of address, for example, that would not necessarily impact whether or not the firm actually has a bona fide office in that location. Our regulations and SOPs don't actually require the district office to issue a new letter. So there actually have been GAO cases where GAO found that a firm that had changed locations and notified the SBA without further approval, was still eligible for the 8(a) contract awards.However material change would impact the bona fide office determination, for example, if they no longer have their own employee at that site. Then SBA would, hopefully, review that determination and sort of revoke the bona fide office approval.K.A.:And that's a really good segue. So the last bullet on the left-hand side says that the District Office may reevaluate a status, at any time. And then also, for any District Offices that are on the call, you also have a chance to – actually, let me do that later. Let's move over to the next slide.If the district office denies a bona fide, that's when it comes to this office. And I will step back, just a little bit, just to explain kind of what my office does. You've kind of seen this acronym and saying, okay, what is that?Well, again, I work in the Office of Management and Technical Assistance. So there's a number of facets to what we do. We have two people who cover the 7(j) program, which is kind of an internal 8(a) training program, if you will. We also have one individual who covers 8(a) mentor-protégé agreements. And then there is two of us who cover the contracting portion of it. So, some things that might actually come to my desk or to my attention are bona fides, of course, and releases – competitions above or below the competitive threshold. What is called a back waiver – a business activity target waiver. If someone is on remedial measures – and if you have a question about that, I can explain that later – if they are on remedial measures, but they want a waiver? That waiver decision or determination is made in this office.So bona fide is one of the things, where if there is a denial, it automatically comes to headquarters to be reviewed.And also, the second one – the second point on the right-hand side, it's really important. A participant really does bear the burden of proof of demonstrating they indeed have a bona fide. The reason that I bring this up is, this was kind of shocking to me. I receive a number of emails and questions from district offices where it seems as if maybe there is miscommunication. Sometimes the 8(a) feels like some of the requirements are almost optional. For example, you have to get a new profile or update a profile in SAM. You have to get a new Duns number. And I've literally heard some say, no – I'm good, I have one. These aren't really negotiable requirements. They are actual requirements that have to be done. So if there's anything I would share with a BOS at this point is to really communicate to your 8(a) that it's really their responsibility to show us that they indeed have a bona fide.However, with that being said, if this office denies a bona fide, they can reapply at any time. So it's not a situation where they applied in 2012 and we said no. They can reapply at any time. Next slide please. And please would you forward two slides.So essentially we talked about why we do bona fides, the process for bona fides, bona fide determination. Now we're going into eligibility determination. So this is – SBA, just like the term says, determines whether a firm is indeed eligible to receive an award for a procurement. So, this slide right here, just kind of gives four things that you can kind of just glean from this section.So eligibility is based on 8(a) Business Development program criteria, including whether or not the participant is #1 a small business. And of course, a small business is going to be determined by their primary NAICS code. #2, they are compliant with their competitive business mix target, as applicable. Remember, just a few slides ago, I mentioned the back waivers. Just really briefly, the 8(a) program is a nine year program. And that last five years, of the program, an 8(a) is essentially required to earn 15, 25, 35, 45, and then 55% of their revenue from non-8(a) procurement. They can be federal, they can be small business, they can be HUBZone. They can't just be 8(a). So if they don't meet those goals or those targets, if you will, then they are placed on remedial measures and they are unable to receive sole-source contracts. So that's essentially what that means.#3, eligibility is based on whether they are in the development stage, if restricted in the solicitation. I've read this, a number of times in the regs, and I will be really honest with you. I have never seen that. But it is available to any contracting office that wants to do that.And finally, with regard to construction, this is where bona fide comes in. So we are going to look at whether that concern for a construction requirement actually has a bona fide within that applicable geographical area. Next slide please.So the main thing to get from this, is that with SBA determining eligibility, the main difference that you can glean from this is that the process basically differentiates sealed bid versus negotiated. That's essentially the only point to really get from the slide. Next slide please.So when we are determining eligibility, whether it's sealed bid or negotiated, we are – for determining eligibility, essentially continuing until an eligible offeror is identified. So when they are looking at sealed bids, for example, if that lowest offeror isn't eligible, then we go to number two. That's essentially what that means.And then the second point, if the procuring agency believes the apparent successful offeror is not a responsible firm, then the SBA must conduct a COC, or a certificate of competency. I believe we had an earlier presentation on that, so I will not attempt to steal that person's thunder. Next slide please.So also with regard to eligibility determinations, the servicing district office conducts the eligibility determination. So remember earlier, I was talking about a firm in Kansas City wanting to do work in San Antonio. The servicing office would be the Kansas City office. There the office has the application, the file, all the paperwork, and annual reviews of the firms. So this kind of makes sense – that they would be the office to do it.Next, the eligibility determination includes the bona fide place of business status and the servicing district office must rely on reviewing the district office's place of business status determination. So using the Kansas City/San Antonio example, Kansas City must rely on San Antonio's place of business status determination. So if San Antonio says no, and it goes to headquarters, and if the headquarter says no, then that's the determination. Next slide please. Slide 31.So we have been breezing through this and this is the last slide for eligibility determination. So eligibility of competitive construction requirements – and this is a pretty important slide – is determined as of the date of the participants initial offer, including price. The difference is that with a sole-source construction requirement, eligibility is determined when SBA accepts the requirement. That's another question that gets asked quite a bit. So, pretty important slide.Would you go forward two slides, please. So we've talked about a lot. We've talked about why we do bona fides, the definition of bona fides, the process of bona fides, how we do bona fides in the back of the house, it's eligibility determinations. Now we are going to go into offer letters. Now, when I do procurement, I thought the whole agency of SBA did offer letters. So that was pretty much it. But SBA does a lot of stuff.So, this slide – if you ever have questions about where to send your offer letter, this is the most important slide to glean from this presentation. Where you submit your offering letter depends on the requirement. So for sole-source, you submit to the servicing district office of that concern. So in the Kansas City/San Antonio example, that would be Kansas City.If it's competitive, you submit to the district office servicing the geographical area of the procuring activity. For all construction, except overseas construction, you submit to the district office serving the geographical area where the work is performed. And if it's overseas, then that is the only time that I can think of where you submit to SBA headquarters. So that essentially spells out where you send an offer letter. It basically depends on what type of procurement you are doing. Next slide.And this one is just kind of the nuts and bolts about the turnaround time for offer letters. So we have sole-source. And in summary, I would say probably the most common that I remember, especially after the district office level. So this is kind of the timeframe that we are working with. So with sole-source, you have five working days to accept or reject a sole-source offer.Acceptance includes completing a size determination and eligibility determination, and if there is no response – that is, if there's no response from SBA, the agency may assume acceptance after five working days. I am going to say that again. If no response, an agency may assume acceptance after five working days. I know a lot of contracting officers don't really pay attention to that. I know that you know it. But I know that you want some kind of answer from SBA. So I thought that I would just reiterate that.So from sole-source to competitive. When it's an 8(a) competitive, you have five working days to accept or reject an offer letter. And when you are accepting the offers, acceptance includes doing a site verification and eligibility determination. So, so far it looks just like a sole-source. If there is no response, the agency may assume acceptance after five working days, and there's two working days from the CO's request to issue an eligibility determination.So from competitive to under-SAT. If you have a requirement that is under-SAT, technically, there is no offer or acceptance really required. If you decide to send an offer letter – it usually from what I remember, under-SAT letters are a lot of times a bit more brief than what you would submit for sole-source. But if you decide to do that, you have two working days to accept – or the district office does – to accept or reject.A negative eligibility determination is submitted to the procurement activity and to the participant, and if there is no response, the contractor performance is authorized after two working days. So that kind of gives you a synopsis of the turnaround time when you submit your offer letter to a district office, once you figure out which district office, it is. Next slide please.Slide 35. So, competitive 8(a) sole source versus 8(a) open source. So when you are doing an 8(a) sole-source or competitive, you must submit the offer letter to the district office where the work is being performed. If the work is in more than one geographical area, you choose the district office where most of the work is being performed and, in this case, OMTA or the Office of Management and Technical Assistance, makes the final determination.Now, over to the right-hand side of the slide – we are doing the 8(a) open sole-source, and for anyone who has questions about this, usually this happens when the office says, hey SBA. We have a requirement that we really need to fulfill but we're not really sure which firm or which group of firms out there is able to actually do this work. Could you help us out? So when there is this type of requirement, just like with the competitives, you must submit the offer letter to the district office where the work is being performed. The district office will then nominate an eligible participant. Just to share my experience with that, usually, we gave kind of like a list. Maybe three or four firms. Now, this is just my experience.And then, finally, the priority of finding an eligible firm – and before I even finish this bullet point – if you remember back to like the first two slides, we talked about. Basically, to the maximum extent practicable, we are going to look for someone who resides within the state, within the county. You're trying to look for a firm that is as close as possible. So this last bullet is pretty much reiterating that. So the priority of finding an eligible firm starts at the district office level. It then goes to the surrounding district offices. Then perhaps to the region. Then, we look nationally. If you can't find anyone nationally, then it might be referred to the Associate Administrator of Business Development, if an eligible participant cannot be found. Please forward two slides.So just to summarize. Again, we talked about why we do bona fides. We defined the bona fides. We've talked about the process. Completing eligibility determination. What to do with your offer letter. And finally, we're going to talk about geographical boundaries. So this is essentially answering the question, what is SBA doing when there is more than just one geographical area. Are we looking for more competition? Are we looking for less? What is SBA looking for?So with geographical boundaries, if the work will be performed – in this kind of a repeat from previous slides – the requirement will be offered to the district office servicing the geographical area where a majority of the work is to be done. At that point, the district office must immediately go to the Associate Administrator of Business Development, essentially, my office, for that person's signature, or that person's designee, via my office, the Office of Management and Technical Assistance so that the geographical determination can be conducted. So that explains when you do a geographical determination. Next slide please.Slide 38. These are some of the factors that this office is going to look at when determining a geographical boundary. So, OMTA within SBA headquarters, makes the determination, of course. SBA will consider the number of firms within the district office's portfolio with the capacity to perform the requirements. So they will look for the best qualified firm. When competition appears to be insufficient – because that's what you want, right? SBA will consider expanding the geographical boundaries. Only those participants with a bona fide place of business within the established geographical boundaries are eligible to submit offers. So that's when bona fide offices comes into play with regard to geographical boundaries.So that basically gives you the nuts and bolts of bona fide. Everything you probably want to know about it. So from there, we're going to test your knowledge and see how much you've been listening and we're going to start with just a few exercises. And maybe this will answer some of the questions that I can see in the lower right-hand corner.So, exercise one. True or false? All 8(a) participants must have a bona fide place of business as part of the 8(a) program, and I will give you a moment to ponder. Okay, the answer to this is false. I tried to make it easy. Usually in school, whenever you saw the word "all" you knew it was false. So construction 8(a) participants must have a bona fide place of work in the applicable geographical area of the requirement. So basically, again, it just applies to construction.Exercise two, please. True or false? The purpose of the bona fide office requirement is to promote efficiency and cost-effectiveness in fulfilling construction requirements. So the answer to this is, true. I took it right off slide number two of this presentation. In case you want to go check and verify.Exercise three. Also, true or false? Although trailers with wheels are not bona fide offices, trailers without wheels are. The wheels signify the intent to move. So, I went on my soapbox about this earlier, in case you didn't hear. So the answer is, false. The authority for this, for anyone who wants to know, is 13 CFR 124.3. And it clearly states in there that trailers are not bona fide offices, even with the wheels off.Exercise four please. True or false? Once a reviewing district office receives a bona fide package from the servicing district office, it has 10 days to make a determination. So the answer to this is, false. It has 15 days to make a determination. Remember the 10 days is to perform the site visit and then there are five days to actually make the determination, itself.Exercise five. True or false? Once the reviewing District Office denies a prospective bona fide package, SBA headquarters must review the package to make a determination. If SBA headquarters agrees, the participant can resubmit its package at any time. The answer to that is, true.Exercise six. True or false? For all construction requirements except overseas construction, the agency must submit its offer letter to the District Office where the work will be performed. The answer to that is, true.Two more exercises. Exercise seven. Slide 46. True or false? SBA has five working days to approve or reject sole-source, competitive, and under-SAT offer letters. The answer to that is, false. It's almost true, except for that last part. So although agencies are not required to submit offer letters under-SAT requirements, SBA has two days to approve or reject and five days to approve or reject, respectively, and so forth, in competitive offer letters.And then the last one. Exercise eight. So true or false? SBA will consider a number of firms within the District Office's portfolio with the capacity to perform the requirements. The answer to that is, true.Okay, well that is the last exercise. A gold star to anyone who got all eight right. And for the last slide, this is just my contact information. If you have any questions about anything 8(a), I am in the Office of Management and Technology Assistance. And this slide has my email address and my phone number. And thanks so much. I will turn it back over.Deborah:Jan, this is Deborah. We have two questions. Is it possible to advance back to slide 34?Jan:Sure. And I know that there is a quick way to do this and I hope that I don't make anyone ill by doing it this way, but I'm just gonna do it this way. Okay, there we go.Deborah:There was a question, and it asks – could you talk about how certifiers should evaluate program applications from firms that are owned by socially or economically disadvantaged individuals? For example, individual determination of social and economic disadvantage.Laura:SBA does a determination of social and economic disadvantage, mainly when reviewing the initial eligibility determination. So when the firm applies, it is not part of the eligibility determination for a contract award. But when we are doing it, on the application side, there are certain groups that are presumed to be socially disadvantaged and if an individual is a member of one of those groups then they don't have to provide any additional information. If they are not a member of one of those presumed groups, then they need to provide a narrative establishing their social disadvantage based on the preponderance of the evidence.In terms of economic disadvantage, with the exception of Alaska Native Corporations and community development corporations, all applicants need to establish economic disadvantage, and for individuals that's based on certain thresholds related to their adjusted net worth, their total assets, and their personal income.Deborah:Thank you. In regards to slide 34, can you clarify when awarding under-SAT . . . (indiscernible) . . . after two days after a SBA district office receives a copy of the award, or two days prior to the actual – prior to actually making the award?K.A.:When I am referring to any of the working days here, it's when the offer is submitted. So when you are submitting an offer letter to a district office and it's under-SAT, like the question was asking, basically SBA has two working days to accept that requirement so that they can move forward with negotiations, and then award.Deborah:There's also a question asking what is under-SAT, and SAT is Simplified Acquisitions Threshold of 150,000. The next question, what is required for SBA – I think you answered this in exercise seven, but I will repeat it. What is required for SBA offers of acceptance, 8(a) sole-source acquisitions under the SAT profile? I think they mean SAT threshold.K.A.:Please read that one more time. I didn't hear the first part of that question.Deborah:What is required for SBA offers and acceptance of 8(a) sole-source acquisitions under the SAT threshold? And I believe you answered this in exercise seven.Laura:What is required? There is no offer and acceptance required for acquisitions under the Simplified Acquisition Threshold, but the agency can, of course, submit an offer. And, SBA will evaluate it within two days, and it is either accepted or rejected.Deborah:Some more questions have come in and I would have to take a moment to pull them off. There's a question about 8(a) contracts here. If the 8(a) contractor is a HUBZone and the firm is veteran-owned, where are the. . . (indiscernible) . . . for SBA going?Laura:So if an 8(a) contractor has multiple certifications, the agency gets to check all of those boxes, in terms of your goals.Jan:And the dollars are credited at 100% to each one of those socioeconomic categories, correct?Laura:Yes.Deborah:So the next question states – a contract to be awarded by the agency to the SBA shall be prepared in accordance with agency procedures and. . . (indiscernible) . . . as would be required in a contract with a business concern. The contracting officer should use the. . . (indiscernible) . . . from 26 as their . . . (indiscernible) . . construction contracts, in which case the Standard Form 1442 shall be used as required in. . . (indiscernible) . . . 701(a). And this is. . . (indiscernible) . . . I'm not really sure if this is a question, or they are making a statement.Laura:I think there is another part to that. I have heard from some people that they can use the SF 1449 under the SAT, if that's true.K.A.:All I can really add to that is that when I did construction, most everything that I awarded was on the 1442. Otherwise, I'm not sure.Laura:The only thing that I would say is – I mean, the FAR is slightly different in terms of 8(a) because in 8(a), SBA is the prime contractor. But, because all agencies authorized to use 8(a) have a partnership agreement with us, you should just treat the 8(a) the way that you would any contract and just follow your agency guidance on that.Deborah:Okay, thank you. I'm just scrolling through to make sure that we captured all of the questions. I'm not seeing any more. Jan, do you see any?Jan:No, I'm good, because we are also sort of running out of time. But I appreciate everyone's interest to submit questions to our presenters and I want to thank our speakers for today for the great content to your slides. Awesome slides. And great answers to the questions. And we'll be back in fiscal year 2018. And I would like to wish everyone a great end of year.Moderator:Thank you for joining today's conference. This session has now concluded. And you may disconnect. [End of Recording] ................
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