Direct Award Process
The flexibility and agility of the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Small Disadvantaged Business (SDB) 8(a) program provides the federal government acquisition community, program managers, and operators with acquisition options in addition to traditional vendor/contractor procurement processes.
Within the SBA 8(a) program, SDBs qualifying for 8(a) status who are owned by a Native American Tribe are entitled to unique privileges and benefits.
Under the FAR, these businesses provide government customers a timely, FAR‐compliant alternative to securing solutions through direct, sole‐sourced contracts that can be processed quickly, efficiently and in many cases, within days of requirement identification.
These contracts may be negotiated to ensure the procuring agency meets its program needs while ensuring the government gets the best value for the agency and taxpayers. The specific legal authorities providing these advantages are:
13 CFR 124.506(b)
Native American Tribal entities are not subject to the standard $4M dollar threshold limitations on sole‐source contract awards that are applicable to other 8(a) entities. Instead, sole‐source contracts may be awarded to Tribal entities up to $22M without justification.
48 CFR 6.303.1
Tribal entities may receive sole-source contracts for any amount above the $22M threshold with proper Justification & Authorization.
13 CFR 124.517(a)
Tribal entity 8(a) sole‐source contracts may not be protested.
Tribal Advantages
Qualified Native American Tribal 8(a) businesses can be awarded sole-source contracts up to $100M for DoD & up to $25M for federal & civilian agencies, without J&A, per the revision of Section 811 of the NDAA.
