About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

34 Procurement Law. 1 (1998-1999)

handle is hein.journals/procurlw34 and id is 1 raw text is: Air Force Small Business Program: Impact of Acquisition Reform MhWLN CORBIN AND CAPAN SEAN C. MALTBIE Introduction Acquisition Reform--two words that many in small companies fear may be the death knell for continuing to do business with the federal government in general and the Department of Defense (DoD) in particular. There is no doubt that acquisition reform has had and will contin- ue to have an impact on small business acquisition. How- ever, despite its numerous reform initiatives the federal government continues to maintain vibrant small business programs and all federal and DoD agencies remain strong- ly committed to the continued involvement of small busi- nesses in government procurement. Nonetheless, certain acquisition reform programs do present special problems for the small business community. These problems do not portend the demise of federal small business procurement, but both the shrinking DoD budget and the fast pace of reform will make competition in that arena very intense. The bottom line is that acquisition reform has changed the entire landscape of federal procurement and small businesses, like any other inhabitant of a changing envi- ronment, must adapt and evolve in order to survive. This article provides some of the contours in this emerging environment. Section I gives an overview of the current impact of acquisition reform. Section II discusses some of the acquisition reform initiatives that seem most likely to threaten small business procurement. Section III provides a glimpse of future developments for small busi- Marilyn Corbin is an attorney-advisor in the Acquisition Law Directorate at Headquarters Air Force Materiel Command (HQ AFMC), Wright- Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. Captain Maltbie is a third-year law stu- dent at the Detroit College of Law at Michigan State University. He is serving as a legal intern in the Office of the Staff Judge Advocate at HQ AFMC as part of the Air Force Funded Legal Education Program. The authors gratefuUy acknowledge the assistance of John Thrasher, attorney- advisor in the Office of the Staff Judge Advocate at HQ AFMC. The views exlrressed in this article are those of the authors and do not reflect the official policy or position of the Air Force or any other federal agency. ness in this new environment. Section IV highlights Air Force Small Business opportunities and provides sources for those interested in pursuing small business opportuni- ties with the Air Force and Air Force Materiel Command (AFMC). Finally, the article concludes that acquisition reform is far from a death knell for small businesses. Instead, it represents a challenging new environment in which those small businesses that learn to adapt to the changes will both survive and prosper. I. Acquisition Reform and Small Business: Recent Statistics and a New Goal Acquisition reform is a constant drumbeat in today's fed- eral procurement world and small businesses are under- standably concerned that the effect of these reforms, coupled with a declining defense budget, will result in fewer opportunities to win federal prime contracts and subcontracts. However, the most recent statistics avail- able indicate that in FY 1997, small business received 22.9% of DoD's prime contract awards to U.S. compa- nies. Although this amount was only slightly lower than (continued on page 17)

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most