In a decision issued on July 6, 2009, GAO refused to reconsider its earlier decisions that the HUBZone program is mandatory and takes precedence over other set-aside programs. It cites the district court and appeals court decisions in Contract Management which I linked to in my blog entry yesterday. I was the attorney for Contract Mangement and agree with GAO that those court decisions held that the Small Business Act, not SBA nor FAR regulationss, make the HUBZone set-asides mandatory.
Ironically, SBA argued to GAO in seeking reconsideration, that GAO's ruling would negatively impact the 8(a) and Veteran's set-asides. When I argued in Contract Management that finding the HUBZone program mandatory could result in HUBZone set-asides taking away possible 8(a) set-asides, SBA rejected that argument pointing out the small number of HUCZone set-asides then being used.
Comments