How Small Businesses Can Enter the Sea of Federal Procurement

The All Small Mentor-Protégé Program (ASMPP) was established by the Small Business Administration (SBA) to extend business development assistance to all small businesses and help them achieve success in competing for federal government contracts.

According to the SBA, only 20 of the 511 approved Mentor-Protégé Agreements had Alabama addresses listed as of May 5, 2018, even though one of the ASMPP’s top 10 district offices is located in Alabama.¹ While there may be more Alabama-based businesses involved in the ASMPP, these numbers suggest a real opportunity to expand ASMPP relationships in the Alabama federal contracting market. The ability to offer tangible benefits for small business growth as well as meaningful participation by large businesses in previously unavailable set-aside opportunities creates a real “win-win” scenario that more contractors should take notice of. 

The SBA created an all-inclusive program, rather than individual programs for each small business constituency (Service Disabled Veteran Owned Small Businesses, Women Owned Small Businesses, HUBZones, etc.), to simplify and enhance access to the program. Protégés can acquire valuable business guidance and opportunities from their relationship with a mentor, including financial support; assistance in navigating the federal procurement bidding, acquisition, and performance processes; business development advice including strategic planning and opportunity identification; and guidance on internal business management systems. Mentors in turn can provide various forms of assistance to small businesses without the fear of affiliation risk and can create joint ventures with their protégé to pursue small business set-aside prime contracts and subcontracts.

ASMPP Eligibility

To be eligible for the ASMPP, a protégé must be small for the NAICS code in which it is requesting a Mentor-Protégé relationship and have industry experience in the NAICS code in which assistance is sought.² Additionally, all protégés must be organized for-profit or as an agricultural cooperative. Protégés must have a mentor and business plan before submitting their ASMPP application, as well as register in the System for Award Management (SAM). Protégés are limited to no more than two mentors in their business lifetime.

Mentors can be a large (or small) business and must be organized for-profit. Mentors cannot have more than three protégés at any given time. To qualify as a mentor, a business concern must:

1. Demonstrate that it is capable of carrying out its responsibilities to assist the protégé firm under the proposed mentor-protégé agreement;
2. Exhibit good character;
3. Not appear on the federal list of debarred or suspended contractors; and,
4. Prove it can impart value to a protégé firm due to lessons learned and practical experience gained or through its knowledge of general business operations and government contracting.³

After being approved as an ASMPP mentor, the business is required to annually certify that it continues to possess good character and verify its favorable financial position to each protégé in order to continue serving as a mentor to a small business concern in the ASMPP.⁴

ASMPP Agreements

Applicants must create and submit a mutually negotiated and agreed upon Mentor-Protégé Agreement. A Mentor-Protégé Agreement must set forth an assessment of the protégé’s needs and provide a detailed description and timeline for the delivery of the assistance the mentor has committed to provide in order to address those needs.⁵ Specifically, the Mentor-Protégé Agreement must:

1. Address how the assistance to be provided through the agreement will help the protégé firm meet its goals as defined in its business plan;
2. Establish a single point of contact in the mentor concern who is responsible for managing and implementing the mentor-protégé agreement; and,
3. Provide that the mentor will commit such assistance to the protégé firm for at least one year.⁶

In order to be approved, the SBA must determine that (1) the mentor will be able to provide assistance that will create a real opportunity for developmental growth for the protégé and (2) the mentor does not intend to use the ASMPP to simply access federal small business set-aside contracts that it would not be eligible to compete for otherwise. The SBA will deny a Mentor-Protégé Agreement if it has ever made an affiliation determination between a proposed mentor and protégé.

As of December 31, 2018, the SBA had approved 629 ASMPP Agreements. Once approved, the agreement is good for an initial three-year term and can be renewed by the SBA for an additional three-year period. Importantly, while an agreement is effective, all benefits provided by the mentor to the protégé cannot be used for affiliation determination purposes – but those benefits must be specifically identified in the agreement.⁷ This can provide a real advantage to a small business looking to receive business development or contractual/technical assistance as it pursues new federal opportunities.

ASMPP Joint Ventures

Protégés in the ASMPP are eligible to form a joint venture (JV) with their SBA-approved mentor and compete for federal contracts and subcontracts based on the protégé’s size and status, regardless of the mentor’s size.⁸ Once a protégé no longer qualifies as a small business under its primary NAICS code, it will no longer be eligible for the ASMPP, but will be able to complete contracts previously awarded.⁹ The ASMPP requires that the JV perform the appropriate percentage of work based on the subcontracting requirements, and the protégé must perform at least 40% of that work which must go beyond administrative or ministerial functions.¹⁰ In addition, the JV must submit annual reports to the SBA and the contracting agencies explaining how the work is performed under each contract.

To form a JV, the protégé and mentor must have a written JV agreement that meets very stringent regulatory requirements.¹¹ The SBA will not review or approve a JV agreement before a JV competes for a contract, except in the case of an 8(a) contract. If a JV is awarded a contract and a size or status protest is filed against it, the SBA will then review the JV agreement to determine the JV’s eligibility. Thus, it is imperative that a JV agreement between mentor and protégé meet the following requirements:

1. State the purpose of the JV;
2. Designate the protégé as the managing venturer of the JV (dependent on the type of set-aside competing for) and identify an employee of the managing venturer as the project manager responsible for performance of the contract;
3. State that the protégé owns at least 51% of the JV entity, if it is a separate legal entity, and that the protégé will receive profits from the JV that are commensurate with the work the protégé will perform;
4. Provide for the establishment and operation of a special bank account in the name of the JV that requires signatures by all parties for withdrawals;
5. Itemize all major equipment, facilities and resources to be furnished by each party;
6. Specify each party’s responsibilities with regard to contract negotiations, labor sourcing, and contract performance;
7. Obligate all parties to ensure that the contract is performed regardless of whether one party withdraws from the agreement;
8. Designate that accounting and administrative records be kept in the managing venturer’s office and require that the managing venturer will retain final original records of the JV after contract completion;
9. State that all quarterly financial statements showing cumulative contract receipts and expenditures will be submitted to the SBA within 45 days of the end of each operating quarter of the JV; and,
10. State that a project-end profit and loss statement, including a statement of final profit distribution, will be submitted to SBA no later than 90 days after completion of the contract.¹²

While this list provides general guidance on how to structure an ASMPP JV agreement, it is not inclusive. Every type of set-aside is governed by its own regulations, which should be reviewed when forming any JV and drafting the accompanying JV agreement.

Todd R. Overman is a member at Bass, Berry & Sims PLC in Washington, D.C. He represents businesses as they move through the contracting process with federal, state and local governments. He can reached at [email protected].

Taylor A. Hillman is an attorney at Bass, Berry & Sims PLC in Washington, D.C. She assists clients throughout the contracting process with federal, state and local governments. She can be reached at [email protected].

Footnotes 1 through 9 and 11 refer to the electronic code of federal regulation, cited at: https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/13/125.9

Footnotes 10 and 12, are cited at: https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/13/part-125