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Small Businesses and the Federal Government: Working Together One Contract At A Time

By Performance.gov team

August 11, 2022

This is the fifth post in a series highlighting different aspects of strategic planning in the Federal Government. Today, we will meet the U.S. Small Business Administration and learn how they leverage their strategic planning initiatives to hit Government-wide objectives, including partnering with and growing disadvantaged small businesses.

When Douglas Craft retired from the military, he landed in New Mexico and started his own business: Crystal Clear Manufacturing, a company specializing in janitorial services, operations and maintenance, and landscaping.

Thanks to the support of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), Croft’s company grew from a net worth of $80,000 to more than $25 million – more than a thirtyfold increase.

The SBA provides services to the business community by helping small business owners access mentoring, counseling, and training, capital, and government contracting assistance. Craft received support in all of these areas. The SBA helped him file for veteran benefits and enrolled him in their 8(a) program for socially and economically disadvantaged businesses. This opened the door for Crystal Clear Manufacturing to grow.

As a service-disabled veteran, Craft was also eligible for the 3% of federal contracting opportunities that are mandated by law to service-disabled veteran-owned companies. The first federal contract Craft was awarded was a $1.2 million contract to clean a federal building in Colorado. That was just the beginning for Craft and with the SBA’s continued support, he has received many federal contracts across the country.

Douglas Craft is a small business owner who receives support from the SBA.

An Ambitious Agency Priority Goal

Historically, about 10% of federal agencies’ total eligible contracting dollars typically go to small-disadvantaged businesses. Small-disadvantaged businesses (SDBs) are defined as a business where at least 51% is owned by one or more individuals who are both socially and economically disadvantaged; for example, Black and Latino-owned businesses are classified as SDBs.

President Biden’s Executive Order 13985 directed agencies to work to make contracting opportunities more readily available to all eligible firms and to remove barriers faced by underserved individuals and communities. In June 2021, President Biden reaffirmed his commitment by announcing a bold new goal to increase the share of contracts going to SDBs by 15% by 2025.

The SBA is determined to hit this goal. In their new strategic plan , they set an Agency Priority Goal (APG) that specifically focuses on increasing disadvantaged small business growth through federal procurement. This APG commits the SBA to increase federal contracting awards to SDBs to 12% by September 2023.

From a Strategic Plan to Real Results

Douglas Craft’s story is just one example of how the SBA supports small businesses. The SBA actively creates multiple opportunities for small businesses like Crystal Clear Manufacturing to work with and alongside the Federal Government.

While the 12% increase outlined in the SBA’s APG does not look large on paper, it represents billions of dollars in investments in small-disadvantaged businesses. That amount of growth and investment will have a positive effect on our economy by promoting diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility; closing the wealth disparity gap in the United States; and helping an increased number of Americans like Craft realize their entrepreneurial dreams.

The SBA is rigorously working to ensure they can deliver on this APG and best support small-disadvantaged businesses through technical assistance and business development services to businesses so that they can better compete for federal contracting awards.

Stay tuned as we explore the importance of strategy and performance in the Federal Government and share agency success stories.

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What Is a Business Plan?

Understanding business plans, how to write a business plan, common elements of a business plan, how often should a business plan be updated, the bottom line, business plan: what it is, what's included, and how to write one.

Adam Hayes, Ph.D., CFA, is a financial writer with 15+ years Wall Street experience as a derivatives trader. Besides his extensive derivative trading expertise, Adam is an expert in economics and behavioral finance. Adam received his master's in economics from The New School for Social Research and his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in sociology. He is a CFA charterholder as well as holding FINRA Series 7, 55 & 63 licenses. He currently researches and teaches economic sociology and the social studies of finance at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

A business plan is a document that details a company's goals and how it intends to achieve them. Business plans can be of benefit to both startups and well-established companies. For startups, a business plan can be essential for winning over potential lenders and investors. Established businesses can find one useful for staying on track and not losing sight of their goals. This article explains what an effective business plan needs to include and how to write one.

Key Takeaways

A business plan is a document describing a company's business activities and how it plans to achieve its goals.
Startup companies use business plans to get off the ground and attract outside investors.
For established companies, a business plan can help keep the executive team focused on and working toward the company's short- and long-term objectives.
There is no single format that a business plan must follow, but there are certain key elements that most companies will want to include.

Investopedia / Ryan Oakley

Any new business should have a business plan in place prior to beginning operations. In fact, banks and venture capital firms often want to see a business plan before they'll consider making a loan or providing capital to new businesses.

Even if a business isn't looking to raise additional money, a business plan can help it focus on its goals. A 2017 Harvard Business Review article reported that, "Entrepreneurs who write formal plans are 16% more likely to achieve viability than the otherwise identical nonplanning entrepreneurs."

Ideally, a business plan should be reviewed and updated periodically to reflect any goals that have been achieved or that may have changed. An established business that has decided to move in a new direction might create an entirely new business plan for itself.

There are numerous benefits to creating (and sticking to) a well-conceived business plan. These include being able to think through ideas before investing too much money in them and highlighting any potential obstacles to success. A company might also share its business plan with trusted outsiders to get their objective feedback. In addition, a business plan can help keep a company's executive team on the same page about strategic action items and priorities.

Business plans, even among competitors in the same industry, are rarely identical. However, they often have some of the same basic elements, as we describe below.

While it's a good idea to provide as much detail as necessary, it's also important that a business plan be concise enough to hold a reader's attention to the end.

While there are any number of templates that you can use to write a business plan, it's best to try to avoid producing a generic-looking one. Let your plan reflect the unique personality of your business.

Many business plans use some combination of the sections below, with varying levels of detail, depending on the company.

The length of a business plan can vary greatly from business to business. Regardless, it's best to fit the basic information into a 15- to 25-page document. Other crucial elements that take up a lot of space—such as applications for patents—can be referenced in the main document and attached as appendices.

These are some of the most common elements in many business plans:

Executive summary: This section introduces the company and includes its mission statement along with relevant information about the company's leadership, employees, operations, and locations.
Products and services: Here, the company should describe the products and services it offers or plans to introduce. That might include details on pricing, product lifespan, and unique benefits to the consumer. Other factors that could go into this section include production and manufacturing processes, any relevant patents the company may have, as well as proprietary technology . Information about research and development (R&D) can also be included here.
Market analysis: A company needs to have a good handle on the current state of its industry and the existing competition. This section should explain where the company fits in, what types of customers it plans to target, and how easy or difficult it may be to take market share from incumbents.
Marketing strategy: This section can describe how the company plans to attract and keep customers, including any anticipated advertising and marketing campaigns. It should also describe the distribution channel or channels it will use to get its products or services to consumers.
Financial plans and projections: Established businesses can include financial statements, balance sheets, and other relevant financial information. New businesses can provide financial targets and estimates for the first few years. Your plan might also include any funding requests you're making.

The best business plans aren't generic ones created from easily accessed templates. A company should aim to entice readers with a plan that demonstrates its uniqueness and potential for success.

2 Types of Business Plans

Business plans can take many forms, but they are sometimes divided into two basic categories: traditional and lean startup. According to the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) , the traditional business plan is the more common of the two.

Traditional business plans : These plans tend to be much longer than lean startup plans and contain considerably more detail. As a result they require more work on the part of the business, but they can also be more persuasive (and reassuring) to potential investors.
Lean startup business plans : These use an abbreviated structure that highlights key elements. These business plans are short—as short as one page—and provide only the most basic detail. If a company wants to use this kind of plan, it should be prepared to provide more detail if an investor or a lender requests it.

Why Do Business Plans Fail?

A business plan is not a surefire recipe for success. The plan may have been unrealistic in its assumptions and projections to begin with. Markets and the overall economy might change in ways that couldn't have been foreseen. A competitor might introduce a revolutionary new product or service. All of this calls for building some flexibility into your plan, so you can pivot to a new course if needed.

How frequently a business plan needs to be revised will depend on the nature of the business. A well-established business might want to review its plan once a year and make changes if necessary. A new or fast-growing business in a fiercely competitive market might want to revise it more often, such as quarterly.

What Does a Lean Startup Business Plan Include?

The lean startup business plan is an option when a company prefers to give a quick explanation of its business. For example, a brand-new company may feel that it doesn't have a lot of information to provide yet.

Sections can include: a value proposition ; the company's major activities and advantages; resources such as staff, intellectual property, and capital; a list of partnerships; customer segments; and revenue sources.

A business plan can be useful to companies of all kinds. But as a company grows and the world around it changes, so too should its business plan. So don't think of your business plan as carved in granite but as a living document designed to evolve with your business.

Harvard Business Review. " Research: Writing a Business Plan Makes Your Startup More Likely to Succeed ."

U.S. Small Business Administration. " Write Your Business Plan ."

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5 strategies to help meet government-mandated small business contracting goals

Targeting SDBs emphasizes the worthy goals of promoting racial equity and assisting socio-economically disadvantaged businesses, but there is another motivation...

The Biden Administration has leaned into the longstanding commitment from the federal government to support small/disadvantaged businesses (SDBs) with new SDB contracting goals. This is welcome news for small business owners, who have faced significant challenges in the volatile economic environment of the pandemic. Targeting SDBs emphasizes the worthy goals of promoting racial equity and assisting socio-economically disadvantaged businesses, but there is another motivation for highlighting partnerships with SDBs: Doing so makes good business sense for the federal government.

SDBs are key to delivering agile innovation and localized service to our defense and federal agencies, national security efforts and agency missions. An executive order announced in December 2021 outlines key initiatives and asks agencies to agree with the Small Business Administration on an agency-specific SDB contracting goal for FY 2022 that will allow the federal government to cumulatively award at least 11% of federal contract spend to SDBs in FY 2022, which increases to 15% by 2025. Agencies need proven tools and new innovations to aid in the success of these initiatives.

Leveraging construction and real property projects

Particularly in the construction industry, which continues to navigate an uncertain rebound amid supply chain challenges, it is critical to nurture the small business pipeline to ensure that federal agency mission needs are met. The federal government has executed $15-17 billion in real property maintenance, repair and alteration annually for the last four years. Much of this work is very accessible to emergent firms and those first entering the federal market, making facilities construction and services a natural entry point for SDBs. But there are contracting and operational constraints that can be a barrier to getting this work in the hands of those businesses.

An entrepreneurial and hard-working individual can start a construction company with minimal investment, but entering the federal market is harder. A construction business owner must learn to navigate federal compliance requirements like certifying payroll, acquiring bonding, and building operational capacity with staffing and skill development while engaging in resource-intensive bidding cycles.

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Fortunately, there are proven contracting methodologies that can support emergent construction businesses in this path. Catalyzed by new data and technology tools, they can be leveraged to accelerate fulfillment of the current aggressive SDB contracting goals.

Reconciling SDB support and category management

For many years, federal contracting offices have been tasked with optimizing spend — doing more with less by consolidating spend under category management principles. Those practices are frequently seen as being at odds with SDB support, and indeed they can be. But when work requirements are consolidated in the right way — into long-term multi-project contracts that can be tackled by small business — the result can be a small business growth engine for SDBs.

This method of category management frees SDBs from a constant bidding cycle. It also builds much-needed small business execution capacity during a volatile post-pandemic period when many small businesses are still recovering.

One example of how appropriately consolidated construction work requirements can support small business is through Job Order Contracting (JOC, also called SABER in Air Force and some agencies). Early government-funded studies demonstrated that the JOC methodology, which leverages a long-term contract based on a unit price guide and a coefficient or adjustment factor, resulted in fewer barriers to entry into the federal market for SDBs.

At the time, most of these programs funneled construction volume to SDBs through larger prime contractors, but contracting officers soon determined that SDBs could themselves be very successful at this type of small project execution program. Now, almost all JOC programs are set aside for SDBs.

Sole source awards with fair and reasonable pricing

To meet increased SDB award goals for 2022 and beyond, contracting officers will want to leverage sole source awards, which are enabled for 8(a) firms and, in certain circumstances, for women-owned small businesses, HUBZone and service-disabled veteran-owned small business firms. The maximum award value is $4.5M for individually owned firms, while tribally-owned entities have a cap of $100M in DoD.

These relatively small awards can be executed in weeks rather than the year-long timeline of many federal procurements. But arriving at fair and reasonable pricing in the absence of competition can be a challenge. Fortunately, construction pricing data can serve as a “single source of truth” to facilitate negotiations. While commercial, third-party price guides are sometimes used, a customized set of construction tasks with preset unit prices is the gold standard for governing pricing in a contractually precise way that ensures performance standards and covers DoD- and federal-specific work items.

By intersecting sole source awards and JOC, it is possible to award quick-execution multiple project vehicles. These are sometimes called “Mini-JOCs” or “Rapid-JOCs.” In the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, they are sometimes called Performance-Oriented Construction Agreements (POCA). When properly planned and supported, they can serve as a good foundation for small businesses looking to enter the federal market, a key tenet of the recent executive order.

Training and technology enablement for SDBs

There are a few challenges to fully realizing the potential of SDB execution of JOCs and sole source Mini-JOCs. The complexity of evaluating a vast set of unit prices and developing a coefficient can be daunting. The government must also fully understand the pricing to effectively negotiate a fair and reasonable coefficient.

Larger contracts can require a significant investment in data, software and training that can be a cash flow drain to emerging businesses. But turnkey, consumption-based JOC support systems can provide upfront program support in the form of technology enablement, and training can help SDBs to “demystify” JOC and engage in these programs with no up-front financial investment. Likewise, it is very low risk for the government to pilot these programs. The JOC consultant takes on a key role in coaching the SDB and ensuring success for all parties.

Leadership considerations

Accountability is a critical component of reaching any goal and it tends to start at the top of the organization. The onus should be placed on leadership to truly institutionalize achievement of small business contracting goals. Contracting offices are trained to focus on transparency and open competition, and some are wary of sole source awards.

OSDBUs, supported by contracting leadership, will need to bring into focus the value of sole source awards in developing the DoD and federal supplier base. They will also need to socialize the concept of ensuring fair and reasonable pricing through adept use of unit pricing tools, rather than direct competition.

To meet new SDB contracting goals, it will take the active support of the full federal marketplace to aid government contracting offices, 8(a)s, and other qualifying contractors in their pursuit of these awards. To continue to deliver agile innovation and localized service to our defense and federal agencies, national security efforts and agency missions, diverse small businesses must begin to thrive and stir up competition in the federal marketplace.

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Lisa Cooley serves as the vice president of federal sales at Gordian .

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New contracting goals for small disadvantaged businesses

DISA sends message to large companies: Meet small business goals or risk getting off-ramped

Alan Chvotkin, Professional Services Council

Did the government actually reach its annual small business contracting goals?

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Did the government actually reach its annual small business contracting goals? Contracting

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Updates on the Release of the U.S. National Action Plan on Responsible Business Conduct

Photo: Artinun/Adobe Stock

Critical Questions by Scott Busby and Lauren Burke

Published April 8, 2024

On March 20, 2024, the Biden administration released its updated National Action Plan on Responsible Business Conduct (NAP). Secretary of State Antony Blinken had promised the update in a statement on June 16, 2021, the 10th anniversary of the adoption of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) . The NAP is a framework for how the government, private sector companies, and other stakeholders can promote responsible business conduct (RBC), positively impact the communities in which they operate, and work with other stakeholders to support business practices that are transparent and accountable, respect human rights, and promote good governance. This updated version of the NAP is the culmination of numerous rounds of consultations with experts, inputs provided in response to a Federal Register Notice, and coordination across multiple government agencies.

Q1: What is a NAP, and how does it work?

A1: The UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights defines a NAP as an “evolving policy strategy developed by a State to protect against adverse human rights impacts by business enterprises in conformity with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.” Today, 26 countries have NAPs related to the UNGPs in place, showing a growing consensus around the importance of a clear business and human rights strategy. In addition to the UNGPs, the United States has incorporated into its NAP commitments relating to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises on Responsible Business Conduct (OECD Guidelines), which are “recommendations jointly addressed by governments to multinational enterprises to enhance the business contribution to sustainable development and address adverse impacts associated with business activities on people, planet, and society.” Among other things, those guidelines call for corporate action to address corruption and promote protection of the environment.

As the name suggests, NAPs are not laws or regulations in themselves. Rather, NAPs present a roadmap that governments can use to announce commitments to develop laws, regulations, or guidance or undertake other efforts to enhance respect for human rights by the private sector and promote RBC. Germany, for example, committed in its 2016 NAP to explore the possibility of mandatory due diligence guidelines and followed up on that commitment by conducting a thorough assessment of how many German companies were undertaking due diligence efforts on their own. After the assessment determined that fewer than a quarter of German companies were doing so voluntarily, the German parliament adopted mandatory due diligence legislation in 2021.

The first U.S. NAP was released just weeks ahead of the end of the Obama administration in December 2016 and was largely made up of actions that U.S. agencies were already taking to advance RBC. While the Trump administration continued to take action on some of these commitments, such as the one by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to enforce the prohibition on entry of goods made with forced labor, it basically ignored the NAP, meaning virtually all other NAP commitments were deprioritized.

Q2: How was the development of this NAP different from the Obama administration’s?

A2: The Obama administration’s NAP received mixed reviews on both process and substance. While supporters, for instance, praised the NAP’s commitment to increase enforcement of import prohibitions on goods made with forced labor, critics highlighted the lack of transparency in its development, its failure to go beyond preexisting policies and practices, and the “low bar” that it set by focusing on voluntary efforts by companies rather than proposing robust government requirements.

When Blinken announced that the Biden administration would revise and update the NAP in 2021, the process was intentionally designed to be more inclusive from the start. A Federal Register notice was issued to formally solicit input from the public, which generated 275 distinct policy recommendations. To develop those recommendations, outside organizations—including the CSIS Human Rights I nitiative—held numerous roundtable discussions with businesses, civil society organizations, academics, and other experts on specific areas of interest, resulting in robust discussions intended to help shape recommendations that were both reasonable and ambitious.

Q3: What is in the Biden administration’s NAP?

A3: Importantly, the Biden administration’s NAP articulates the general U.S. government expectation that businesses—regardless of their size, sector, operational context, ownership, or structure—conduct human rights due diligence (HRDD) in assessing the human rights–related risks in their operations and supply chains in line with the standards in the UNGPs, the OECD Guidelines, and the International Labor Organization’s Tripartite Declaration of Principles Concerning Multinational Enterprises and Social Policy . The NAP emphasizes that these standards should be treated as a floor, not a ceiling, and that HRDD “should be an integral part of decision-making and embedded into existing risk management systems with support from the highest levels of the business.” It also describes some elements of HRDD, including metrics to assess and address risks; ongoing assessment, monitoring, and evaluation; consistent stakeholder engagement; public communication; a grievance mechanism; and alignment with human rights instruments, although it does not expressly indicate that these are required or even recommended HRDD characteristics. In this regard, the NAP reflects the general voluntary approach that the U.S. government takes on HRDD, as compared to the mandatory approaches adopted in Germany and France and under consideration in the European Union .

The NAP identifies four priority areas for action: (1) establishing a Federal Advisory Committee on Responsible Business Conduct; (2) strengthening respect for human rights in federal procurement policies and processes; (3) strengthening access to remedy; and (4) providing resources to businesses. In each of these areas, the NAP lists specific commitments by relevant U.S. agencies. The NAP also includes commitments under the themes of technology; workers’ rights; environment, climate, just transitions; and anti-corruption, which reflect the broader character of the issues addressed in the OECD Guidelines.

Some of the NAP commitments describe concrete actions while others are more exploratory in nature without definite outcomes. The more concrete commitments include, for instance, the establishment of the RBC Federal Advisory Committee, which provides an ongoing, official forum for civil society, business, academics, and affected communities to raise concerns and make recommendations with relevant government officials. On procurement, the Department of State promises to develop a new human trafficking risk mapping process for high-risk and high-volume contracts to assist the acquisition workforce as well as federal contractors in conducting greater due diligence. (That said, some civil society advocates have expressed disappointment that the procurement commitments do not extend beyond the anti-trafficking restrictions in current law.) CBP, meanwhile, commits to drafting guidance to direct the proactive consideration of suspension and debarment whenever CBP issues a penalty under laws designed to prevent the importation of goods made with forced labor—a welcome addition to the penalties that might be imposed against those who try to import such goods. To strengthen access to remedy, the State Department commits to significant reforms to the National Contact Point process established under the OECD Guidelines, which is designed to provide aggrieved parties a vehicle to file complaints against companies allegedly responsible for acts contrary to those guidelines and then help to resolve those complaints. The Department of the Treasury also commits to advocate for effective remedy systems at multilateral development banks, while the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation promises to strengthen protections against reprisals for groups and individuals who raise concerns about DFC programs, and the U.S. Export-Import Bank commits to strengthening its remedy procedures—all of which will be important outcomes if they are achieved. And in providing resources to businesses, the Department of Labor commits to creating an RBC and Labor Rights Information Hub, a potentially useful online repository of all relevant U.S. government guidelines and information that businesses and others can turn to to get the information they need to conform their behavior to U.S law and policy.

Those NAP commitments with less clear outcomes include a State Department commitment to evaluate and assess the impact of potential approaches to implementing RBC Reporting Requirements. In the area of procurement, the Department of Defense (DOD) promises to conduct a review to evaluate the value of encouraging or requiring membership in the International Code of Conduct Association for Private Security Providers’ Association for its private security company vendors, a recommendation by advocates that has been pending for over a decade. And the Department of Labor commits to exploring the effects of the digitalization of the labor market on workers’ rights and identifying best practices for companies to address negative impacts—a worthy goal but with an uncertain result.

Q4: What impact is the NAP likely to have?

A4: Insofar as the Trump administration ignored the first NAP, the impact of the Biden administration’s NAP will hinge on whether President Biden remains in office for a second term. While some of this NAP’s commitments announce significant actions already taken or about to be taken, others will take time to carry out, especially those that entail reviews, consultations, or further internal U.S. government deliberations. Thus, as was the case with the Obama NAP, it is unfortunate that this updated NAP is being issued so late in the administration. That said, the updated NAP demonstrates the Biden administration’s commitment to bringing its policies and procedures regarding the private sector in line with international standards, which will help to reinforce those standards both domestically and abroad. While many of the updated NAP’s commitments, if carried out, would call only for voluntary action by companies (unlike the mandatory due diligence frameworks in Europe), they usefully supplement existing binding law and make clear what is expected of companies while allowing them to forge their own paths in enhancing their respect for human rights and RBC.

Scott Busby is a senior associate (non-resident) with the Human Rights Initiative at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, D.C. Lauren Burke is senior program manager with the CSIS Human Rights Initiative.

Critical Questions is produced by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a private, tax-exempt institution focusing on international public policy issues. Its research is nonpartisan and nonproprietary. CSIS does not take specific policy positions. Accordingly, all views, positions, and conclusions expressed in this publication should be understood to be solely those of the author(s).

Scott Busby

Lauren Burke

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How to Optimize Your Federal Business Development Workflow

IN THIS ARTICLE

How to Define Your Federal Business Development Strategy

Difficulties in federal business development, tools and intelligence to streamline your workflow.

[Use Bloomberg Government’s focused data sets, proprietary tools, and expert analysis to fill your pipeline and grow your business now.]

Managing federal business development workflows can quickly become an unwieldy process, especially when it involves large government contracts that need input and coordination across multiple parties. Building and monitoring the entire opportunity pipeline, from the initial draft request for proposal to winning the final contract, often requires extensive research on information that’s fragmented across multiple platforms, spreadsheets, emails, and messages.

For business developers, this means a lot of time spent finding and gathering both quantitative and qualitative data on individual opportunities, market trends, government spending, networks and partnerships. Optimizing this workflow is essential to building robust pipelines, closing contracts, and growing your federal business.

Winning Federal Contracts on the Top 20 Contract Vehicles

With the right strategy in place, contractors can find and win new contracts for a predictable pipeline.

Before you’re able to optimize your workflow, you must first define your business development strategy. This is the plan of action your company will use to identify new opportunities, build out their pipeline, write the proposals, and ultimately win contracts. Accomplishing this goal requires a detailed plan and an immense amount of research into market conditions, government spending trends, and competitor analysis.

To define your company’s business development strategy and optimize your workflow, consider conducting both a Black Hat and White Hat review. These assessments provide valuable insights into the current market size, your company’s current position in it, and your competitors’ strengths and weaknesses.

The Data You Need

Gain the certainty you need for your business through key information on all federal budget, solicitation, and spending activities.

Black Hat Review

A Black Hat review is all about the competition. You’ll want to write a proposal from their point of view to gain a better understanding of how they would secure the deal. Make a note of any advantages your competitors might have, either in the products or services themselves or their opportunity funnels, and keep track of their weak points.

This exercise can help you determine how your company stacks up to the competition, the right competitive price point at which to market your solution, and whether or not you can win the contract. You’ll also gain key insights on how to position your company against your competitors while building customer relationships with program managers and contracting officers.

White Hat Review

Whereas a Black Hat review focuses on your competitors, a White Hat review targets your company’s capabilities and solutions. This is when you utilize the actionable information from research and assessments to improve your win probability.

Assess and minimize your own weak spots, and explore how your market solutions compare to the competition. It might reveal that you need a partner for a contract or that a niche is oversaturated. In any case, you can use this time to tackle any internal issues, adjust pipeline goals, and target competitor pitfalls with your solutions.

[Explore the tenth annual BGOV200 Federal Industry Leader rankings and download the full report.]

While it might be easy to say “define your business development strategy,” taking the necessary actions to create and implement a detailed pipeline plan is no simple feat. Business developers face many challenges throughout their workflows, from time-consuming research on opportunities to qualifying partnerships and contract leads.

Some common frustrations among business development teams include:

Identifying areas of opportunity in a niche market.
A shortage of pipeline opportunities and inaccurate information.
Aggregating and analyzing accurate, reliable data and contracts to win work.
Staying up-to-date on government spending trends and market conditions.
Finding the right agency and vendor contacts.
Facilitating calls or meetings to gain information and expand their networks.
Clearly communicating with contracting officers.
Ensuring accurate release dates for RFPs.

With information buried across a multitude of channels, business developers spend most of their time tracking it down or contacting people. These difficulties often hinder strategic growth planning, resulting in companies falling short of their pipeline goals. However, there are strategies and solutions that can help you overcome these hurdles with numerous added benefits.

Bloomberg Government offers a powerful suite of features designed to optimize your entire federal contracting workflow. With BGOV, business developers can easily create viable pipelines that win task orders on contracts and close deals.

Opportunity Search is the market’s most comprehensive search tool. With fast, accurate, and reliable information and access to a vast database of 31+ million contracts, BGOV provides business developers with the resources they need to save time while pursuing government contract opportunities.

BGOV Alerts offers proactive email updates on opportunities and markets of interest. Based on recompete data, machine learning algorithms can forecast which competitors might bid on the same project. BGOV Workspaces can also help you build your pipeline, qualify potential opportunities, and collaborate with team tools.

Backed by the power of Bloomberg News and proprietary expert analytics combined with powerful market intelligence tools provide business developers with a centralized platform for reliable information on current market conditions, government spending trends, and new contract opportunities. Not only does this present valuable context for current strategies and business decisions, it also saves time researching information by organizing disparate data stored on separate systems platforms.

With enhanced pipeline visibility and access to key market insights and information, BGOV enables business developers to produce accurate forecasting and strong opportunity pipelines. This translates into more contracts won and deals closed, growing your federal contracting business and network.

Market Intelligence to Inform Business Development

Bloomberg Government is your source for news, analysis, and data that covers mission-critical developments. From purchasing trends to supply chain, with BGOV, you’re always a step ahead.

Bloomberg Government helps you streamline the process of taking an opportunity search result from potential to pipeline – and proposal ready. Unparalleled document search capabilities allow you to seek out undiscovered opportunities, gaining a competitive advantage. Track these solicitations and perform competitive analysis to better understand your current market position. Competitive and contract intelligence provides you with accurate, up-to-date information so you can save time on research and focus on business development.

With Bloomberg Government, you receive reliable, actionable data that can propel your opportunities through your pipeline and deliver results. To learn more about how BGOV can help optimize your business development workflows, request a demo .

Find the right opportunities with BGOV’s unmatched data sets.Enhance your view of the market. Opportunity Search enables you to find and exclude keywords in documents attached to solicitation notices to surface relevant opportunities in no time at all.

Request a demo

Reference Shelf

Report: BGOV200 Federal Industry Leader rankings
Webinar: Contracts to Watch: GWACs & MACs
Article: Partnering with 8(a) companies as a large contracting firm
Article: The Top 10 IT Contractors
Article: Federal Contract Spending Trends in Five Charts
Article: How to Build Your Pipeline With the Right Federal Contracts
Article: How to Size Your Market to Strategically Grow Your Federal Business

How Lobbying Firms are Changing their Structures and Advocacy Strategy

Contractor impacts: fy24 defense appropriations, artificial intelligence market profile.

Why are States Beginning to Mandate Small Business Retirement Plans?

For many people, reaching a financially secure retirement may seem more like an unrealistic daydream than a future reality. Too few people are adequately saving for their retirement, too many are relying on Social Security to fund their golden years, and too often, employees don't have a savings plan available through their employer to help. If we continue down this path, the future (and the economy) may look drastically different than what we envision today.

As a result, state governments are stepping in. To help today’s workforce more adequately prepare for a financially secure future, state governments across the country have started outlining legislation that requires all types of employers to offer some type of retirement plan for their employees to save in. In the last ten years, over half of the states have introduced legislation at the state level to implement or study options for state-sponsored retirement savings plans—but is this really necessary?

Why retirement state mandates are necessary

A declining number of Americans are confident in their ability to live comfortably throughout retirement—and among those who don't feel confident , 40 percent say their lack of confidence is due to having little to no savings. 1 Pair that with the fact that people have the potential to live longer today than in the past, and it’s easy to see why so few people are confident they can fund their entire retirement.

Adding to the problem is that once-reliable defined benefit plans (such as pensions) became increasingly rare for employers to offer, meaning the burden of obtaining a financially-secure retirement is falling on employees—rather than their employer—now more than ever before. As we've seen, insufficient savings—coupled with subpar economic growth, rising household debt, and an increasing cost of living—have all contributed to preventing today’s workers from achieving the retirement they always envisioned.

Employees clearly need a little bit of help from their employers to reach maximum retirement readiness, but reality is, the current retirement landscape doesn’t exactly have a level playing field. In reality, there are large discrepancies between employees who have access to a retirement savings plan based on their employer’s size, industry, their own education level, and the like. The state-run retirement programs require all employers—regardless of size—to offer some type of savings plan to employees, allowing workers who would otherwise not have access to a plan to begin putting away money.

Furthermore, and perhaps most importantly, states aren't just worried about the current climate in the retirement industry and among their citizenry—they’re thinking years into the future. Employees who aren’t saving enough for retirement right now and plan to live off Social Security in the future are setting themselves up to need support as they age. When a large number of people retire and don’t have adequate savings to cover things like healthcare, housing costs, and other everyday essentials, it’s the state government that ends up paying more money—both earlier and longer—than the federal government.

The root of the problem is this: people aren't as likely to save for retirement if they don’t have an easy, readymade option to do so. More than 30 percent of employees in the private sector are not offered access to a retirement savings plan through their employer. 2 How can we set today’s workforce up for a successful future when so many workers don’t even have access to a savings program? How can we realistically expect workers to own their retirement readiness if we don’t give them a way to do so?

Cue the state mandates.

How does a state mandated retirement plan help employees save more?

As we mentioned earlier, the state mandates were designed to level the retirement plan access playing field, so to speak, by providing all employees with a plan to save in, regardless of sector, company size, employee education level, etc.

To put it simply, many Americans aren’t actively engaged in saving for their future—let alone their retirement. Why would they think about something so far off in the distant future, when student loans, housing costs, and bills are piling up today ?

Providing access to an employer-sponsored plan may be just the kick workers need to get in gear and begin properly preparing for their future. In fact, 88 percent of employees who are offered a 401(k) or similar plan through their employer are saving for their retirement—but in stark contrast, less than half of workers who don’t have access to an employer-sponsored plan are saving for retirement. 3

The necessity seems obvious.

How state mandates could affect small business owners

The mandates will help today's workers prepare for a more secure retirement in the future, but how will the business owners, who are now being mandated to offer a retirement plan to employees, be affected? Cost may be an initial concern for some—but in reality, the mandates aren't going to take funds out of small business owners’ pockets since the plan will be state-funded and state-run.

Additionally, the state mandates will allow business owners to save for their own retirement—which may not have been an option before if no plan was offered through the business and the owner never opened an Individual Retirement Account (IRA) for themselves.

Types of state-sponsored retirement programs

While the goals of the state mandated retirement programs all center around helping workers reach retirement readiness and future financial independence, the specifics of the mandates themselves vary by state. The local state governments were tasked with maximizing effectiveness to safeguard our collective future as a society, while minimizing cost and financial risk to the employers the mandates are required for. To help accomplish this, state legislations have outlined four retirement program models.

Mandatory auto-IRA programs
Voluntary retirement plan marketplace
Voluntary state-based open multiple employer plans (MEPs)
Voluntary payroll deduction IRA programs

Click on the map below to learn more about the program details and guidelines for each state's mandated retirement program.

It's important for employers to note that while these four program models would satisfy the mandate within their specific state, there are additional options that would do so as well.

What options do business owners have to satisfy retirement state mandates?

Business owners have a variety of options to satisfy the retirement mandate in their state; they can choose the state-sponsored program or decide to offer a different type of qualified plan instead—like a 401(k) or a pooled employer plan (PEP).

Ascensus offers a variety of retirement plan options that satisfy state mandate regulations and are designed with business owners and their financial advisors in mind.

To learn more, contact our retirement specialists today at 800-345-6363.

1" 2023 Retirement Confidence Survey." Accessed June 28, 2023. https://www.ebri.org/docs/default-source/rcs/2023-rcs/2023-rcs-short-report.pdf?sfvrsn=7c8d392f_6 .

2 "Retirement plans for workers in private industry and state and local government in 2022." Accessed June 29, 2023. https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2023/retirement-plans-for-workers-in-private-industry-and-state-and-local-government-in-2022.htm .

3 "Post-Pandemic Realities: The Retirement Outlook of the Multigenerational Workforce." Accessed July 11, 2023. https://transamericainstitute.org/docs/default-source/research/post-pandemic-retirement-realities-multigenerational-workforce-report-july-2023.pdf

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States With Retirement Plan Mandates: Guide for Small Businesses

Discover the states with retirement plan mandates and understand the impact on businesses. Learn about the requirements and penalties for non-compliance.

Published on Jan 05, 2024

Penelope team.

While employer-sponsored retirement plans are largely voluntary across much of the country, in some places that reality is changing.

In the absence of any federal laws requiring that employers offer retirement plans, a growing number of states are passing legislation mandating that businesses provide these types of benefits for employees.

While the number of states that already have such programs in place remains small at 16 states, the good news is that over the past decade, some 47 states have begun working on this issue, either taking steps toward adopting a mandated retirement program or introducing related legislation, which is substantial progress, according to Georgetown University’s McCourt School of Public Policy Center for Retirement Initiatives (CRI).

With these mandates becoming more common, it’s important to understand whether your business is impacted by such requirements and what steps are needed to comply. Here’s a closer look.

What is a State-Mandated Retirement Plan and Who is Impacted?

A state-mandated retirement plan is a retirement savings program that is mandated by the state government for private-sector employees who do not have access to an employer-sponsored retirement plan. These programs are designed to make it easier for small businesses to offer retirement savings options to their employees.

Several states in the U.S have implemented these state-mandated retirement plans, also known as auto-IRA programs. In these programs, employers who do not offer a workplace retirement plan are required to automatically enroll their employees into a Roth Individual Retirement Account (IRA) managed by the state. The employees can then contribute a portion of their paycheck to this account.

Each state's program varies in terms of the specific rules and regulations, but the general idea is to increase retirement savings among workers who may not otherwise have the opportunity to save through an employer-sponsored plan. It's important to note that while these programs are state-mandated, participation for employees is usually voluntary.

Remember that while these plans can offer a solution for some businesses, they might not be the best fit for everyone. Depending on the specifics of your business and your employees' needs, other options like 401(k) plans might be more beneficial. Reach out to our team for a complimentary call if you want to compare your retirement options.

Penalties for Non-Compliance with Your States Mandated Retirement Plans

Equally important to understand as a business owner, states with retirement plan mandates may charge steep penalties for not providing employees with access to a retirement plan.

In California, for instance, the current guidelines stipulate that employers with an average of four or fewer employees will be able to participate and will be required to join CalSavers by December 31, 2025, if they do not sponsor a retirement plan. Employers that fail to do this are subject to a penalty of $250 per eligible employee for the first non-compliance notice and an additional $500 per eligible employee if the non-compliance continues another 180 days or more after notice.

However, penalties and requirements vary by state, so it’s important to do your research and understand the local laws.

Why are States Adopting Retirement Plan Mandates?

There’s a retirement savings crisis in the United States. A report from the Federal Reserve reveals that one in four Americans have no retirement savings. A separate report , this one from the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI), found that the aggregate retirement savings shortfall for all U.S. households ages 35 to 64 as of January 1, 2020, was $3.68 trillion.

State-mandated retirement plans are an attempt to help address these types of troubling statistics. Oregon was the first state in the nation to start enrolling private sector employees in a state-operated retirement plan. The state initiated OregonSaves back in 2017, according to the Pew Charitable Trusts. Some of the other early leaders included California, which initiated CalSavers in 2019, and Illinois, which kicked-off its plan in 2018.

Which States Already Have Retirement Plan Mandates?

The number of states actively considering mandated retirement plans is rapidly growing. Below is an update on which states have mandated retirement plans as of January 2024.

California

Under state legislation, businesses that do not provide a retirement plan of their own must facilitate the CalSavers program. If your business, in the preceding calendar year, employed on average a minimum of five employees based in California, with at least one being 18 years old or more, and does not sponsor a qualified retirement plan, it is obligated to register for CalSavers .

Colorado

In accordance with Colorado law, all businesses that have been operational for a minimum of two years and employ five or more individuals are obligated to facilitate the Colorado SecureSavings program . This mandate applies specifically to those businesses that currently do not offer a qualified retirement plan for their employees.

Connecticut

In Connecticut, state law mandates that employers, regardless of whether they are for profit or not-for-profit, must facilitate the state's retirement savings program, MyCTSavings , under certain conditions. This applies if the employer had five or more employees in Connecticut as of October 1st of the previous calendar year and paid at least five of those employees a minimum of $5,000 in taxable wages in that same year. Furthermore, this requirement is applicable to those employers who currently do not offer a qualified, employer-sponsored retirement savings plan.

Under Delaware law, businesses employing more than five employees that do not currently offer a retirement plan are required to participate in the DE EARNS program. The goal of this program is to facilitate retirement savings for their workers and increase access to retirement savings plans. The program is set to be implemented with a proposed launch date of January 1, 2025.

The Illinois Secure Choice program is their state-initiated retirement savings plan designed for employees within the state. It is mandatory for employers who have five or more employees in Illinois and do not already offer a retirement plan, to either introduce one or enroll in the Illinois Secure Choice program.

Under Maryland law, most employers are required to offer some sort of retirement savings to their employees. This can either be a traditional pension or through the MarylandSaves program. The MarylandSaves program requires workers to be at least 18 years old to participate. Importantly, it is intended for those who do not have access to an employer-sponsored retirement plan.

Massachusetts

The Massachusetts state-mandated retirement plan is the Massachusetts Defined Contribution CORE Plan . This 401(k) program has been designed specifically for non-profit organizations with 20 employees or less. It offers both tax-deferred and post-tax savings options. The CORE Plan is developed to provide a retirement savings solution for employees of eligible small non-profit organizations that might not have access to employer-sponsored retirement plans.

New York

New York's state-mandated retirement plan is known as the New York State Secure Choice Savings Program (SCSP) . This program is still under development but if you are a business owner in New York, be aware that a state mandate is underway.

Nevada

Nevada's state-mandated retirement plan is known as the Nevada Employee Savings Trust. This program was created under Senate Bill No. 305 and passed into law in June 2023. The law mandates that employers who don't currently offer retirement plans must register their employees in the Nevada Employee Savings Trust Program or an equivalent program provided by a trade association or chamber of commerce. Businesses with a staff of more than five and have been operating for a minimum of 36 months are obliged to provide access to this program or a comparable one to their employees. As of now, the program will be up and running by July 2025 and accepting contributions.

The Oregon state-mandated retirement plan is known as OregonSaves . This program is designed to provide an easy and automatic way for Oregonians to save for their future. Launched as a pilot program in 2017, OregonSaves became the nation's first state-mandated retirement savings program.

Under Oregon law, all employers are required to facilitate OregonSaves if they don't offer a retirement plan for their employees. The program is facilitated by employers and funded by employee investments. That means that businesses of all sizes, whether they employ hundreds or just one or two individuals, must either enroll their employees in the OregonSaves program or sponsor a qualifying retirement plan.

Virginia's state-mandated retirement plan is known as RetirePath Virginia . Under Virginia law, businesses with more than 25 employees, have been operating for two or more years, and does not provide a retirement plan option must to enroll in RetirePath Virginia.

The Washington Retirement Marketplace is an online portal where businesses with fewer than 100 workers and their employees can compare and enroll in retirement savings plans. The marketplace offers a variety of plans including Traditional Individual Retirement Accounts (IRA), Roth IRA, and Traditional 401(k).

While Washington State does not mandate businesses to offer a retirement plan, it provides the Retirement Marketplace as a resource for those businesses that choose to do so. Therefore, any business in Washington State can choose to use the Retirement Marketplace to facilitate retirement savings for their employees, but they are not required by law to do so.

Choosing Between a State Mandated Retirement Plan or Adopting Your Own

Businesses that operate in a state where retirement plans are mandated will need to decide whether to use the state-run plan or find an independent provider. Often, the best choice for your business will depend on your financial and administrative capabilities, as well as your short- and long-term goals.

State-run plans are inexpensive (they typically do not involve any upfront or set-up costs) and they also have minimal administrative requirements. However, state-run retirement plans can also be very limited in terms of how much they allow employees to save for retirement. Many states, for instance, offer Roth IRA programs. The annual contribution limit associated with this type of account by the IRS is just $7,000 for 2024 ($8,000 if you’re 50 or older). Additionally, there’s a limited number of investment providers available for state run investment plans and the investment funds, which are chosen by the government, may not always be the best options or even the most cost-effective options..

Opting to offer a private 401(k) plan, by comparison, allows for annual contributions of up to $23,000, according to 2024 IRS rules.

Most state-mandated IRA plans also do not allow employer contributions, which can be a drawback to consider. (Massachusetts is the exception to this rule, as it allows Safe Harbor contributions).

Additionally, there are no tax credits available to your business when utilizing a state-mandated retirement plan, but this type of benefit is available when offering a startup 401(k) plan. Eligible businesses may qualify for tax credits for the start-up or administration costs associated with a private, employer-sponsored plan. Read our article about employer tax credits to find out more.

Find the Right Retirement Plan for Your Business

As a business owner, it’s important to understand whether you’re required by state laws to offer a retirement plan for employees. An increasing number of states are implementing such mandates and for good reason. Significant numbers of Americans are vastly underprepared for retirement.

The key question to consider is whether your business and its employees would be best served by a state-run plan or a private retirement plan.

With the right plan and partner, businesses can benefit from improved employee engagement and loyalty while helping them build their retirement savings. Get started today by answering these four questions about your business and get a recommendation from our 401(k) retirement specialist.

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FAC Number: 2024-03 Effective Date: 02/23/2024

52.219-9 Small Business Subcontracting Plan.

As prescribed in 19.708 (b) , insert the following clause:

Small Business Subcontracting Plan (Sep 2023)

(a) This clause does not apply to small business concerns.

(b) Definitions . As used in this clause—

Alaska Native Corporation (ANC) means any Regional Corporation, Village Corporation, Urban Corporation, or Group Corporation organized under the laws of the State of Alaska in accordance with the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, as amended ( 43 U.S.C. 1601 , et seq. ) and which is considered a minority and economically disadvantaged concern under the criteria at 43 U.S.C. 1626(e)(1) . This definition also includes ANC direct and indirect subsidiary corporations, joint ventures, and partnerships that meet the requirements of 43 U.S.C. 1626(e)(2) .

Commercial plan means a subcontracting plan (including goals) that covers the offeror’s fiscal year and that applies to the entire production of commercial products and commercial services sold by either the entire company or a portion thereof ( e.g., division, plant, or product line).

Commercial product means a product that satisfies the definition of “commercial product” in Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 2.101 .

Commercial service means a service that satisfies the definition of “commercial service” in FAR 2.101 .

Electronic Subcontracting Reporting System (eSRS) means the Governmentwide, electronic, web-based system for small business subcontracting program reporting. The eSRS is located at http://www.esrs.gov .

Indian tribe means any Indian tribe, band, group, pueblo, or community, including native villages and native groups (including corporations organized by Kenai, Juneau, Sitka, and Kodiak) as defined in the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act ( 43 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.), that is recognized by the Federal Government as eligible for services from the Bureau of Indian Affairs in accordance with 25 U.S.C. 1452(c) . This definition also includes Indian-owned economic enterprises that meet the requirements of 25 U.S.C. 1452(e) .

Individual subcontracting plan means a subcontracting plan that covers the entire contract period (including option periods), applies to a specific contract, and has goals that are based on the offeror's planned subcontracting in support of the specific contract, except that indirect costs incurred for common or joint purposes may be allocated on a prorated basis to the contract.

Master subcontracting plan means a subcontracting plan that contains all the required elements of an individual subcontracting plan, except goals, and may be incorporated into individual subcontracting plans, provided the master subcontracting plan has been approved.

Reduced payment means a payment that is for less than the amount agreed upon in a subcontract in accordance with its terms and conditions, for supplies and services for which the Government has paid the prime contractor.

Subcontract means any agreement (other than one involving an employer-employee relationship) entered into by a Federal Government prime Contractor or subcontractor calling for supplies or services required for performance of the contract or subcontract.

Total contract dollars means the final anticipated dollar value, including the dollar value of all options.

Untimely payment means a payment to a subcontractor that is more than 90 days past due under the terms and conditions of a subcontract for supplies and services for which the Government has paid the prime contractor.

(1) The Offeror, upon request by the Contracting Officer, shall submit and negotiate a subcontracting plan, where applicable, that separately addresses subcontracting with small business, veteran-owned small business, service-disabled veteran-owned small business, HUBZone small business, small disadvantaged business, and women-owned small business concerns. If the Offeror is submitting an individual subcontracting plan, the plan must separately address subcontracting with small business, veteran-owned small business, service-disabled veteran-owned small business, HUBZone small business, small disadvantaged business, and women-owned small business concerns, with a separate part for the basic contract and separate parts for each option (if any). The subcontracting plan shall be included in and made a part of the resultant contract. The subcontracting plan shall be negotiated within the time specified by the Contracting Officer. Failure to submit and negotiate the subcontracting plan shall make the Offeror ineligible for award of a contract.

(i) The Contractor may accept a subcontractor's written representations of its size and socioeconomic status as a small business, small disadvantaged business, veteran-owned small business, service-disabled veteran-owned small business, or a women-owned small business if the subcontractor represents that the size and socioeconomic status representations with its offer are current, accurate, and complete as of the date of the offer for the subcontract.

(ii) The Contractor may accept a subcontractor's representations of its size and socioeconomic status as a small business, small disadvantaged business, veteran-owned small business, service-disabled veteran-owned small business, or a women-owned small business in the System for Award Management (SAM) if–

(A) The subcontractor is registered in SAM; and

(B) The subcontractor represents that the size and socioeconomic status representations made in SAM are current, accurate and complete as of the date of the offer for the subcontract.

(iii) The Contractor may not require the use of SAM for the purposes of representing size or socioeconomic status in connection with a subcontract.

(iv) In accordance with 13 CFR 121.411, 126.900, 127.700, and 128.600, a contractor acting in good faith is not liable for misrepresentations made by its subcontractors regarding the subcontractor's size or socioeconomic status.

(d) The Offeror’s subcontracting plan shall include the following:

(1) Separate goals, expressed in terms of total dollars subcontracted, and as a percentage of total planned subcontracting dollars, for the use of small business, veteran-owned small business, service-disabled veteran-owned small business, HUBZone small business, small disadvantaged business, and women-owned small business concerns as subcontractors. For individual subcontracting plans, and if required by the Contracting Officer, goals shall also be expressed in terms of percentage of total contract dollars, in addition to the goals expressed as a percentage of total subcontract dollars. The Offeror shall include all subcontracts that contribute to contract performance, and may include a proportionate share of products and services that are normally allocated as indirect costs. In accordance with 43 U.S.C. 1626 :

(i) Subcontracts awarded to an ANC or Indian tribe shall be counted towards the subcontracting goals for small business and small disadvantaged business concerns, regardless of the size or Small Business Administration certification status of the ANC or Indian tribe; and

(ii) Where one or more subcontractors are in the subcontract tier between the prime Contractor and the ANC or Indian tribe, the ANC or Indian tribe shall designate the appropriate Contractor(s) to count the subcontract towards its small business and small disadvantaged business subcontracting goals.

(A) In most cases, the appropriate Contractor is the Contractor that awarded the subcontract to the ANC or Indian tribe.

(B) If the ANC or Indian tribe designates more than one Contractor to count the subcontract toward its goals, the ANC or Indian tribe shall designate only a portion of the total subcontract award to each Contractor. The sum of the amounts designated to various Contractors cannot exceed the total value of the subcontract.

(C) The ANC or Indian tribe shall give a copy of the written designation to the Contracting Officer, the prime Contractor, and the subcontractors in between the prime Contractor and the ANC or Indian tribe within 30 days of the date of the subcontract award.

(D) If the Contracting Officer does not receive a copy of the ANC’s or the Indian tribe’s written designation within 30 days of the subcontract award, the Contractor that awarded the subcontract to the ANC or Indian tribe will be considered the designated Contractor.

(2) A statement of–

(i) Total dollars planned to be subcontracted for an individual subcontracting plan; or the Offeror's total projected sales, expressed in dollars, and the total value of projected subcontracts, including all indirect costs except as described in paragraph (g) of this clause, to support the sales for a commercial plan;

(ii) Total dollars planned to be subcontracted to small business concerns (including ANC and Indian tribes);

(iii) Total dollars planned to be subcontracted to veteran-owned small business concerns;

(iv) Total dollars planned to be subcontracted to service-disabled veteran-owned small business;

(v) Total dollars planned to be subcontracted to HUBZone small business concerns;

(vi) Total dollars planned to be subcontracted to small disadvantaged business concerns (including ANCs and Indian tribes); and

(vii) Total dollars planned to be subcontracted to women-owned small business concerns.

(3) A description of the principal types of supplies and services to be subcontracted, and an identification of the types planned for subcontracting to-

(i) Small business concerns;

(ii) Veteran-owned small business concerns;

(iii) Service-disabled veteran-owned small business concerns;

(iv) HUBZone small business concerns;

(v) Small disadvantaged business concerns; and

(vi) Women-owned small business concerns.

(4) A description of the method used to develop the subcontracting goals in paragraph (d)(1) of this clause.

(5) A description of the method used to identify potential sources for solicitation purposes ( e.g. , existing company source lists, SAM, veterans service organizations, the National Minority Purchasing Council Vendor Information Service, the Research and Information Division of the Minority Business Development Agency in the Department of Commerce, or small, HUBZone, small disadvantaged, and women-owned small business trade associations). A firm may rely on the information contained in SAM as an accurate representation of a concern's size and ownership characteristics for the purposes of maintaining a small, veteran-owned small, service-disabled veteran-owned small, HUBZone small, small disadvantaged, and women-owned small business source list. Use of SAM as its source list does not relieve a firm of its responsibilities ( e.g. , outreach, assistance, counseling, or publicizing subcontracting opportunities) in this clause.

(6) A statement as to whether or not the Offeror included indirect costs in establishing subcontracting goals, and a description of the method used to determine the proportionate share of indirect costs to be incurred with–

(i) Small business concerns (including ANC and Indian tribes);

(v) Small disadvantaged business concerns (including ANC and Indian tribes); and

(7) The name of the individual employed by the Offeror who will administer the Offeror's subcontracting program, and a description of the duties of the individual.

(8) A description of the efforts the Offeror will make to assure that small business, veteran-owned small business, service-disabled veteran-owned small business, HUBZone small business, small disadvantaged business, and women-owned small business concerns have an equitable opportunity to compete for subcontracts.

(9) Assurances that the Offeror will include the clause of this contract entitled "Utilization of Small Business Concerns" in all subcontracts that offer further subcontracting opportunities, and that the Offeror will require all subcontractors (except small business concerns) that receive subcontracts in excess of the applicable threshold specified in FAR 19.702 (a) on the date of subcontract award, with further subcontracting possibilities to adopt a subcontracting plan that complies with the requirements of this clause.

(10) Assurances that the Offeror will–

(i) Cooperate in any studies or surveys as may be required;

(ii) Submit periodic reports so that the Government can determine the extent of compliance by the Offeror with the subcontracting plan;

(iii) After November 30, 2017, include subcontracting data for each order when reporting subcontracting achievements for indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contracts with individual subcontracting plans where the contract is intended for use by multiple agencies;

(iv) Submit the Individual Subcontract Report (ISR) and/or the Summary Subcontract Report (SSR), in accordance with paragraph (l) of this clause using the Electronic Subcontracting Reporting System (eSRS) at http://www.esrs.gov . The reports shall provide information on subcontract awards to small business concerns (including ANCs and Indian tribes that are not small businesses), veteran-owned small business concerns, service-disabled veteran-owned small business concerns, HUBZone small business concerns, small disadvantaged business concerns (including ANCs and Indian tribes that have not been certified by the Small Business Administration as small disadvantaged businesses), women-owned small business concerns, and for NASA only, Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Minority Institutions. Reporting shall be in accordance with this clause, or as provided in agency regulations;

(v) Ensure that its subcontractors with subcontracting plans agree to submit the ISR and/or the SSR using eSRS;

(vi) Provide its prime contract number, its unique entity identifier , and the e-mail address of the Offeror’s official responsible for acknowledging receipt of or rejecting the ISRs, to all first-tier subcontractors with subcontracting plans so they can enter this information into the eSRS when submitting their ISRs; and

(vii) Require that each subcontractor with a subcontracting plan provide the prime contract number, its own unique entity identifier , and the e-mail address of the subcontractor’s official responsible for acknowledging receipt of or rejecting the ISRs, to its subcontractors with subcontracting plans.

(11) A description of the types of records that will be maintained concerning procedures that have been adopted to comply with the requirements and goals in the plan, including establishing source lists; and a description of the offeror’s efforts to locate small business, veteran-owned small business, service-disabled veteran-owned small business, HUBZone small business, small disadvantaged business, and women-owned small business concerns and award subcontracts to them. The records shall include at least the following (on a plant-wide or company-wide basis, unless otherwise indicated):

(i) Source lists ( e.g., SAM), guides, and other data that identify small business, veteran-owned small business, service-disabled veteran-owned small business, HUBZone small business, small disadvantaged business, and women-owned small business concerns.

(ii) Organizations contacted in an attempt to locate sources that are small business, veteran-owned small business, service-disabled veteran-owned small business, HUBZone small business, small disadvantaged business, or women-owned small business concerns.

(iii) Records on each subcontract solicitation resulting in an award of more than the simplified acquisition threshold, as defined in FAR 2.101 on the date of subcontract award, indicating-

(A) Whether small business concerns were solicited and, if not, why not;

(B) Whether veteran-owned small business concerns were solicited and, if not, why not;

(D) Whether HUBZone small business concerns were solicited and, if not, why not;

(E) Whether small disadvantaged business concerns were solicited and, if not, why not;

(F) Whether women-owned small business concerns were solicited and, if not, why not; and

(G) If applicable, the reason award was not made to a small business concern.

(iv) Records of any outreach efforts to contact-

(A) Trade associations;

(B) Business development organizations;

(C) Conferences and trade fairs to locate small, HUBZone small, small disadvantaged, service-disabled veteran-owned, and women-owned small business sources; and

(D) Veterans service organizations.

(v) Records of internal guidance and encouragement provided to buyers through-

(A) Workshops, seminars, training, etc.; and

(B) Monitoring performance to evaluate compliance with the program’s requirements.

(vi) On a contract-by-contract basis, records to support award data submitted by the offeror to the Government, including the name, address, and business size of each subcontractor. Contractors having commercial plans need not comply with this requirement.

(12) Assurances that the Offeror will make a good faith effort to acquire articles, equipment, supplies, services, or materials, or obtain the performance of construction work from the small business concerns that it used in preparing the bid or proposal, in the same or greater scope, amount, and quality used in preparing and submitting the bid or proposal. Responding to a request for a quote does not constitute use in preparing a bid or proposal. The Offeror used a small business concern in preparing the bid or proposal if–

(i) The Offeror identifies the small business concern as a subcontractor in the bid or proposal or associated small business subcontracting plan, to furnish certain supplies or perform a portion of the subcontract; or

(ii) The Offeror used the small business concern's pricing or cost information or technical expertise in preparing the bid or proposal, where there is written evidence of an intent or understanding that the small business concern will be awarded a subcontract for the related work if the Offeror is awarded the contract.

(13) Assurances that the Contractor will provide the Contracting Officer with a written explanation if the Contractor fails to acquire articles, equipment, supplies, services or materials or obtain the performance of construction work as described in (d)(12) of this clause. This written explanation must be submitted to the Contracting Officer within 30 days of contract completion.

(14) Assurances that the Contractor will not prohibit a subcontractor from discussing with the Contracting Officer any material matter pertaining to payment to or utilization of a subcontractor.

(15) Assurances that the offeror will pay its small business subcontractors on time and in accordance with the terms and conditions of the underlying subcontract, and notify the contracting officer when the prime contractor makes either a reduced or an untimely payment to a small business subcontractor (see 52.242-5 ).

(e) In order to effectively implement this plan to the extent consistent with efficient contract performance, the Contractor shall perform the following functions:

(1) Assist small business, veteran-owned small business, service-disabled veteran-owned small business, HUBZone small business, small disadvantaged business, and women-owned small business concerns by arranging solicitations, time for the preparation of bids, quantities, specifications, and delivery schedules so as to facilitate the participation by such concerns. Where the Contractor’s lists of potential small business, veteran-owned small business, service-disabled veteran-owned small business, HUBZone small business, small disadvantaged business, and women-owned small business subcontractors are excessively long, reasonable effort shall be made to give all such small business concerns an opportunity to compete over a period of time.

(2) Provide adequate and timely consideration of the potentialities of small business, veteran-owned small business, service-disabled veteran-owned small business, HUBZone small business, small disadvantaged business, and women-owned small business concerns in all "make-or-buy" decisions.

(3) Counsel and discuss subcontracting opportunities with representatives of small business, veteran-owned small business, service-disabled veteran-owned small business, HUBZone small business, small disadvantaged business, and women-owned small business firms.

(4) Confirm that a subcontractor representing itself as a HUBZone small business concern is certified by SBA as a HUBZone small business concern by accessing SAM or by accessing the Dynamic Small Business Search (DSBS) at https://web.sba.gov/pro-net/search/dsp_dsbs.cfm .

(5) Provide notice to subcontractors concerning penalties and remedies for misrepresentations of business status as small, veteran-owned small business, HUBZone small, small disadvantaged, or women-owned small business for the purpose of obtaining a subcontract that is to be included as part or all of a goal contained in the Contractor’s subcontracting plan.

(6) For all competitive subcontracts over the simplified acquisition threshold, as defined in FAR 2.101 on the date of subcontract award, in which a small business concern received a small business preference, upon determination of the successful subcontract offeror, prior to award of the subcontract the Contractor must inform each unsuccessful small business subcontract offeror in writing of the name and location of the apparent successful offeror and if the successful subcontract offeror is a small business, veteran-owned small business, service-disabled veteran-owned small business, HUBZone small business, small disadvantaged business, or women-owned small business concern.

(7) Assign each subcontract the NAICS code and corresponding size standard that best describes the principal purpose of the subcontract.

(f) A master subcontracting plan on a plant or division-wide basis that contains all the elements required by paragraph (d) of this clause, except goals, may be incorporated by reference as a part of the subcontracting plan required of the Offeror by this clause; provided-

(1) The master subcontracting plan has been approved;

(2) The Offeror ensures that the master subcontracting plan is updated as necessary and provides copies of the approved master subcontracting plan, including evidence of its approval, to the Contracting Officer; and

(3) Goals and any deviations from the master subcontracting plan deemed necessary by the Contracting Officer to satisfy the requirements of this contract are set forth in the individual subcontracting plan.

(g) A commercial plan is the preferred type of subcontracting plan for contractors furnishing commercial products and commercial services. The commercial plan shall relate to the offeror’s planned subcontracting generally, for both commercial and Government business, rather than solely to the Government contract. Once the Contractor’s commercial plan has been approved, the Government will not require another subcontracting plan from the same Contractor while the plan remains in effect, as long as the product or service being provided by the Contractor continues to meet the definition of a commercial product or commercial service. A Contractor with a commercial plan shall comply with the reporting requirements stated in paragraph (d)(10) of this clause by submitting one SSR in eSRS for all contracts covered by its commercial plan. A Contractor authorized to use a commercial subcontracting plan shall include in its subcontracting goals and in its SSR all indirect costs, with the exception of those such as the following: Employee salaries and benefits; payments for petty cash; depreciation; interest; income taxes; property taxes; lease payments; bank fees; fines, claims, and dues; original equipment manufacturer relationships during warranty periods (negotiated up front with the product); utilities and other services purchased from a municipality or an entity solely authorized by the municipality to provide those services in a particular geographical region; and philanthropic contributions. This report shall be acknowledged or rejected in eSRS by the Contracting Officer who approved the plan. This report shall be submitted within 30 days after the end of the Government’s fiscal year.

(h) Prior compliance of the offeror with other such subcontracting plans under previous contracts will be considered by the Contracting Officer in determining the responsibility of the offeror for award of the contract.

(i) A contract may have no more than one subcontracting plan. When a contract modification exceeds the subcontracting plan threshold in FAR 19.702 (a), or an option is exercised, the goals of the existing subcontracting plan shall be amended to reflect any new subcontracting opportunities. When the goals in a subcontracting plan are amended, these goal changes do not apply retroactively.

(j) Subcontracting plans are not required from subcontractors when the prime contract contains the clause at FAR 52.212-5 , Contract Terms and Conditions Required to Implement Statutes or Executive Orders-Commercial Products and Commercial Services, or when the subcontractor provides a commercial product or commercial service subject to the clause at FAR 52.244-6 , Subcontracts for Commercial Products and Commercial Services, under a prime contract.

(k) The failure of the Contractor or subcontractor to comply in good faith with (1) the clause of this contract entitled "Utilization Of Small Business Concerns;" or (2) an approved plan required by this clause, shall be a material breach of the contract and may be considered in any past performance evaluation of the Contractor.

(l) The Contractor shall submit ISRs and SSRs using the web-based eSRS at http://www.esrs.gov . Purchases from a corporation, company, or subdivision that is an affiliate of the Contractor or subcontractor are not included in these reports. Subcontract awards by affiliates shall be treated as subcontract awards by the Contractor. Subcontract award data reported by the Contractor and subcontractors shall be limited to awards made to their immediate next-tier subcontractors. Credit cannot be taken for awards made to lower tier subcontractors, unless the Contractor or subcontractor has been designated to receive a small business or small disadvantaged business credit from an ANC or Indian tribe. Only subcontracts involving performance in the United States or its outlying areas should be included in these reports with the exception of subcontracts under a contract awarded by the State Department or any other agency that has statutory or regulatory authority to require subcontracting plans for subcontracts performed outside the United States and its outlying areas.

(1) ISR . This report is not required for commercial plans. The report is required for each contract containing an individual subcontracting plan.

(i) The report shall be submitted semi-annually during contract performance for the periods ending March 31 and September 30. A report is also required for each contract within 30 days of contract completion. Reports are due 30 days after the close of each reporting period, unless otherwise directed by the Contracting Officer. Reports are required when due, regardless of whether there has been any subcontracting activity since the inception of the contract or the previous reporting period. When the Contracting Officer rejects an ISR, the Contractor shall submit a corrected report within 30 days of receiving the notice of ISR rejection.

(A) When a subcontracting plan contains separate goals for the basic contract and each option, as prescribed by FAR 19.704 (c), the dollar goal inserted on this report shall be the sum of the base period through the current option; for example, for a report submitted after the second option is exercised, the dollar goal would be the sum of the goals for the basic contract, the first option, and the second option.

(B) If a subcontracting plan has been added to the contract pursuant to 19.702 a)(1)(iii) or 19.301-2 (e), the Contractor's achievements must be reported in the ISR on a cumulative basis from the date of incorporation of the subcontracting plan into the contract.

(iii) When a subcontracting plan includes indirect costs in the goals, these costs must be included in this report.

(iv) The authority to acknowledge receipt or reject the ISR resides–

(A) In the case of the prime Contractor, with the Contracting Officer; and

(B) In the case of a subcontract with a subcontracting plan, with the entity that awarded the subcontract.

(i) Reports submitted under individual contract plans–

(A) This report encompasses all subcontracting under prime contracts and subcontracts with an executive agency, regardless of the dollar value of the subcontracts. This report also includes indirect costs on a prorated basis when the indirect costs are excluded from the subcontracting goals.

(B) The report may be submitted on a corporate, company or subdivision ( e.g. plant or division operating as a separate profit center) basis, unless otherwise directed by the agency.

(C) If the Contractor or a subcontractor is performing work for more than one executive agency, a separate report shall be submitted to each executive agency covering only that agency's contracts, provided at least one of that agency's contracts is over the applicable threshold specified in FAR 19.702 (a), and the contractand contains a subcontracting plan. For DoD, a consolidated report shall be submitted for all contracts awarded by military departments/agencies and/or subcontracts awarded by DoD prime contractors.

(D) The report shall be submitted annually by October 30 for the twelve month period ending September 30. When a Contracting Officer rejects an SSR, the Contractor shall submit a revised report within 30 days of receiving the notice of SSR rejection.

(E) Subcontract awards that are related to work for more than one executive agency shall be appropriately allocated.

(F) The authority to acknowledge or reject SSRs in eSRS, including SSRs submitted by subcontractors with subcontracting plans, resides with the Government agency awarding the prime contracts unless stated otherwise in the contract.

(ii) Reports submitted under a commercial plan -

(A) The report shall include all subcontract awards under the commercial plan in effect during the Government's fiscal year and all indirect costs.

(B) The report shall be submitted annually, within thirty days after the end of the Government's fiscal year.

(C) If a Contractor has a commercial plan and is performing work for more than one executive agency, the Contractor shall specify the percentage of dollars attributable to each agency.

(D) The authority to acknowledge or reject SSRs for commercial plans resides with the Contracting Officer who approved the commercial plan.

(End of clause)

Alternate I (Nov 2016) . As prescribed in 19.708 (b)(1)(i), substitute the following paragraph (c)(1) for paragraph (c)(1) of the basic clause:

(c)(1) The apparent low bidder, upon request by the Contracting Officer, shall submit a subcontracting plan, where applicable, that separately addresses subcontracting with small business, veteran-owned small business, service-disabled veteran-owned small business, HUBZone small business, small disadvantaged business, and women-owned small business concerns. If the bidder is submitting an individual subcontracting plan, the plan must separately address subcontracting with small business, veteran-owned small business, service-disabled veteran-owned small business, HUBZone small business, small disadvantaged business, and women-owned small business concerns, with a separate part for the basic contract and separate parts for each option (if any). The plan shall be included in and made a part of the resultant contract. The subcontracting plan shall be submitted within the time specified by the Contracting Officer. Failure to submit the subcontracting plan shall make the bidder ineligible for the award of a contract

Alternate II (Nov 2016). As prescribed in 19.708 (b)(1)(ii), substitute the following paragraph (c)(1) for paragraph (c)(1) of the basic clause:

(c)(1) Proposals submitted in response to this solicitation shall include a subcontracting plan that separately addresses subcontracting with small business, veteran-owned small business, service-disabled veteran-owned small business, HUBZone small business, small disadvantaged business, and women-owned small business concerns. If the Offeror is submitting an individual subcontracting plan, the plan must separately address subcontracting with small business, veteran-owned small business, service-disabled veteran-owned small business, HUBZone small business, small disadvantaged business, and women-owned small business concerns, with a separate part for the basic contract and separate parts for each option (if any). The plan shall be included in and made a part of the resultant contract. The subcontracting plan shall be negotiated within the time specified by the Contracting Officer. Failure to submit and negotiate a subcontracting plan shall make the Offeror ineligible for award of a contract.

Alternate III (Jun 2020) . As prescribed in 19.708 (b)(1)(iii), substitute the following paragraphs (d)(10) and (l) for paragraphs (d)(10) and (l) in the basic clause:

(d)(10) Assurances that the offeror will—

(iii) Submit Standard Form (SF) 294 Subcontracting Report for Individual Contract in accordance with paragraph (l) of this clause. Submit the Summary Subcontract Report (SSR), in accordance with paragraph (l) of this clause using the Electronic Subcontracting Reporting System (eSRS) at http://www.esrs.gov . The reports shall provide information on subcontract awards to small business concerns (including ANCs and Indian tribes that are not small businesses), veteran-owned small business concerns, service-disabled veteran-owned small business concerns, HUBZone small business concerns, small disadvantaged business concerns (including ANCs and Indian tribes that have not been certified by the Small Business Administration as small disadvantaged businesses), women-owned small business concerns, and for NASA only, Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Minority Institutions. Reporting shall be in accordance with this clause, or as provided in agency regulations; and

(iv) Ensure that its subcontractors with subcontracting plans agree to submit the SF 294 in accordance with paragraph (l) of this clause. Ensure that its subcontractors with subcontracting plans agree to submit the SSR in accordance with paragraph (l) of this clause using the eSRS.

(I) The Contractor shall submit a SF 294. The Contractor shall submit SSRs using the web-based eSRS at http://www.esrs.gov . Purchases from a corporation, company, or subdivision that is an affiliate of the Contractor or subcontractor are not included in these reports. Subcontract awards by affiliates shall be treated as subcontract awards by the Contractor. Subcontract award data reported by the Contractor and subcontractors shall be limited to awards made to their immediate next-tier subcontractors. Credit cannot be taken for awards made to lower tier subcontractors, unless the Contractor or subcontractor has been designated to receive a small business or small disadvantaged business credit from an ANC or Indian tribe. Only subcontracts involving performance in the U.S. or its outlying areas should be included in these reports with the exception of subcontracts under a contract awarded by the State Department or any other agency that has statutory or regulatory authority to require subcontracting plans for subcontracts performed outside the United States and its outlying areas.

(1) SF 294 . This report is not required for commercial plans. The report is required for each contract containing an individual subcontracting plan. For Contractors the report shall be submitted to the Contracting Officer, or as specified elsewhere in this contract. In the case of a subcontract with a subcontracting plan, the report shall be submitted to the entity that awarded the subcontract.

(i) The report shall be submitted semi-annually during contract performance for the periods ending March 31 and September 30. A report is also required for each contract within 30 days of contract completion. Reports are due 30 days after the close of each reporting period, unless otherwise directed by the Contracting Officer. Reports are required when due, regardless of whether there has been any subcontracting activity since the inception of the contract or the previous reporting period. When a Contracting Officer rejects a report, the Contractor shall submit a revised report within 30 days of receiving the notice of report rejection.

(ii)(A) When a subcontracting plan contains separate goals for the basic contract and each option, as prescribed by FAR 19.704 (c), the dollar goal inserted on this report shall be the sum of the base period through the current option; for example, for a report submitted after the second option is exercised, the dollar goal would be the sum of the goals for the basic contract, the first option, and the second option.

(B) If a subcontracting plan has been added to the contract pursuant to 19.702 (a)(1)(iii) or 19.301-2(e), the Contractor's achievements must be reported in the report on a cumulative basis from the date of incorporation of the subcontracting plan into the contract.

(2) SSR . (i) Reports submitted under individual contract plans -

(B) The report may be submitted on a corporate, company or subdivision ( e.g. , plant or division operating as a separate profit center) basis, unless otherwise directed by the agency.

(C) If the Contractor and/or a subcontractor is performing work for more than one executive agency, a separate report shall be submitted to each executive agency covering only that agency's contracts, provided at least one of that agency's contracts is over the applicable threshold specified in FAR 19.702 (a), and the contract contains a subcontracting plan. For DoD, a consolidated report shall be submitted for all contracts awarded by military departments/agencies and/or subcontracts awarded by DoD prime contractors.

(D) The report shall be submitted annually by October 30, for the twelve month period ending September 30. When a Contracting Officer rejects an SSR, the Contractor is required to submit a revised SSR within 30 days of receiving the notice of report rejection.

(F) The authority to acknowledge or reject SSRs in the eSRS, including SSRs submitted by subcontractors with subcontracting plans, resides with the Government agency awarding the prime contracts unless stated otherwise in the contract.

(B) The report shall be submitted annually, within 30 days after the end of the Government's fiscal year.

Alternate IV ( Sep 2023 ). As prescribed in 19.708 (b)(1)(iv), substitute the following paragraphs (c) and (d) for paragraphs (c) and (d) of the basic clause:

(c)(1) The Contractor, upon request by the Contracting Officer, shall submit and negotiate a subcontracting plan, where applicable, that separately addresses subcontracting with small business, veteran-owned small business, service-disabled veteran-owned small business, HUBZone small business, small disadvantaged business, and women-owned small business concerns. If the Contractor is submitting an individual subcontracting plan, the plan shall separately address subcontracting with small business, veteran-owned small business, service-disabled veteran-owned small business, HUBZone small business, small disadvantaged business, and women-owned small business concerns, with a separate part for the basic contract and separate parts for each option (if any). The subcontracting plan shall be incorporated into the contract. The subcontracting plan shall be negotiated within the time specified by the Contracting Officer. The subcontracting plan does not apply retroactively.

(2)(i) The prime Contractor may accept a subcontractor's written representations of its size and socioeconomic status as a small business, small disadvantaged business, veteran-owned small business, service-disabled veteran-owned small business, or a women-owned small business if the subcontractor represents that the size and socioeconomic status representations with its offer are current, accurate, and complete as of the date of the offer for the subcontract.

(d) The Contractor's subcontracting plan shall include the following:

(1) Separate goals, expressed in terms of total dollars subcontracted and as a percentage of total planned subcontracting dollars, for the use of small business, veteran-owned small business, service-disabled veteran-owned small business, HUBZone small business, small disadvantaged business, and women-owned small business concerns as subcontractors. For individual subcontracting plans, and if required by the Contracting Officer, goals shall also be expressed in terms of percentage of total contract dollars, in addition to the goals expressed as a percentage of total subcontract dollars. The Contractor shall include all subcontracts that contribute to contract performance, and may include a proportionate share of products and services that are normally allocated as indirect costs. In accordance with 43 U.S.C. 1626–

(C) The ANC or Indian tribe shall give a copy of the written designation to the Contracting Officer, the Contractor, and the subcontractors in between the prime Contractor and the ANC or Indian tribe within 30 days of the date of the subcontract award.

(D) If the Contracting Officer does not receive a copy of the ANC's or the Indian tribe's written designation within 30 days of the subcontract award, the Contractor that awarded the subcontract to the ANC or Indian tribe will be considered the designated Contractor.

(i) Total dollars planned to be subcontracted for an individual subcontracting plan; or the Contractor's total projected sales, expressed in dollars, and the total value of projected subcontracts to support the sales for a commercial plan, including all indirect costs, with the exception of those such as the following: Employee salaries and benefits; payments for petty cash; depreciation; interest; income taxes; property taxes; lease payments; bank fees; fines, claims, and dues; original equipment manufacturer relationships during warranty periods (negotiated up front with the product); utilities and other services purchased from a municipality or an entity solely authorized by the municipality to provide those services in a particular geographical region; and philanthropic contributions;

(iii) Total dollars planned to be subcontracted to veteran-owned small business concerns; (iv) Total dollars planned to be subcontracted to service-disabled veteran-owned small business; (v) Total dollars planned to be subcontracted to HUBZone small business concerns; (vi) Total dollars planned to be subcontracted to small disadvantaged business concerns (including ANCs and Indian tribes); and (vii) Total dollars planned to be subcontracted to women-owned small business concerns.

(3) A description of the principal types of supplies and services to be subcontracted, and an identification of the types planned for subcontracting to

(5) A description of the method used to identify potential sources for solicitation purposes (e.g., existing company source lists, SAM, veterans service organizations, the National Minority Purchasing Council Vendor Information Service, the Research and Information Division of the Minority Business Development Agency in the Department of Commerce, or small, HUBZone, small disadvantaged, and women-owned small business trade associations). The Contractor may rely on the information contained in SAM as an accurate representation of a concern's size and ownership characteristics for the purposes of maintaining a small, veteran-owned small, service-disabled veteran-owned small, HUBZone small, small disadvantaged, and women-owned small business source list. Use of SAM as its source list does not relieve a firm of its responsibilities (e.g., outreach, assistance, counseling, or publicizing subcontracting opportunities) in this clause.

(6) A statement as to whether or not the Contractor included indirect costs in establishing subcontracting goals, and a description of the method used to determine the proportionate share of indirect costs to be incurred with–

(7) The name of the individual employed by the Contractor who will administer the Contractor's subcontracting program, and a description of the duties of the individual.

(8) A description of the efforts the Contractor will make to assure that small business, veteran-owned small business, service-disabled veteran-owned small business, HUBZone small business, small disadvantaged business, and women-owned small business concerns have an equitable opportunity to compete for subcontracts.

(9) Assurances that the Contractor will include the clause of this contract entitled "Utilization of Small Business Concerns" in all subcontracts that offer further subcontracting opportunities, and that the Contractor will require all subcontractors (except small business concerns) that receive subcontracts in excess of the applicable threshold specified in FAR 19.702 (a) on the date of subcontract award, with further subcontracting possibilities to adopt a subcontracting plan that complies with the requirements of this clause.

(10) Assurances that the Contractor will–

(ii) Submit periodic reports so that the Government can determine the extent of compliance by the Contractor with the subcontracting plan;

(iii) After November 30, 2017, include subcontracting data for each order when reporting subcontracting achievements for an indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contracts with individual subcontracting plans where the contract is intended for use by multiple agencies;

(iv) Submit the Individual Subcontract Report (ISR) and/or the Summary Subcontract Report (SSR), in accordance with paragraph (l) of this clause using the Electronic Subcontracting Reporting System (eSRS) at http://www.esrs.gov. The reports shall provide information on subcontract awards to small business concerns (including ANCs and Indian tribes that are not small businesses), veteran-owned small business concerns, service-disabled veteran-owned small business concerns, HUBZone small business concerns, small disadvantaged business concerns (including ANCs and Indian tribes that have not been certified by SBA as small disadvantaged businesses), women-owned small business concerns, and for NASA only, Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Minority Institutions. Reporting shall be in accordance with this clause, or as provided in agency regulations;

(vi) Provide its prime contract number, its unique entity identifier , and the e-mail address of the Contractor's official responsible for acknowledging receipt of or rejecting the ISRs, to all first-tier subcontractors with subcontracting plans so they can enter this information into the eSRS when submitting their ISRs; and

(vii) Require that each subcontractor with a subcontracting plan provide the prime contract number, its own unique entity identifier , and the e-mail address of the subcontractor's official responsible for acknowledging receipt of or rejecting the ISRs, to its subcontractors with subcontracting plans.

(11) A description of the types of records that will be maintained concerning procedures that have been adopted to comply with the requirements and goals in the plan, including establishing source lists; and a description of the Contractor's efforts to locate small business, veteran-owned small business, service-disabled veteran-owned small business, HUBZone small business, small disadvantaged business, and women-owned small business concerns and award subcontracts to them. The records shall include at least the following (on a plant-wide or company-wide basis, unless otherwise indicated):

(i) Source lists (e.g., SAM), guides, and other data that identify small business, veteran-owned small business, service-disabled veteran-owned small business, HUBZone small business, small disadvantaged business, and women-owned small business concerns.

(iii) Records on each subcontract solicitation resulting in an award of more than the simplified acquisition threshold, as defined in FAR 2.101 on the date of subcontract award, indicating–

(iv) Records of any outreach efforts to contact–

(v) Records of internal guidance and encouragement provided to buyers through–

(B) Monitoring performance to evaluate compliance with the program's requirements.

(vi) On a contract-by-contract basis, records to support award data submitted by the Contractor to the Government, including the name, address, and business size of each subcontractor. Contractors having commercial plans need not comply with this requirement.

(12) Assurances that the Contractor will make a good faith effort to acquire articles, equipment, supplies, services, or materials, or obtain the performance of construction work from the small business concerns that it used in preparing the proposal for the modification, in the same or greater scope, amount, and quality used in preparing and submitting the modification proposal. Responding to a request for a quote does not constitute use in preparing a proposal. The Contractor used a small business concern in preparing the proposal for a modification if–

(i) The Contractor identifies the small business concern as a subcontractor in the proposal or associated small business subcontracting plan, to furnish certain supplies or perform a portion of the subcontract; or(ii) The Contractor used the small business concern's pricing or cost information or technical expertise in preparing the proposal, where there is written evidence of an intent or understanding that the small business concern will be awarded a subcontract for the related work when the modification is executed.

(14) Assurances that the Contractor will not prohibit a subcontractor from discussing with the contracting officer any material matter pertaining to the payment to or utilization of a subcontractor.

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Should Your Company Implement a Vaccination Mandate?

Jeff Levin-Scherz
Mike Orszag

Seven steps to help you decide.

The spread of the Delta variant is forcing companies that haven’t already mandated that their employees be vaccinated to consider doing so. Both the decision about whether to issue such a requirement and the policies for doing so are complex. Seven steps described in this article can provide guidance.

Employers in the United States have encouraged their employees to get vaccinated against Covid-19 to make their workplace safer and protect employees, their families, and their communities. The spread of the Delta variant and declining rates of new vaccinations brings new urgency to the effort to increase vaccination rates.

Jeff Levin-Scherz , MD, is a population health leader of the North American Health and Benefits Practice of WTW. He is trained as a primary care physician and has played leadership roles in provider organizations and a health plan. He is an assistant professor at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Follow him on Twitter at @jlevinscherz .
MO Mike Orszag is an economist and is the managing director of research at Willis Towers Watson. He is based in London.

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Home / GRF Financial Foresight / Business / Updated State-Mandated Retirement Plans: An Overview for Businesses

Updated State-Mandated Retirement Plans: An Overview for Businesses

Updated August 30, 2023

GRF Post - State-Mandated Retirement Plans An Overview for Businesses

Many Americans are not saving enough for retirement – in fact, a recent survey by the Federal Reserve found that a quarter of working adults have no retirement savings at all. To address this growing crisis, a number of states are enacting laws that require private businesses to provide employee retirement plans. The requirement comes with the option to enroll in a state-sponsored program, which provides a low-cost way for small businesses to offer a retirement plan. You do not need to enroll in a state-sponsored option if your business already offers an employee retirement plan – as long as the plan meets your state’s requirements. However, you might be subject to penalties if your business does not offer a retirement program and your state has a mandate for which you qualify.

Is your business impacted?

More than 30 states have considered enacting state-mandated retirement plan legislation, and 17 states now have laws enabling state-sponsored retirement plans. Keep in mind that even if your state does not require a workplace retirement plan, you may still be required to comply if you have a requisite number of employees reporting income in a state that does.

States with mandatory retirement plan requirements, or have plans underway (as of August 2023)

CalSavers – www.calsavers.com Current registration started on January 1, 2023. Enrollment deadlines: • December 31, 2023 | 5 or more employees • December 31, 2025 | 1 to 4 employees

Colorado Secure Savings Program – https://coloradosecuresavings.com Enrollment deadlines: • March 15, 2023 | 50-plus employees • May 15, 2023 | 15 to 49 employees • June 30, 2023 | 5 to 14 employees

Connecticut

MyCTSavings – https://myctsavings.com Enrollment deadlines: • June 30, 2022 | 100 or more employees • October 31, 2022 | 26 to 99 employees • March 30, 2023 | 5 to 25 employees Important timelines: • Starting July 2023 | Newly eligible businesses should expect to receive notifications to take action because they added employees and are now above the 5 employee threshold or because business started before October 1 of last year. • Starting August 2023 | Businesses that were previously notified will receive a final reminder to register or certify their exemption.

DE Earns – https://news.delaware.gov/2022/08/18/deearns More than 5 employees (Program Implementation to be scheduled by January 1, 2025)

Hawaii Retirement Savings Program – https://labor.hawaii.gov/blog/hrsp (Details Pending)

Illinois Secure Choice – www.ilsecurechoice.com Enrollment deadlines: • ASAP: 16 or more employees (deadline passed, registration as soon as possible) • November 1, 2023 | 5 to 15 employees

Signed into law, scheduled Any covered employer may voluntarily offer the program after April 1, 2023. Enrollment beginning in 2023 with the following proposed dates: • April 1, 2023 | 25 or more employees • October 1, 2023 | 15 to 24 employees • April 1, 2024 | 5 to 14 employees

Maryland Small Business Retirement Savings Program – www.marylandsaves.org Enrollment deadlines: • ASAP: One or more employees • Employers who sign up by December 1, can save $300 of the annual registration fee beginning in 2023, and every year after. Download PDF Guide for Maryland Saves

Massachusetts

Massachusetts Defined Contribution CORE Plan – www.empower.com/client/mass/employer • Currently only enacted for the state’s nonprofit sector. • The Massachusetts Defined Contribution CORE Plan (CORE Plan) is a 401(k) plan, which also provides a Roth 401(k) option. • All common-law employees of a participating employer are eligible to participate in the CORE Plan. Unless they elect otherwise, they will be automatically enrolled in the Plan no sooner than 60 days after receiving the CORE Plan’s autoenrollment notice. A CORE Plan account can be activated as soon as the participating employer receives its enrollment notification letter, without a 60-day waiting period. • Opt-out is available either online or by calling a participant services representative at 844-365-CORE (2673).

Minnesota Secure Choice Retirement program – (Program Implementation to be scheduled by January 1, 2025)

(Details Pending)

The New Jersey Secure Choice Savings Program – www.eanj.org/engagement/newsroom/new-jersey-secure-choice-savings-program-what-employers-should-do-now (Details pending)

New Mexico Work and Save Program – https://nmsto.gov/special-programs/work-and-save (Details pending)

(Details Pending – program has not yet been implemented)

Oregon Saves – www.oregonsaves.com Enrollment Deadlines • March 1, 2023 | 3 or more employees • July 31, 2023 | One to 2 employees

VT Saves – https://legislature.vermont.gov • July 1, 2025 | 25 or more employees • January 1, 2026 | 15 to 24 more employees • July 1, 2026 | 5 to 14 employees

Retire Path VA – www.retirepathva.com Employer Registration: • July, 2023 | All eligible employers can register (no penalty announced as of August 9, 2023) • February 15, 2024 | 25 or more employees Download PDF Guide for Retire Path VA

Washington Small Business Retirement – https://retirement-marketplace.com Enrollment Deadlines • ASAP | One to 100 employees

We Can Help You Navigate Retirement Plan Options for Your Business

State-sponsored retirement plans have pros and cons. Government-sponsored programs are generally a low-cost solution with few fiduciary responsibilities for employers. Government sponsored plans tend to have inflexible, less options within, and limited tax favored features. Businesses should evaluate accordingly whether a privately offered retirement plan vs government sponsored plan would be more suited for them.

For more information, reach out to the GRF tax team to discuss strategies for your workplace retirement plan.

Jennifer Galstad-Lee, CPA, JD

Former Senior Manager, Tax

Workshop Highlights: Navigating the World of Uncertainties Impacting Non-Profit Organizations

Prepare Now to Implement Topic 326 – Current Expected Credit Losses (CECL)

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Small employers beware… new state retirement plan mandates are here.

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Female financial advisor discussing with business owner their options with new state mandated ... [+] retirement plans.

State-mandated retirement plans are evolving and gaining prevalence across the U.S. in order to respond to the retirement savings crisis. While a few states already have mandated retirement plans in place, 10 states are now working to implement similar requirements by law, or upgrade their already standing mandates.

Depending on the state, there are several factors to be aware of in order to avoid non-compliance and the risk of penalties. Small employers within the affected states must understand how to navigate their state retirement plan mandates and what it means for them moving forward.

Generally, there are two ways that businesses should abide by these laws. They can either automatically enroll their workers into a state-sponsored retirement program or sponsor their plan through a qualifying private plan . Here’s a look at the upcoming mandates for each state affected.

Since 2016, California has had retirement plan mandates in effect for all companies within the private sector, allowing businesses the choice between a traditional IRA or a Roth IRA for their employees. In the last two years, the state has required that companies with more than 50 employees must enroll in either California’s CalSavers plan, or another qualifying retirement plan.

California is now expanding the mandate to require all private companies with 5 or more employees to register by June 30, 2022 . Any California organization that fails to comply will receive a fine of $250 for each qualified worker if they don't comply 90 days after notice. If there's continuous non-compliance for more than 180 days after notice, they will be fined $500 per qualified worker.

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Colorado’s state legislature passed the Colorado Secure Savings Program in 2020, with a pilot program launching in Oct., 2022 and statewide enrollment beginning in 2023. While the full scope of the rules and regulations will not be finalized until July, the mandate is applicable to all Colorado employers without an existing retirement plan that have operated for at least two years with 5 or more employees.

Connecticut

Connecticut's state-sponsored retirement plan, MyCTSavings , was passed in 2016 and has recently become fully active. It is compulsory for all business owners with more than five workers who don't provide a private qualifying plan to enroll in the program during 2022.

The MyCTSavings program is a state-operated Roth auto-IRA that holds no cost for employers, works with any company’s payroll process and requires minimal administration from the employer, since it is overseen by the state.

Illinois introduced its state mandated retirement plan, Secure Choice , beginning in 2018 with companies with 500 or more employees, followed by a second phase in 2021 that expanded its requirements to include companies with 25 or more employees.

Now, companies with 16-24 employees are required to enroll by Nov. of this year, and employers with between 5-15 employees will be required to enroll by Nov., 2023. Employers who fail to register for either the Secure Choice plan or a qualifying private plan face an initial penalty of $250 per employee, followed by an additional $500 per employee for each following year if non-compliance continues.

Similar to Connecticut’s mandates, Maine is rolling out a state-sponsored Roth auto-IRA plan overseen by the Maine Retirement Savings Board for companies that have been active for at least two years, have more than 5 employees and do not offer a qualifying private plan.

Employers in Maine have more time than those in other states, and relatively lower penalties. Companies with 25 or more employees must be registered for a retirement plan by April 1, 2023, companies with 15-24 employees by Oct. 21, 2023 and companies with 5-14 employees by April 1, 2024. The maximum penalty employers may face for non-compliance is up to $50 through 2026.

Maryland is launching its pilot phase of their state-sponsored retirement program, MarylandSaves , in Sept., 2022. While employers can expect penalties for noncompliance and specific deadlines to enroll, the exact details of the state mandate are not yet finalized.

New Jersey recently introduced its state-sponsored auto-IRA program, Secure Choice Savings Program , overseen by the Secure Choice Savings Board. The program went into effect on March 28, 2022, but employers with 25 or more employees who have been in business for at least two years have until Dec. 28, 2022 to enroll in the program or another qualifying private plan.

Non-compliant employers will be issued a written warning after the first year, and are fined $100 after two years, $250 after the third and fourth year and $500 for each continuing year.

New York State’s Secure Choice Savings Program will go into effect no later than Aug. 9, 2023 for companies with 10 or more employees without a qualifying plan. However, for companies in New York City, employers with 5 or more employees must abide by the mandate as well. While all of the details have not been solidified, enrollment is expected to begin prior to Oct. 21, 2023.

Oregon’s state-sponsored program, OregonSaves , has been rolling out in phases since 2017, with the final phase requiring businesses with 4 or fewer employees to enroll in a retirement program by early 2023, though the exact deadline has not been released. Employers who do not comply face a fine of $100 per employee, up to $5,000 each year.

Beginning in July of 2023, all employees aged 18 or older and working 30 hours or more per week without an employer-offered retirement plan will be automatically enrolled in a state-sponsored IRA plan, the VirginiaSaves Program. While exact implementation dates have not been made official, the program is expected to begin in July of 2023. Employers in Virginia are not responsible for registering in the program, however, tax deductible employer contributions to the state-sponsored program will not be allowed.

What’s Next for Small Employers?

As these state mandates continue to roll out over the next 1 to 2 years, it’s important for small employers to keep an eye on deadlines, specific rules and regulations in order to avoid penalties. Although, the benefits of offering retirement plan options to your employees are even more important than the risks of not complying with state mandates. Especially in the midst of the Great Resignation and a volatile economy, it’s as powerful as ever to offer great benefits to your employees to not only attract and retain talent in an uncertain job market, but to show your employees that you care about them and their financial future.

Brian Menickella is a co-founder and managing partner at The Beacon Group of Companies , a broad-based financial services firm based in King of Prussia, PA.

Securities and Advisory services offered through LPL Financial, a registered investment advisor. Member FINRA / SIPC .

This material was created for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as ERISA, tax, legal or investment advice.

Follow me on LinkedIn . Check out my website .

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Biden’s Vaccine Mandate Leaves Businesses Relieved but Full of Questions

Companies will have to decide issues like whether to pick up the tab for weekly testing and how to handle religious exemptions.

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By Lauren Hirsch , Stacy Cowley and Noam Scheiber

For months, Molly Moon Neitzel, the founder and chief executive of Molly Moon’s Homemade Ice Cream in Seattle, has debated whether to require her 180 employees to be vaccinated . On Thursday, when President Biden announced rules that would mandate such requirements, she felt relieved.

“We have six to 10 who have chosen not to be vaccinated yet,” she said. “I know it makes people on their teams nervous.”

The new rule, which Mr. Biden has instructed the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to put in place by drafting an emergency temporary standard, will require companies with more than 100 employees to mandate that their workers be fully vaccinated or face weekly testing. The move, which thrusts the U.S. government and businesses into a partnership with little precedent and no playbook, will affect some 80 million workers.

Ms. Neitzel said she planned to comply with the order but was waiting for more details and a discussion with her team before deciding what that would entail. Like many businesspeople, she wants her employees vaccinated , but is uncertain what impact the new requirement will have on the company’s procedures, workers and bottom line.

Companies were already moving toward mandates before Mr. Biden’s announcement. In a recent Willis Towers Watson survey , 52 percent of respondents said they planned to require vaccines by the end of the year, and 21 percent said they already did.

But they have approached vaccination of their employees unevenly, and new federal requirements may amplify challenges they were already facing.

Religious exemptions are one example. In a recent poll of 583 global companies conducted by Aon , the insurer, only 48 percent of those that had vaccine mandates said they were allowing religious exemptions.

“Determining whether someone has a sincerely held religious belief, practice or observance is really tricky because it requires the employer to kind of get inside the employee’s head,” said Tracey Diamond, a partner specializing in labor issues at law firm Troutman Pepper.

If the federal mandate, when it’s written, allows for religious exceptions, these kinds of requests “are going to skyrocket,” she said. “For larger employers where there’s lots and lots of requests, to do this individualized case-by-case analysis can be very time consuming.”

Some companies, including Walmart, Citigroup and UPS , have focused vaccine requirements on office workers, who tend to have higher vaccination rates than employees on the front lines. And companies in industries facing labor shortages have generally refrained from mandates, worried about turnover. Some employers said they were concerned that the new federal mandate could cause employees to quit.

“We can’t afford to lose anyone right now,” said Polly Lawrence, the owner of Lawrence Construction in Littleton, Colo.

Gireesh Sonnad, the chief executive of the software consulting firm Silverline , said he hoped the Biden administration would offer guidance that clarified how the new rules would apply to his roughly 200 employees, most of whom work remotely.

“How are we supposed to do weekly testing, if that’s the option people want to take, if I have people in almost all 50 states?” Mr. Sonnad asked.

Testing is the subject of many of the questions that executives are asking. Who picks up the cost of a test if employees opt out of vaccination? What types of tests will the mandate require? What is the appropriate documentation of a negative Covid-19 test? Will enough tests be available, given supply chain challenges?

Employers are also unsure what they will have to do to document, track and store information about their employees’ vaccination status. Already, companies have taken different approaches to verification — some requiring digital proof, others asking simply for dates and the brand of the shot.

At Bridgestone Americas, the tire maker’s Nashville-based subsidiary, office employees have been using internal software to log their vaccination status. The company wants to create a better system for employees who do not have access to laptops or smartphones, said Steve Kinkade, a spokesman for the company.

“Do we have kiosks set up in manufacturing locations and common areas for people to log in this information?” Mr. Kinkade asked rhetorically. “These are the logistical things we still have to work out.”

The Biden administration has not provided many details on the new rule, including when it will go into effect or how it will be enforced.

Experts said that OSHA was likely to take at least three or four weeks to write the new standard, and that once the rule was published in the federal register, employers would most likely have at least a few weeks to comply.

OSHA may choose to enforce the rule in a number of ways. It could focus inspections on industries that it believes are problematic. It could also conduct inspections in response to news reports of outbreaks or worker complaints, or ask inspectors following up on unrelated concerns to check records for compliance with the vaccination rule.

But OSHA has only a small number of inspectors relative to the size of the work force. A recent report by the National Employment Law Project, an advocacy group, found that it would take more than 150 years for the agency to conduct a single inspection of each workplace under its jurisdiction.

While the Covid-19 relief plan that Mr. Biden signed in March provides funding for additional inspectors, few if any will be hired and deployed by the end of this year.

That means enforcement is likely to be strategic — focusing on a tiny number of high-profile cases where large fines can attract attention and send a message to other employers. A workplace that failed to carry out the vaccination or testing requirement could in principle pay a fine for each worker affected, though OSHA rarely proposes such aggressive fines.

The administration did clarify what “fully vaccinated” would mean when it came to enforcing the new rule.

“Fully vaccinated is two doses of Pfizer, Moderna or a single dose of J.&J.,” the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, said at a press briefing on Friday.

“I anticipate over time that may be updated, but we will leave that to our advisers to give us some recommendations.”

Coral Murphy Marcos and Erin Woo contributed reporting.

Lauren Hirsch joined the New York Times from CNBC in 2020, covering business, policy and mergers and acquisitions. Ms. Hirsch studied comparative literature at Cornell University and has an M.B.A. from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth. More about Lauren Hirsch

Stacy Cowley is a finance reporter with a focus on consumer issues and data security. She previously reported on a variety of business topics, including technology and economics, at CNN Money, Fortune Small Business and other magazines and websites. More about Stacy Cowley

Noam Scheiber is a Chicago-based reporter who covers workers and the workplace. He spent nearly 15 years at The New Republic magazine, where he covered economic policy and three presidential campaigns. He is the author of “The Escape Artists.” More about Noam Scheiber

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What mandated net zero transition plans mean for UK-listed companies

EY UK&I Managing Partner for Sustainability; EY UK&I Climate Change and Sustainability Services Leader

Dedicated to driving a sustainable future. Enables organisations to thrive in a net zero economy. Born and raised in Australia.

Senior Advisor, Sustainability, Ernst & Young LLP

Helping businesses create a sustainable impact and generate long-term value. Angel investor. Marathon runner. Father of two.

EY UK Sustainability Leader, Consumer Products & Retail and UK Sustainability Innovation Leader

Information omnivore. Parent to a child not lacking executive presence. Will likely give you a podcast recommendation.

Show resources

Developing your organisation's transition plan will allow businesses to meet the uk government’s proposed 2023 requirements and drive value-creation..

Why companies should have a good understanding of what a climate transition is and what types of emissions scopes it should include.
A look at the UK businesses that transition plans will apply to, how these plans will come into force and the implications for not publishing a plan.
Seven steps that businesses can take now to plan, implement and measure their decarbonisation strategy and transformation.

T he UK Government had already committed to transition the financial sector to net zero by 2050 and during the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26), then Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced that all UK-listed businesses and certain financial institutions will be expected to publish decarbonisation plans from 2023.

We explore what is known so far about these requirements, what a climate transition plan should include and the likely timings. We also detail seven steps that organisations can take now to publish transition plans. By acting early, these companies are likely to have a competitive advantage.

What did the Government announce?

Speaking at COP26 in November 2021, the Chancellor stated that the UK will move towards making it mandatory for companies to publish a clear, deliverable plan on how they will decarbonise and transition to net zero.

This will apply to asset managers, regulated asset owners and UK-listed companies. These companies will be expected to disclose their climate transition plans from 2023. It is expected that shareholder and investor pressure will mean that many companies voluntarily choose to publish a plan ahead of the deadline.

What is a climate transition plan?

A company’s net zero transition plan will need to include its targets to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, the steps it plans to take to get there and milestones ahead of 2050.

The plan should outline how businesses propose to cut emissions produced either directly or indirectly by their activities. Plans will need to include the three kinds of emissions, with Scope 3 emissions being the most complex to track.

How EY can help

EY Carbon helps plan, implement and measure your decarbonisation strategy for net zero transformation.

What do the different emission scopes cover?

Companies will need to understand what emissions they will be responsible for measuring. To aid global efforts to measure and track GHG emissions, the GHG Protocol has defined three types :

Scope 1 emissions : These include those that a company directly produces from assets it owns or controls.
Scope 2 emissions : These are indirect emissions resulting from the generation of the energy used by a company.
Scope 3 emissions : These include those in a company’s supply chain. Published plans will have to outline strategies for reducing emissions produced by the businesses that they buy goods or services from. Transition plans will also need to consider how to cut emissions from a company’s investments, as well as those created by customers who use their products.

What should a climate transition plan include?

A transition plan should set out how a company will adapt as the world transitions towards a low-carbon economy. It should include:

High-level ambitions to mitigate climate risk, including GHG reduction targets
Actionable steps the company plans to take to achieve those targets, including how those actions will be financed
Governance and reporting frameworks to support the delivery of the plan

In the UK, there are currently no external assurance requirements, or plans to mandate external assurance, on sustainability information. However, entities are increasingly choosing to obtain external assurance on sustainability information, including GHG emissions, in response to stakeholder demands.

The Transition Plan Taskforce

HM Treasury launched a Transition Plan Taskforce (TPT) in April 2022 to provide companies with guidance of what a ‘gold standard’ transition plan should look like. The TPT has a two-year mandate and will be responsible for informing the implementation of the UK’s Sustainability Disclosure Requirements .

In November 2022 the TPT published their Disclosure Framework and Implementation Guidance for gold standard transition plans, which is under consultation until 28 February 2023 with the final publication for its Disclosure Framework and Implementation Guidance expected in summer 2023.

Mandating published plans

The UK’s financial regulator the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), will oversee the new mandates for companies to publish their decarbonisation plans. Those that fail to comply will need to explain why they have not done so.

Planning your organisation’s decarbonisation strategy

Climate transition plans are likely to influence how customers, employees and investors view a company’s commitment to decarbonisation. Therefore, developing a plan now should be viewed as a strategic priority.

Companies that choose to act now should consider taking these seven steps:

Identify your carbon emissions and how they can be reduced
Align your business strategy with your decarbonisation ambition
Build a business case for your decarbonisation ambition
Get buy-in from your key stakeholders
Access the finance required to fund your decarbonisation transformation
Establish the systems of governance measurements and controls that will be needed to build trust in your decarbonisation plan
Publish the plan

Ultimately, the focus on how companies are contributing to the global ambition to achieve net zero by 2050 is only going to intensify. Companies should view the need to publish a transition plan now as an opportunity to gain a valuable head start, establish themselves as net zero leaders and likely increase their brand value.

TPT detail updated 22 November 2022.

Publishing a climate transition plan ahead of the proposed UK Government mandate is an opportunity to gain a head start and establish your business as a leader in sustainability. Plans must include targets to reduce your carbon emissions and how you will get there. EY highlights seven steps that can be taken now.

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Manufacturing business plans for private nuclear reactor in Butte

A mining headframe in Uptown Butte, Montana with the city in view in the background.

A private nuclear power plant could come to Butte. The company behind the plan said it has backing from local government.

Butte-Silver Bow commissioners at a recent meeting were enthusiastic about the nuclear energy proposal from XGen Holdings and the manufacturing jobs it could bring.

Butte-Silver Bow Chief Executive J.P. Gallagher told commissioners he’d been working with the company for several months on the project and said the state was also aware of it.

“This is real. This is an opportunity for Butte-Silver Bow. It’s something I think I can stand behind and I can support,” Gallagher said.

XGen Holdings President Christian Barlow said he intends to purchase 160 acres of land west of Butte to headquarter his company and its manufacturing plants.

He said Westinghouse Electric Corporation agreed to build a small, modular nuclear reactor to power his operation. While discussing the proposal, Barlow told commissioners the following:

“We’ve already talked with the NRC, which is the federal regulation for nuclear power plants. We have talked with them; we have already been greenlit to build here. We do have NRC’s blessing. We’ve gone through a lot of that vetting process already.”

However, after the initial publication of this story, Nuclear Regulatory Commission public affairs officer Scott Burnell told MTPR the agency has not approved the nuclear reactor XGen Holdings described, and that the agency is not reviewing any applications for the reactor from XGen Holdings.

Burnell’s full statement is below:

“There are no applications for XGen before the NRC. There are no approvals from the NRC for the project XGen has described.

The NRC is in early discussions with Westinghouse for the designs that XGen has mentioned. Those are early discussions. There is no application under review for either design. For the micro-reactor that was part of the discussion, the NRC is in “pre-application” discussions with Westinghouse. The company is providing individual pieces of information that, in the future, could be part of an application. But there is nothing in front of the agency that would approve that design for use.”

MTPR reached out to XGen Holdings president Christian Barlow and Butte-Silver Bow Chief Executive J.P. Gallagher and requested clarification on Barlow’s comments.

XGen’s proposed manufacturing plants would build products used in night-vision goggles and air filtration.

Barlow also told commissioners that because the modular nuclear reactors are mobile and air-cooled, the county would not have to “deal with” waste.

Barlow said he intends to have the first reactors online by January 2026. State lawmakers in 2021 repealed a policy that required any proposal for nuclear power to go before voters.

Thai prime minister unveils details of a $13.7 billion digital money handout plan

BANGKOK — Thailand’s Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin on Wednesday revealed details of his government’s plan to stimulate the economy by giving digital cash handouts of 10,000 baht ($275) to an estimated 50 million Thais for spending at their local businesses.

Srettha said at a news conference that the 500-billion-baht ($13.7-billion) plan, to be mostly funded out of the 2024 and 2025 fiscal budgets, will be rolled out in the last quarter of the year.

The stimulus and subsequent consumption are expected to boost gross domestic product growth by 1.2 to 1.6 percentage points, he said. The World Bank estimated Thailand’s year-on-year GDP growth at 1.5% in December.

Another portion of the funding will come from the state’s Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives, earmarked for covering payouts to about 17 million farmers.

The digital purchases will be allowed only in the recipients’ own districts, and will not be allowed for items including oil, services, and online purchases.

Srettha called the project a “life-changing policy for the people.” He expressed his disappointment that the project could not be carried out earlier but said the government needed to make it transparent and legal.

The plan, which was a major campaign promise by Srettha’s Pheu Thai party ahead of last year’s general election, had been previously criticized by economists for being an ineffective way to contribute to sustainable economic growth compared to other measures.

The ruling Pheu Thai party had also suggested digital wallet payments for all Thais 16 and older, while the current plan is limited to lower-income Thais, defined as people with yearly incomes not exceeding 840,000 baht ($23,000) and savings in financial institutions not totaling more than 500,000 baht ($13,700 ) .

The government was also criticized for initially suggesting that it would fund the plan by borrowing, which would incur a heavy public debt burden.

Thailand’s central bank has resisted pressure from the government to boost the economy by cutting interest rates, opting to keep its policy unchanged at a meeting on Wednesday.

But analysts expect the Bank of Thailand to cut its 2.5% benchmark rate later in the year, given that inflation has been falling for six straight months.

“While the economy is not exactly in a crisis, it is in need of more support,” Gareth Leather of Capital Economics said in a commentary. He noted that the central bank is keen to maintain its independence, but that it ultimately would likely cut rates at its next meeting, in June.

Thailand’s levels of household debt are relatively high, and higher interest rates raise borrowing costs, tending to discourage spending and investment.

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IRS reminder: 2024 first quarter estimated tax payment deadline is April 15

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IR-2024-95, April 5, 2024

WASHINGTON —The Internal Revenue Service today advised taxpayers, including self-employed individuals, retirees, investors, businesses and corporations about the April 15 deadline for first quarter estimated tax payments for tax year 2024.

Since income taxes are a pay-as-you go process, the law requires individuals who do not have taxes withheld to pay taxes as income is received or earned throughout the year. Most people meet their tax obligations by having their taxes deducted from their paychecks, pension payments, Social Security benefits or certain other government payments including unemployment compensation.

Generally, taxpayers who are self-employed or in the gig economy are required to make estimated tax payments . Likewise, retirees, investors and others frequently need to make these payments because a significant portion of their income is not subject to withholding.

When estimating quarterly tax payments, taxpayers should include all forms of earned income, including part-time work, side jobs or the sale of goods or services commonly reported on Form 1099-K .

Income such as interest, dividends, capital gains, alimony and rental income is normally not subject to withholding. By making quarterly estimated tax payments, taxpayers can avoid penalties and uphold their tax responsibilities.

Certain groups of taxpayers, including farmers and fishers, recent retirees, individuals with disabilities, those receiving irregular income and victims of disasters are eligible for exceptions to penalties and special regulations .

Following recent disasters, eligible taxpayers in Tennessee , Connecticut , West Virginia , Michigan , California and Washington have an extended deadline for 2024 estimated tax payments until June 17, 2024. Similarly, eligible taxpayers in Alaska , Maine and Rhode Island have until July 15, 2024, and eligible taxpayers in Hawaii have until Aug. 7, 2024. For more information, visit Tax relief in disaster situations .

In addition, taxpayers who live or have a business in Israel, Gaza or the West Bank, and certain other taxpayers affected by the terrorist attacks in the State of Israel , have until Oct. 7, 2024, to make estimated tax payments.

Paying estimated taxes

Taxpayers can rely on Form 1040-ES, Estimated Tax for Individuals , for comprehensive instructions on computing their estimated taxes.

Opting for the IRS Online Account streamlines the payment process, allowing taxpayers to view their payment history, monitor pending payments and access pertinent tax information. Taxpayers have several options to make an estimated tax payment, including IRS Direct Pay , debit card, credit card, digital wallet or the Treasury Department's Electronic Federal Tax Payment System (EFTPS) .

To pay electronically and for more information on other payment options, visit IRS.gov/payments . If paying by check, be sure to make the check payable to the "United States Treasury."

Publication 505, Tax Withholding and Estimated Tax , offers detailed information for individuals navigating dividend or capital gain income, alternative minimum tax or self-employment tax, or who have other special situations.

The IRS recommends taxpayers use the Tax Withholding Estimator tool to accurately determine the appropriate amount of tax withheld from paychecks.

Regularly monitoring withheld taxes helps mitigate the risk of underpayment, reducing the likelihood of unexpected tax bills or penalties during tax season. It also allows individuals to adjust withholding upfront, leading to larger paychecks during the year and potentially smaller refunds at tax time.

Filing Options

The IRS encourages people to file their tax returns electronically and choose direct deposit for faster refunds. Filing electronically reduces tax return errors because tax software does the calculations, flags common errors and prompts taxpayers for missing information.

The IRS offers free online and in-person tax preparation options for qualifying taxpayers through the IRS Free File program and the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance and Tax Counseling for the Elderly programs .

In addition, the Direct File pilot program, a new option that allows eligible taxpayers to file their federal tax returns online directly with the IRS for free, is currently available in 12 participating states.

Assistance available 24/7 on IRS.gov

IRS.gov offers tax assistance 24/7. To address general tax concerns, taxpayers can access various online tools on the IRS website, to include the Interactive Tax Assistant , tax topics and frequently asked questions to get answers to common questions.

The IRS has also posted translated tax resources in 20 other languages on IRS.gov to communicate to taxpayers who prefer to get information in other languages. For more information, see the IRS Languages page on IRS.gov.

More information:

⦁ Topic no. 653, IRS notices and bills, penalties, and interest charges

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25 million student loan borrowers could see their balances shrink under Biden’s new forgiveness plan

President Joe Biden and his administration are moving forward with plans to provide student debt relief to as many people as possible.

The administration announced Monday the details of its new plan to reduce student debt balances for millions of borrowers. The proposed regulations — which were drafted as part of the months-long negotiated rulemaking process — feature several different ways for borrowers to see their debt balances reduced, if not eliminated entirely.

The provisions of the plan include forgiving excessive interest that has accrued, discharging balances that have been in repayment for 20 years or more and relief for borrowers who attended now-closed or insolvent institutions.

"[The] plan is focused on the reasons that people are struggling with their student loan debt," James Kvaal, Under Secretary of Education, told CNBC Make It.

"People who are upside down on their student loans because interest has racked up faster than they could pay it, people who have been making payments on their loans for decades and still owe those loans — it's a sign of how aggressive the President is [being] in tackling the student loan crisis," he said.

The relief provisions will soon be open for a public comment period where the administration will consider revisions to its proposal before it goes into effect. Some provisions are expected to roll out as early as this fall, the administration said.

As with Biden's previous student debt forgiveness proposals, it's possible this plan will come under legal scrutiny if challenged by opponents. But this plan differs from his previous action by using a different legal authority — the Higher Education Act — and narrowing the scope of borrowers eligible for relief.

In the event this plan is enacted and a future presidential administration wanted to repeal it, it would need to go through the same lengthy rulemaking process, Kvaal said.

Here's the relief borrowers may expect to see in the coming months.

Up to $20,000 of accrued interest forgiven

Interest accrues daily on student loans and some borrowers have interest rates as high as 8%. As a result, many borrowers wind up with balances higher than what they initially took out for school, despite making regular payments.

Biden's plan aims to address that "runaway interest" by canceling up to $20,000 of the amount a borrower's balance has grown due to unpaid interest after entering repayment. Single borrowers who earn $120,000 or less and married borrowers earning $240,000 or less who enroll in an income-driven repayment plan would be eligible to have their entire excess interest balances discharged, the administration said.

Some 25 million borrowers stand to benefit from their interest balances being reduced if the plan goes into effect as proposed. An estimated 23 million of those borrowers will have their entire balance growth forgiven, according to the administration.

Automatic loan discharge for forgiveness-eligible borrowers

The Biden administration has canceled debt for over 1 million borrowers through existing forgiveness programs, including Public Service Loan Forgiveness , income-driven repayment and closed school loan discharges.

The administration estimates another 2 million borrowers are eligible to have their debt forgiven under these programs, but have not yet applied .

The new plan will allow the administration to use available data to identify and automatically clear balances for these borrowers as they are eligible, without borrower action.

Debt forgiveness for long-term borrowers

Another 2 million borrowers could benefit from a provision that will clear debt balances that are at least 20 years old for undergraduate borrowers and 25 years for graduate borrowers. It will apply to undergraduate borrowers with direct loans or direct consolidation loans who entered repayment on or before July 1, 2005, and graduate school borrowers who entered repayment on or before or July 1, 2000.

Currently, borrowers enrolled in the Saving on a Valuable Education plan or other income-driven repayment plans are eligible to have their remaining balances discharged after 20 or 25 years, but the new regulation would eliminate the IDR requirement.

Relief for attendees of 'low-financial-value' programs

The Biden administration has made a concerted effort to "hold colleges accountable when they leave students with mountains of debt and without good job prospects," it said in its statement.

As such, the new plan would waive loans for borrowers who attended institutions or programs the administration identifies as "low-financial-value."

That includes schools that have lost eligibility to receive federal student aid or were denied recertification due to cheating or taking advantage of students, as well as programs that have since closed or have a history of leaving students with high debt loads and poor earnings outcomes.

Help for borrowers facing financial hardship

The administration says it is committed to pursuing a "specific action" for student loan borrowers experiencing a variety of financial hardships , although it's not yet clear who may receive relief and to what degree their balances will be reduced.

"This could include delivering automatic forgiveness to borrowers predicted to be likely to default on their loans, or through an individualized applications where borrowers could detail their financial hardship that is preventing them from being able to fully pay back their loan, such as a child care or medical expense," the administration said in its statement.

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