I.  Background

DoD, GSA, and NASA published an interim rule in the Federal Register at 76 FR 14566 on March 16, 2011, to implement section 1347 of the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010 (Pub. L. 111-240). (A correcting amendment was issued in the Federal Register at 76 FR 26220 on May 6, 2011, to reinsert text that was inadvertently omitted in the March 16, 2011, publication.) Section 1347(b) clarifies at section 31(b)(2)(B) of the Small Business Act, 15 U.S.C. 657a(b)(2)(B), that a contract opportunity "may" be awarded on the basis of competition restricted to qualified Historically Underutilized Business Zone (HUBZone) small business concerns if the contracting officer has a reasonable expectation that not less than two qualified HUBZone small business concerns will submit offers and the award can be made at a fair market price. The interim rule clarified that there is no order of precedence among the small business socioeconomic contracting programs (i.e., 8(a), HUBZone, SDVOSB, or the WOSB programs) and clarified the contracting officer's authority to use discretion when determining whether an acquisition will be restricted to small businesses participating in those programs. Eighteen respondents submitted comments on the interim rule.