Subcontracting plan
Also called: small business subcontracting plan, FAR 52.219-9, subcontracting goals, ISR, SSR, eSRS
A subcontracting plan is the document a large business must submit with a proposal above a threshold in FAR 19.702, committing to goals for subcontracting with small, small disadvantaged, WOSB, HUBZone, veteran-owned and SDVOSB firms and describing how it will meet them.
The requirement is FAR 19.7 and the clause is FAR 52.219-9; plans can be individual to one contract, commercial for the company, or comprehensive for DoD under DFARS 219.702. Primes report performance in the Electronic Subcontracting Reporting System (eSRS) and the government evaluates the plan during source selection and rates compliance in CPARS. Small businesses do not submit plans; they are the firms the plans are written to reach.
What to check: as a small firm, which large primes in your market hold plans with unmet goals in your category (their small business liaison officers are listed on agency and company sites), and what documentation a prime needs from you to count your work (SAM registration with the right representations, certifications). As a large prime, the goals, the good faith effort standard in FAR 19.705-7, and the liquidated damages for failing it.
What it is not: a quota that forces a prime to hire you. It creates an incentive and a reporting obligation, which is leverage, not a guarantee.
See also: Prime contractor, Subcontractor, Limitations on subcontracting, Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting System (CPARS)
Questions that use this term
Search allMy firm, a woman-owned engineering company, recently attended a federal small business event in Jacksonville. I met the small business liaison for a...
You get the full bid tabulations for county and school contracts by following each entity's specific public records request process.