On October 26, 2022, John M. Tenaglia, Principal Director, Defense Pricing and Contracting, issued Class Deviation 2023-O0001 to direct contracting officers to use alternate procedures to verify small business joint venture offeror eligibility instead of using the System for Award Management (“SAM”). The Class Deviation takes effect on October 28, 2022 and remains in effect until rescinded.

Under the Class Deviation, DoD contracting officers are required to include the following statement in solicitations:

• “A small business joint venture offeror must submit, with its offer, the representation required in paragraph (c) of FAR solicitation provision 52.212-3, Offeror Representations and Certifications-Commercial Products and Commercial Services, and paragraph (c) of FAR solicitation provision 52.219-1, Small Business Program Representations, in accordance with 52.204-8(d) and 52.212-3(b) for the following categories: (A) Small business; (B) Service-disabled veteran-owned small business; (C) Women-owned small business (WOSB) under the WOSB Program; (D) Economically disadvantaged women-owned small business under the WOSB Program; or (E) Historically underutilized business zone small business.”

The new procedures implement the Federal Acquisition Regulation (“FAR”) Council’s final rule, Federal Acquisition Regulation: Policy on Joint Ventures, 87 Fed. Reg 58,219 (September 23, 2022), which added new representations to paragraph (c) of FAR 52.212-3 and 52.219-1 for small business joint ventures. The Class Deviation fills the gap for the delay in SAM updating its system to reflect the FAR representations.