How does a price evaluation preference affect the bid of a certified HUBZone small business concern in full and open competition?
13 C.F.R. § 126.613
in effectEffective: 2024-07-01(a)(1) Where a CO will award a contract on the basis of full and open competition, the CO must deem the price offered by a certified HUBZone small business concern to be lower than the price offered by another offeror (other than another small business concern) if the price offered by the certified HUBZone small business concern is not more than 10% higher than the price offered by the otherwise lowest, responsive, and responsible offeror. For a best value procurement, the CO must apply the 10% preference to the otherwise successful offer of a large business and then determine which offeror represents the best value to the Government, in accordance with the terms of the solicitation. This does not apply if the certified HUBZone small business concern will receive the contract as part of a reserve for certified HUBZone small business concerns.
(2) Where, after considering the price evaluation adjustment, the price offered by a certified HUBZone small business concern is equal to the price offered by a large business (or, in a best value procurement, the total evaluation points received by a certified HUBZone small business concern is equal to the total evaluation points received by a large business), award shall be made to the certified HUBZone small business concern.
(i) Example 1:
In a full and open competition, a certified HUBZone small business concern submits an offer of $98, a non-HUBZone small business concern submits an offer of $95, and a large business submits an offer of $93. The lowest, responsive, responsible offeror would be the large business. However, the CO must apply the HUBZone price evaluation preference. In this example, the certified HUBZone small business concern's offer is not more than 10% higher than the large business' offer and, consequently, the certified HUBZone small business concern displaces the large business as the lowest, responsive, and responsible offeror.
(ii) Example 2:
In a full and open competition, a certified HUBZone small business concern submits an offer of $103, a non-HUBZone small business concern submits an offer of $100, and a large business submits an offer of $93. The lowest, responsive, responsible offeror would be from the large business. The CO must then apply the HUBZone price evaluation preference. In this example, the certified HUBZone small business concern's offer is more than 10% higher than the large business' offer and, consequently, the certified HUBZone small business concern does not displace the large business as the lowest, responsive, and responsible offeror. In addition, the non-HUBZone small business concern's offer at $100 does not displace the large business' offer because a price evaluation preference is not applied to change an offer and benefit a non-HUBZone small business concern.
(iii) Example 3:
In a full and open competition, a certified HUBZone small business concern submits an offer of $98 and a non-HUBZone small business concern submits an offer of $93. The CO would not apply the price evaluation preference in this procurement because the lowest, responsive, responsible offeror is a SBC.
(iv) Example 4:
In a full and open competition, a certified HUBZone small business concern submits an offer of $98 and a large business submits an offer of $93. The contracting officer has stated in the solicitation that one contract will be reserved for a certified HUBZone small business concern. The contracting officer would not apply the price evaluation preference when determining which HUBZone small business concern would receive the contract reserved for HUBZone small business concerns, but would apply the price evaluation preference when determining the awardees for the non-reserved portion.
(b)(1) For purchases by the Secretary of Agriculture of agricultural commodities, the price evaluation preferences shall be:
(i) 10%, for the portion of a contract to be awarded that is not greater than 25% of the total volume being procured for each commodity in a single invitation for bids (IFB);
(ii) 5%, for the portion of a contract to be awarded that is greater than 25%, but not greater than 40%, of the total volume being procured for each commodity in a single IFB; and
(iii) Zero, for the portion of a contract to be awarded that is greater than 40% of the total volume being procured for each commodity in a single IFB.
(2) The 10% and 5% price evaluation preferences for agricultural commodities apply to all offers from certified HUBZone small business concerns up to the 25% and 40% volume limits specified in paragraph (b)(1) of this section. As such, more than one certified HUBZone small business concern may receive a price evaluation preference for any given commodity in a single IFB.
(i) Example:
There is an IFB for 100,000 pounds of wheat. Bid 1 (from a large business) is $1/pound for 100,000 pounds of wheat. Bid 2 (from a HUBZone small business concern) is $1.05/pound for 20,000 pounds of wheat. Bid 3 (from a HUBZone small business concern) is $1.04/pound for 20,000 pounds. Bid 3 receives a 10% price evaluation adjustment for 20,000 pounds, since 20,000 is less than 25% of 100,000 pounds. With the 10% price evaluation adjustment, Bid 1 changes from $20,000 for the first 20,000 pounds to $22,000. Bid 3's price of $20,800 ($1.04 × 20,000) is now lower than any other bid for 20,000 pounds. Thus, Bid 3 will be accepted for the full 20,000 pounds. Bid 2 receives a 10% price evaluation adjustment for that amount of its bid when added to the volume in Bid 3 that does not exceed 25% of the total volume being procured. Since 25,000 pounds is 25% of the total volume of wheat under the IFB, and Bid 3 totaled 20,000 pounds, a 10% price evaluation adjustment will be applied to the first 5,000 pounds of Bid 2. With the price evaluation adjustment, the price for Bid 1, as measured against Bid 2, for 5,000 pounds changes from $5,000 to $5,500. Bid 2's price of $5,250 ($1.05 × 5,000) is lower than Bid 1 for 5,000 pounds. Bid 2 will then receive a 5% price evaluation adjustment for the remaining 15,000 pounds, since the total volume of Bids 3 and 2 receiving an adjustment does not exceed 40% of the total volume of wheat under the IFB (i.e., 40,000 pounds). With the 5% price evaluation adjustment, Bid 1's price for the next 15,000 pounds changes from $15,000 to $15,750. Bid 2's price for that 15,000 pounds is also $15, 750 ($1.05 × 15,000). Because the evaluation price for Bid 2 is not more than 10% higher than the price offered by Bid 1, Bid 2's price is deemed to be lower than the price offered by Bid 1. Since the evaluation price for both the first 5,000 pounds (receiving a 10% price evaluation adjustment) and the remaining 15,000 pounds (receiving a 5% price evaluation adjustment) is less than Bid 1, Bid 2 will be accepted for the full 20,000 pounds.
(ii) [Reserved]
(c) For purchases by the Secretary of Agriculture of agricultural commodities for export operations through international food aid programs administered by the Farm Service Agency, the price evaluation preference shall be 5% on the first portion of a contract to be awarded that is not greater than 20% of the total volume being procured for each commodity in a single IFB.
(d) A contract awarded to a certified HUBZone small business concern under a preference described in paragraph (b) of this section shall not be counted toward the fulfillment of any requirement partially set aside for competition restricted to small business concerns.
Source: eCFRURL: https://www.ecfr.gov/api/versioner/v1/full/2024-07-01/title-13.xmlFetched: 7/26/2026