(a) General. In accordance with sections 15(e)(5) and 8(d)(17) of the Small Business Act, agencies are required to consider the past performance of certain small business offerors that have been members of joint ventures or have been first-tier subcontractors. The agencies shall consider the small business' past performance for the evaluated contract or order similarly to a prime-contract past performance.

(b) Small business concerns that have been members of joint ventures—(1) Joint venture past performance. (i) When submitting an offer for a prime contract, a small business concern that has been a member of a joint venture may elect to use the experience and past performance of the joint venture (whether or not the other joint venture partners were small business concerns) where the small business does not independently demonstrate past performance necessary for award. The small business concern, when making such an election, shall:

(A) Identify to the contracting officer the joint venture of which the small business concern is or was a member;

(B) Identify the contract or contracts of the joint venture that the small business elects to use for its experience and past performance for the prime contract offer; and

(C) Inform the contracting officer what duties and responsibilities the concern carried out or is carrying out as part of the joint venture.

(ii) A small business cannot identify and use as its own experience and past performance work that was performed exclusively by other partners to the joint venture.

(2) Evaluation. When evaluating the past performance of a small business concern that has submitted an offer on a prime contract, the contracting officer shall consider the joint venture past performance that the concern elected to use under paragraph (b)(1) of this section, giving due consideration to the information provided under paragraph (b)(1)(i)(C) of this section for the performance of the evaluated contract or order. This includes where the small business concern lacks a past performance rating as a prime contractor in the Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting System, or successor system used by the Federal Government to monitor or rate contractor past performance.

(c) Small business concerns that have performed as first-tier subcontractors—(1) Responsibility of prime contractors. A small business concern may request a rating of its subcontractor past performance from the prime contractor for a contract on which the concern was a first-tier subcontractor and which included a subcontracting plan. The prime contractor shall provide the rating to the small business concern within 15 calendar days of the request. The rating provided by the prime contractor to the first-tier small business subcontractor shall utilize the five-scale ratings system found in FAR 42.1503 (48 CFR 42.1503): Exceptional, Very Good, Satisfactory, Marginal, and Unsatisfactory. The prime contractor must include, at a minimum, the following evaluation factors in the requested rating:

(i) Technical (quality of product or service);

(ii) Cost control (not applicable for firm-fixed-price or fixed-price with economic price adjustment arrangements);

(iii) Schedule/timeliness;

(iv) Management or business relations; and

(v) Other (as applicable).

(2) Responsibility of first-tier small business subcontractors. A first-tier small business subcontractor must make the request for a performance rating from the prime contractor within 30 days after the completion of the period of performance for the prime contractor's contract with the Government. However, the prime contractor and the first-tier small business subcontractor may negotiate a later deadline for the request for a performance rating, but in no case can the prime contractor impose a deadline earlier than 30 days after the completion of the period of performance for the prime contractor's contract with the Government. The subcontractor may notify the contracting officer in the event that the prime contractor does not comply with its responsibility to submit a timely rating.

(3) Joint ventures that performed as first-tier subcontractors. A small business member of a joint venture may request a past performance rating under paragraph (c)(1) of this section, where a joint venture performed as a first-tier subcontractor. The joint venture member may then submit the subcontractor past performance rating to a procuring agency in accordance with paragraph (b) of this section.

(4) Evaluation. When evaluating the past performance of a small business concern that elected to use a rating for its offer on a prime contract, a contracting officer shall consider the concern's experience and rating of past performance as a first-tier subcontractor. This includes where the small business concern lacks a past performance rating as a prime contractor in the Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting System (CPARS), or successor system used by the Federal Government to monitor or rate contractor past performance.