(a) Offering letter. When a decision has been made by OSDBU and the contracting officer to process an acquisition through the SBA under the 8(a) program, the contracting activity shall promptly send to the applicable SBA office a letter offering the acquisition to the SBA, with an information copy to the Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization Specialist. The offering letter should transmit the statement of work, purchase description, technical data package, or specifications and such other information deemed necessary by the contracting officer.

(b) The contracting officer has greater latitude in holding discussions with the business concerns being considered under an 8(a) program acquisition if under the $4 million competitive threshold for 8(a) competition than under a non-8(a) program acquisition. Informal assessments of potential 8(a) sources shall be within the parameters of 13 CFR 124.308(g). The technical evaluation must be carefully reviewed to determine if any source declared to be unacceptable is capable of being made acceptable.