The Department of General Services (Department) shall:
- (1) Develop appropriate standards for qualification as a small business, including number of employees and dollar volume of business. The Department may develop tiers of participation for small businesses of varying size.
- (2) Establish agency goals for contracting with small businesses.
- (3) Develop specific guidelines for competition for Commonwealth procurement contracts identified for award to small businesses.
- (4) Develop policy that will provide for alternative and reduced bonding requirements and make special provisions for progress payments.
- (5) Develop and implement monitoring and reporting systems to measure the effectiveness of all small business procurement initiatives.
- (6) Implement enforcement measures to verify the eligibility of competitors and to investigate allegations of noneligibility.
(7) Assist agencies in:
- (i) Identifying procurement contracts suitable for competition by, and award to, small businesses.
- (ii) Identifying qualified small businesses to solicit for procurement contracts.
- (iii) Training agency personnel.