The contracting officer shall, to the extent practicable, encourage maximum participation by small business, veteran-owned small business, service-disabled veteran-owned small business, HUBZone small business, small disadvantaged business, and women-owned small business concerns in acquisitions by taking the following actions:

(a) Before issuing solicitations, make every reasonable effort to find additional small business concerns (see 10.002(b)(2)). This effort should include contacting the agency small business specialist and SBA PCR (or, if a PCR is not assigned, see 19.402(a)).

(b) Publicize solicitations and contract awards through the Governmentwide point of entry (see subparts 5.2 and 5.3).

[48 FR 42240, Sept. 19, 1983, as amended at 63 FR 70268, Dec. 18, 1998; 65 FR 60544, Oct. 11, 2000; 66 FR 27413, May 16, 2001; 68 FR 43856, July 24, 2003; 71 FR 36925, June 28, 2006; 85 FR 11759, Feb. 27, 2020]