Natural Resource Sales Assistance program

SBA uses small business set-asides to help them get a fair share of government property sales and leases.

Set-asides limit bidding on the products exclusively to small businesses first. That way, small businesses get a chance to bid with limited competition before the products are offered to other businesses in the open market.

Sometimes, agencies will divide materials into smaller parcels to make it easier for small businesses to afford.

The SBA also provides counseling and other assistance to small businesses on government sales and leasing.

The program covers five categories of federal resources:

• Timber and related forest products
• Strategic materials
• Royalty oil
• Leases involving rights to minerals, coal, oil, and gas
• Surplus real and personal property

How your small business participates in the program depends on which kind of resources you’re trying to purchase.

SBA and other agencies jointly set aside timber sales for bidding exclusively by small businesses when they wouldn’t otherwise get a fair share under open sales.

Timber and related forest products are sold by the following agencies:

• U.S. Department of Agriculture's Forest Service
• U.S. Department of the Interior's Bureau of Land Management
• Department of Defense
• Department of Energy
• Department of the Interior’s Fish and Wildlife Service
• Tennessee Valley Authority

The departments of Defense, Energy, the Interior, and the Tennessee Valley Authority work with the Natural Resource Sales Assistance program to create set-asides only on a requested basis.

The General Services Administration (GSA) regulates the procurement and disposal of strategic materials.

When a stockpile requirement is lowered, excess material may be sold. The GSA and the agencies will set aside some sales for bidding exclusively by small businesses. Agencies sometimes agree to divide the materials into smaller parcels.

Royalties due to the government under leases of federal oil rights for the exploration of oil may be accepted by the Secretary of the Interior in the form of oil or money. If the Secretary accepts oil in lieu of money, the oil is identified as "royalty oil."

If the Secretary of the Interior determines that sufficient supplies of crude oil aren’t available in the open market to small business refineries, preference is granted to small business refineries for processing royalty oil.

SBA refers qualifying small business refineries to the U.S. Department of the Interior's Office of Natural Resource Revenue (ONRR) to assist small businesses obtain royalty oil.

The government owns extensive mineral, oil, coal, and gas rights. The government normally sells leases to recover these natural resources on a competitive basis.

As with timber and related forest products, leases are set aside for bidding by small businesses when they wouldn’t otherwise get a fair share.

The government sells property it no longer needs. The property is first made available for donation if there are eligible recipients, such as educational facilities, public health facilities, or state and local governments. The rest is sold.

The two agencies of the government primarily concerned with surplus personal property sales are the Defense Logistics Agency and the General Services Administration. Scheduled sales are widely publicized as competitive bid sales.

You can contact the agency selling the product if you think there should be set-asides for small businesses.
Additionally, you can contact the Industrial Specialist listed below:

Nichole Villanueva
Industrial Specialist – Forestry
U.S. Small Business Administration, Office of Government Contracting
Phone: 202-657-9035
Email: nichole.villanueva@sba.gov  

Shawna Monroe
Industrial Specialist - Forestry
U.S. Small Business Administration, Office of Government Contracting
Phone: 213-793-7591
Email: shawna.monroe@sba.gov