Today we celebrate the life and legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. After King’s death, U.S. Representative John Conyers and U.S. Senator Edward Brooke introduced a bill in Congress to make King’s birthday a national holiday. The holiday was observed for the first time on January 20, 1986.
We remember Dr. King as a fierce advocate for the betterment of all people. Honor his memory by organizing, volunteering, and thinking about Dr. King’s legacy today and throughout the year.
The post Celebrat
Greetings, Readers. We hope your 2022 is off to a great start and your new year resolutions haven’t been kicked to the curb, as of yet. We are excited about the Wild Card Playoff game this weekend between our Kansas City Chiefs and the Pittsburgh Steelers. It’s been a wild ride this season but the Chiefs are playing very well and we hope to see them return to another super bowl.
There was a lot of news in federal government contracting, this week and we are excited that our very own, Kevin
As January 5, 2022, SBA will no longer use Product Service Codes (PSCs) to classify products covered by class waivers for the nonmanufacturer rule. SBA’s rationale for discontinuing PSC’s to classify class waivers is to “improve consistency in the application of class waiver.” SBA will use North American Industry Classification System codes (NAICS) as its sole classification system to identify products covered by class waivers going forward. Notification of the change of SBA’s rule was published
Equity Partner Shane McCall, will be one of three panelists presenting a joint webinar hosted by Pub K. The Pub K Annual Review is always a great event and there are many other interesting panels going on as well. Small business topics covered in the webinar include: increasing small business participation, regulatory updates, and joint venture issues.
The event takes place on January 26 from 2:00 – 2:50 PM (CST) / 3:00 PM – 3:50 PM EST and registration is open here. Come join us!
The p
On Wednesday, January 5, 2022, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit issued another setback to the COVID-19 vaccine mandate for federal government contractors. In its opinion, the four-judge panel upheld the November 30, 2021 preliminary injunction and denied the Government’s request to stay the injunction “because the government has established none of the showings required to obtain a stay.” On appeal, the government asserted that the three states involved, Kentucky, Ohio, and Tennes
Koprince McCall Pottroff LLC will be presenting a webinar hosted by Govology, Limitations on Subcontracting: A Step-by-Step Compliance Guide will be on January 20 at 1:00pm EST.
In this webinar, government contracts attorneys Shane McCall and John Holtz will help you make sense of the limitations on subcontracting. Using a step-by-step process and plenty of examples to help bring the rule to life, they will help to ensure that you understand and comply with this essential rule.
If you’d
Happy new year, Readers! After a very mild start to our Winter season we are experiencing frigid temperatures here in the Midwest to start off 2022. As old man winter makes his arrival we are very grateful to live and work in a climate controlled environment. Thank goodness for heat and warm coats!
There was a lot of news in federal government contracting this week, including trends and marketing info in the new year, cyber security and workforce initiative provisions from the recently sign
Federal and state-recognized Indian tribes and members of such tribes are presumptively socially disadvantaged, and if tribal association is verified, no further information is needed to verify social disadvantage for a Small Business Association (SBA) 8(a) program application. However, in 2021, the SBA Office of Inspector General (OIG) reported that, although the process for awarding 8(a) program status involves a multi-level eligibility review, the SBA does not have a formal verification proce
2021 was a big year for many reasons, among them the continued COVID-19 pandemic and the government’s responses to the pandemic, including the various vaccine mandates and lawsuits challenging those mandates. But there were also lower-profile changes and updates to the federal contracting world. Below, I’ll explore the posts that were most popular in 2021, along with the posts first published in 2021 that were popular this year.
Most Popular Posts Read in 2021
The top posts from the
We want to make something clear: simply having a former government official as an employee does not mean your company can’t bid on federal contracts or needs to let that person go. The government, while it puts certain restrictions in place, doesn’t forbid government contractors from hiring former government employees, and it can be very beneficial to have employees with such experience and still perfectly ethical. What it does forbid is when the company is or even just appears to be getting som
The final version of the 2022 National Defense Authorization Act, agreed upon by negotiators for both the House and Senate and signed by the president, will allow the SBA’s Office of Hearings and Appeals to hear appeals related to the SBA’s HUBZone status decisions.
We here at Koprince McCall Pottroff LLC welcome the pending change, which will be a big step forward for the HUBZone program in terms of transparency and fairness.
Among the SBA’s four major socioeconomic preference progr
Happy Holidays, Readers! We hope you have been enjoying this holiday season with friends and family while staying safe and healthy. Since many of you (and folks in our office) are taking some time off this holiday season, we’re bringing you two weeks in review for the end the year. Thank you so much for your support of SmallGovCon and stay tuned for more informative blogs in 2022.
The world of federal government contracting is continuing to be very active as we approach the end of 2021. Her
I am pleased to announce that Stephanie Ellis has joined our team of government contracts attorney-authors here at SmallGovCon. Stephanie is an associate attorney with Koprince McCall Pottroff LLC, where her practice focuses on federal government contracts law.
Before joining our team, Stephanie worked for the Kansas Securities Commissioner, enforcing the Kansas Securities Act through civil, criminal, and administrative actions, and reviewing administrative compliance issues. She also worked
We are so very happy to announce that Nicole Pottroff and husband, Kenny Flanders, along with big brother Robert have a new family member! Franklin Alan Flanders was born on Christmas Eve, weighing in at 7 lbs. 8 oz! Mom and baby are at home and doing well.
What a wonderful gift for the holidays. Congratulations!
The post A Very Joyful Announcement from Koprince McCall Pottroff LLC! first appeared on SmallGovCon - Government Contracts Law Blog.View the full article
The decision in Bravo Federal Consulting, LLC, SBA No. CVE-213 (Dec. 1, 2021) is both an important reminder of the importance of keeping all database information up to date and a cautionary tale of the unfortunate consequences that can happen when you don’t. In that decision, SBA’s Office of Hearings and Appeals (OHA) denied an appeal by Bravo Federal Consulting, LLC (Bravo). Bravo submitted a request to change its name, setting off a chain of events that ended in Bravo losing its verified statu
Small businesses are often seen as the backbone of the economy. Contained within the category of small businesses are what are known as Small Disadvantaged Businesses or SDBs. Currently, the federal government has a goal to award 5% of its contracting dollars to SDBs. The White House is seeking to triple this number by 2025. The White House recently released a Fact Sheet as to how it intends to meet this goal. So, let’s dive into some of the specifics.
On June 1, 2021, the White House an
Happy eve of Christmas Eve, readers! Here’s hoping the shopping is done and the presents are all wrapped and under the tree. Even though we are living in uncertain times, there is much to be grateful for this holiday season. Thank you for all of your support this past year and thanks for letting us bring you these helpful updates and analysis about federal contracting.
With Christmas two days away and 2022 right around the corner, it’s time to enjoy the holidays, reflect on the year that
If, as the result of a size protest or appeal, the SBA makes a final determination that a company is not a small business, the company will be required to update SAM within two days to reflect that it is no longer small. And if the company doesn’t recertify within two days, the SBA will do the honors and update the company’s SAM profile.
This tough new requirement is part of the compromise version 2022 National Defense Authorization Act, which is likely to be signed into law in the coming we
On Friday, a US Appeals Court overturned the temporary halt on the vaccine mandate for large businesses. This is interesting to note because some of the same analysis used in connection with whether the large business mandate is enforceable could apply to the contractor vaccine mandate.
The OSHA mandate applied to employers with 100 or more employees. It required “employees be vaccinated or wear a protective face covering and take weekly tests but allows employers to choose the policy i
Hello, Readers! Can you believe we’re more than halfway through December already? The holidays are upon us! Houses are decorated with twinkling lights. There’s a chill in the air (a relief after the odd 70 degree and high winds that hit the Midwest recently). Items are flying off of store shelves. Hopefully despite all that hustle and bustle, you’re getting to enjoy quality time with your loved ones.
The hot topics in government contracting this week include some new vaccine mandate
The Anti-Assignment Act (41 U.S.C. § 6305) prohibits the transfer of a government contract or interest in a government contract to a third party. However, government agencies recognized that contractors are on occasion bought, sold, merged, or simply encounter circumstances upon which it becomes desirable or necessary for them to assign a government contract to a third party. To address this issue, the Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) provide for a novation process to give contractors a me
Good day, Readers! The holidays are quickly approaching and everything is looking festive and bright here in Lawrence, Kansas. The annual tradition of Santa being recued from the roof of one of our local department stores occurred and you will be happy to know that he is safe to circle the globe once again this Christmas. You can see photos of this fun, annual tradition here. It’s always quite a spectacle!
As always, there was a lot happening in the world of federal government contracting t
Koprince McCall Pottroff LLC will be presenting a webinar hosted by the El Paso SBA that covers an important topic in federal government contracting – 8(a) Joint Ventures.
In this webinar, government contracts attorneys Shane McCall and John Holtz cover the basics of joint ventures, the specifics of 8(a) joint ventures (including SBA requirements), and how the mentor-protégé program can benefit a joint venture arrangement.
If you’d like to join us for the webinar, mark the date of Dece
For practically the entire summer of 2021, we observed (and commented on) NIH’s numerous amendments to its long-awaited CIO-SP4 solicitation after it was finally issued in May 2021. By the time the deadline for proposals finally came, it had been amended eleven (!) times. Even with all those amendments, however, it appears that at least one offeror still had serious concerns about the final version. As it turns out, at least some of their concerns were warranted, per GAO, and has recommended the
For government contractors, trying to predict how COVID-19 might affect a government project can be extraordinarily challenging task. One bidder recently attempted to provide some clarity by stating, in its bid, that COVID-19 was a “force majeure event” and that the bidder would be entitled to extra time if COVID-19 affected the project.
Unfortunately for the bidder, its effort failed: the agency rejected the bid for improperly exceeding the scope of a relevant FAR clause. The GAO then confi
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