This weekend will get into the 60s, so I’ll be spending some time outdoors soaking up the nice weather. Hope everyone is able to enjoy some nice weather too. As you prepare for your weekend, stay up to date with some of these key government contracting updates.
This week’s stories include continued use of LPTA, increased enforcement of wage regulations, and SBA’s audit plans.
Something federal contractors thought they’d gotten rid of is popping up [FedNewsNet]
Small Number of Sta
When it comes to “best value” evaluations, agencies ordinarily have broad discretion to accept higher-rated, higher-priced proposals.
How broad is that discretion? Well, in one recent case, the GAO held that an agency reasonably accepted the awardee’s higher-rated proposal, despite a whopping 91% price premium.
The GAO’s decision in Deloitte Consulting LLP, B-419336.2 et al. (2021) involved a DHS Request for Quotations seeking the establishment of a Blanket Purchase Agreement under
The last few months have seen a whirlwind of changes in the government contracting rules for small businesses–everything from rules governing joint ventures to WOSB certification to the requirement for government-wide SDVOSB verification, and much more.
If your head is spinning trying to keep up with all the recent changes, I’m here to help! On March 11, I’ll present a plain-English overview of some of the most important small business changes as part of the Alliance Northwest Conference.
Well folks, the wait is finally over! The Second Edition of our popular GovCon Handbook on the SBA’s 8(a) Program is live, and it’s available here. In this revised, updated, and expanded Handbook, Steven Koprince and I give you the run-down on all things 8(a) (and as always, we do so in plain English).
Whether you are considering applying to the 8(a) Program, in the midst of the application process, already years into your 8(a) Program term, or a recent graduate/non-8(a) entity hoping to tea
Lowest price technically acceptable (LPTA) source selection has been on the decline lately. A recent final rule from the FAR Council, effective February 16, 2021, continues this trend. In the rule, the FAR Council implemented additional restrictions on the use of LPTA for non-DoD contracts.
The 2019 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) included a number of criteria that must be met for non-defense agencies to utilize LPTA procurements. DoD finalized implementation of related restric
The 8(a) Program is tremendously powerful and can be a springboard to massive success in the government contracts marketplace. But the many (many!) rules surrounding the 8(a) Program are complex, and even savvy 8(a) contractors–not to mention first-time applicants–easily can become confused.
I am pleased to announce that next week, Koprince Law LLC will publish a Second Edition of our popular GovCon Handbook on the 8(a) Program. In this revised, updated and expanded Handbook, my colleague
It looks like the cold snap over most of the country has finally thawed and spring is right around the corner. Hope everyone is recovering from the effects of the cold. The recent Mars rover landing reminded me of the important and exciting work that the government and contractors are doing for the country.
This week saw important updates about CMMC integration by GSA, a reminder that the feds are still looking into procurement fraud, and threats to GSA cyber security.
GSA Could B
The VA Rule of Two, while a powerful motivator for setting procurements aside for service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses, does have its limits.
One of those exceptions was discussed in a recent ruling from the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. The court confirmed that the VA may convert a service-disabled veteran-owned small business set-aside solicitation to a small business set-aside if the SDVOSB bids it receives are too high in price.
The VA Rule
The SBA’s mentor-protégé program offers powerful benefits. To help ensure that only legitimate small businesses take advantage of the program, the SBA asks applicants a series of questions about potential affiliation between the prospective mentor and protégé.
But once the SBA signs off on a mentor-protégé agreement, that’s that. As the SBA Office of Hearings and Appeals recently confirmed, competitors cannot use the size protest process to challenge whether an SBA mentor-protégé agreement
Hello SmallGovCon readers. Here at HQ, we’ve been hit with both a Super Bowl loss from the Chiefs, as well as temperatures topping out in the single digits this week. We’re really looking forward to spring! But in the meantime, enjoy some of these hot federal contracting updates to warm you up.
This week saw stories including myths about CMMC, increase in federal AI spending, and bias affecting growth in the 8(a) program.
CMMC: ‘Changing culture one company at a time’ [Fed NewsNet]
A new FAR final rule recently went into effect that has increased the percentage for the domestic component requirement under the Buy American Act, a percentage that had been in place for nearly 70 years before this recent change.
Originally passed in 1933, in simple terms, the Buy American Act (BAA) encourages Federal agencies to procure domestic materials and products which are intended for domestic use, so long as the procured items or the materials thereof are present in sufficient
Ask many government contractors, and they’ll tell you that even a single negative report in the Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting System can have a powerful adverse impact on winning future prime contracts.
Given the importance of these performance reports, it’s little wonder that a contractor on the receiving end of a negative CPAR may want to ask a judge to review the matter. But as one recent case demonstrates, a contractor cannot challenge a CPAR with a judge until the contr
Generally, the small business Rule of Two requires an agency to set aside contracts for small business, assuming that there are at least two small businesses with competitive prices who will bid on the contract. But does the small business Rule of Two apply to orders under a multiple award contract? In a recent decision, GAO affirmed the answer is no–application of the small business Rule of Two for orders under a multiple-award contract is discretionary.
In ITility, LLC, B-419167 (Dec 2
8(a) joint ventures are a powerful tool–both for non-8(a)s to participate in 8(a) contract opportunities and for 8(a) companies to gain valuable experience in their industries. But it is crucial that 8(a) joint ventures follow all of SBA’s requirements if they want to get (and keep) 8(a) awards.
Some of those requirements underwent significant revisions this past year. Join Shane McCall and me on February 9 for the SBA Training Webinar: 8(a) Joint Ventures, where we will discuss the ins and
We here at SmallGovCon have something on our minds this week, and it’s not only a roundup of the most important federal contracting news. A little game called the Super Bowl features our hometown Kansas City Chiefs, hoping to repeat as champions! This Chiefs-themed anthem has been my pump-up jam for the last several weeks.
Some of the key alerts for this week include an updated timeline for CIO-SP4, increased OTA use at Pentagon, and the CMMC rollout progresses.
Updated Timeline for
The White House has released the final language of the Buy America Act. Our recent post looked forward to what we could expect from the final rule. Now the rule has been released, so what is in it?
The executive order promises quite a bit, and a lot of what is promised we will likely not see until 6 to 12 months down the road.
Here is what to expect now, in 6 months, and then down the road.
First, the final order was signed by President Biden on January 25, 2021. The order promis
I’m so excited to announce that a new Koprince Law LLC GovCon Handbook entitled, The 8(a) Program, is coming soon! This handbook–complete with all the SBA’s important changes from the past couple years–was co-authored by myself and Steven Koprince. It will be published through Amazon in the coming weeks. And don’t worry, we will keep you updated on the publication date and how to reserve an advance copy.
If you are thinking about applying to the 8(a) Program, currently going through the app
Small businesses will see several major multiple-award solicitations in 2021, including CIO-SP4 and Polaris. As contractors develop their capture strategies for important procurements like these, one frequently-asked question is, “can I be on multiple teams?”
While there is no simple one-size-fits-all, yes/no answer to the “multiple teams” question, an often-overlooked FAR provision provides some important guidance. Let’s take a look at five things you should know about the FAR’s Certifi
If a teacher has told you once, they’ve told you a thousand times, show your work. That was GAO’s reminder to GSA in its decision in Hoover Properties, B-418844 (Sept. 28, 2020). In the case, GAO sustained a protest from property management company Hoover Properties, the non-awardee of a GSA request for lease proposal (RLP), in which Hoover argued that GSA failed to provide adequate documentation for its evaluation.
GSA was deciding between Hoover and another property management compan
Hope our SmallGovCon readers had a great week! I want to give a shout out to the fine people at PubK, who did a great job hosting the Government Contracts Annual Review! It was a well-run and informative event.
This week saw some intriguing breaking news, such as an SBA summary of one year 8(a) Program extension, FedRAMP application to CMMC, and a push to negotiate prices at task order level.
Draft RFP for Polaris IT contract nears end of comment period for small businesses [FedScoo
We already blogged on the COFC’s landmark Rule of Two decision in Tolliver Grp., Inc. v. United States. But the court’s two-part holding (in favor of the plaintiffs on both counts) was just too impactful for a single blog. Not only did the court fault the agency for failing to do a Rule of Two analysis before using an IDIQ, it also said that the agency failed to justify the decision to cancel the solicitations and switch contract vehicles under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) standard of
SBA’s All Small Mentor-Protégé Program isn’t a baby anymore—in fact, it isn’t even a toddler! But it remains a “game-changer” for large and small contractors alike. Now, it is effectively absorbing its 8(a) Mentor Protégé Program counterpart.
On February 11, please join me and Steven Koprince in an online session hosted by Govology where we cover the details of the recent mentor protégé program consolidation, along with all the other big changes to the program we’ve seen this last year.
America’s criminal justice system is founded on the principle that a defendant is innocent until proven guilty. And when it comes to compliance with the limitations on subcontracting, a similar principle applies.
In a recent bid protest decision, the GAO confirmed that a small business’s proposal does not need to affirmatively demonstrate compliance with the “LoS.” Instead, compliance is presumed, unless the proposal “on its face” should lead the procuring agency to conclude that the sma
The rules for small businesses, 8(a)s, SDVOSBs/VOSBs, WOSBs/EDWOSBs and HUBZones have changed a lot in recent months, and more changes are on the horizon in 2021! On February 4, please join me and and Steven Koprince as we cover these important changes, in an online session hosted by The Catalyst Center for Business & Entrepreneurship. Please click here for the registration information. Hope to see you there!
The post Event: How Will the New Legislative Changes Affect Your Small Business fi
As we have blogged about previously, the Buy American Act has a number of exceptions and waivers. The United States spends hundreds of billions of dollars each year in contracting alone. The Buy American Act is intended to keep federal dollars in the hands of American companies and manufacturers. The president’s new executive order on these issues, proposes making some significant changes to not only the rule, but to oversight.
Here are five things to look for in the new executive order:
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