A federal judge in Georgia has recently imposed a nationwide injunction on the federal contractor vaccine mandate. This will likely be appealed, but for now, here are the key points from the decision.
The judge looked at closely at what law allowed the president to impose this mandate. Specifically, the the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act (the Procurement Act). The judge concluded that this law does not give the president the authority to impose the vaccine mandate. The
There will be a new definition for commercial items under the FAR, via a final rule effective December 6, 2021. The rule divides the definition into two separate categories: “commercial item” and “commercial product.” Below, we’ll summarize these changes to an important definition in federal contracting.
The new definition stems from a change in the 2019 NDAA that split the definition the definition of “commercial item” at 41 U.S.C. 103 into the definitions of “commercial product” and “c
Happy December, All! Can you believe we are almost to the end of 2021? It seems this year has flown by! Hope everyone is recovering nicely from Thanksgiving.
There was a lot of news this week about the vaccine mandate being temporarily halted in several states with the outcome yet to be decided. We have included a few articles addressing the current status of the mandate below.
Also, the Whitehouse and SBA released an announcement concerning increased funding for small disadvantaged bus
When an offeror submits a certification that its products qualify as domestic for purposes of the Buy American Act, an agency ordinarily may rely on that certification without further investigation, unless the agency has reason to believe that the products will not be compliant.
In a recent bid protest decision, the GAO held that an agency acted properly by relying on the offeror’s certification because the protester’s “unsupported allegations” were insufficient to trigger a requirement for
Here at Koprince McCall Pottroff LLC, we’re ready to put a wrap on 2021. Join us and our friends at Govology on December 9 as we look back at federal government contracting from the past year.
In this webinar, government contracts attorneys Shane McCall and Steven Koprince cover the most important legal developments for federal contractors in 2021, including new cybersecurity rules, enhanced domestic preferences under the Buy American Act, key provisions of the 2022 National Defense Authori
Koprince McCall Pottroff LLC presents a webinar hosted by EPHCC that covers two important topics in federal government contracting – Limitations on Subcontracting and the Nonmanufacturer Rule.
For small businesses and their teammates, few topics in government contracting are as confusing as the limitations on subcontracting for set-aside and socioeconomic sole source contracts. And if that isn’t stressful enough, the “LoS” is an area of heavy enforcement: get it wrong, and a contractor can
A federal judge in Kentucky has enjoined the federal government from enforcing the federal contractor vaccine mandate in three states. As of November 30, 2021, a judged issued a preliminary injunction against the contractor mandate for Kentucky, Ohio, and Tennessee.
The judge stated:
There were a few reasons to grant the injunction that the judge highlighted.
First, under the Competition in Contracting Act’s goal of full and open competition, “contractors who ‘represent[] the
If you missed it before, here’s your chance to attend one of Koprince McCall Pottroff LLC‘s most popular webinars.
Please join me, Shane McCall, and Steven Koprince on December 1 for this informative webinar hosted by Catalyst on the vaccine mandate. We will cover which contractors and subcontractors must comply, which employees are covered, when employees must be vaccinated, how employers should confirm employee vaccination, and much more, including the latest guidance from the Safer Fed
Key personnel are an important term in most proposals. Establishing the resume, experience, and availability of personnel that will perform major functions of a contract is a key (dad joke) aspect of a winning proposal. As one offeror found out, when key personnel become unavailable, the technical acceptability of the entire offer can be in jeopardy.
In Ashlin Management Group, B-419472.3,B-419472.4, GAO sustained the second protest of an award to Booz Allen Hamilton. The protester, Ashl
It’s that time of year to gather with friends and family and feast on some wonderful comfort food. We have been polling our staff on their favorite holiday dish and the answers have ranged from pumpkin pie to turkey to the traditional green bean casserole. They all sound good to me!
We have a lot to be thankful for and we are grateful for all of those readers who have been reading our blogs. We hope you have found them informative and we will continue to provide relevant content in regards
As many readers know, I am retiring from private legal practice to focus on teaching, writing, and other interests. The wonderful team of government contracts professionals here at Koprince McCall Pottroff will continue assisting contractors with their legal needs. I couldn’t be prouder of our wonderful team of attorneys and staff!
For my last SmallGovCon blog post, in the tradition of our “Five Things You Should Know” series, here are five big-picture things I’ve learned in my years as a
The SBA proposes to amend its regulations to implement new provisions of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for fiscal year 2021 that provides small business contractors with new tools to establish past performance when bidding on prime contracts for Government procurements. The proposed rules would add two new methods for small businesses to obtain qualifying past performance. One proposed rule would allow a small business with no relevant past performance of its own to use the past
GAO has released its annual bid protest report. Along with mashed potatoes and stuffing, it’s one of our favorite holiday traditions at SmallGovCon. This report came over a month earlier than last year, making this more of a Thanksgiving treat than Christmas this year.
A couple key takeaways are (1) the key effectiveness metric, showing numbers of sustains and corrective actions at GAO, was 48% for the 2021 fiscal year and (2) total bid protest numbers are down slightly, continuing a trend f
Happy Friday, Readers! Next week is Thanksgiving and we have a lot to be thankful for here at Koprince McCall Pottroff LLC, especially with everyone remaining healthy this year. It’s time to break out the stretchy pants and feast on the traditional turkey and pumpkin pie along with watching a few football games, a parade or two and, if we are lucky, we might just get in a nap, as well.
There was a lot of news in federal government contracting, this week. Here are some articles we found parti
It’s a refrain that my colleagues and I have often heard: if you’re a franchisee, it can be really, really hard–perhaps almost impossible–to be verified as a service-disabled veteran-owned small business.
A recent case demonstrates the difficulties in obtaining SDVOSB status as a franchisee. In the case, the SBA’s Office of Hearings and Appeals held that the Center for Verification and Eligibility had correctly denied a company’s SDVOSB application because, in the eyes of the CVE and SBA, th
Federal contractors often ask: “It is better to team up for government work with a prime-sub arrangement or with a joint venture?” Well, (spoiler alert) the answer is: it depends. But I won’t leave you with just that. This three-part series will provide insight on some of the major differences between these two types of “teams” that offerors should consider when making the decision between a joint venture or prime/subcontractor team in competing for and performing federal contracts. While this s
In our last post on intellectual property and government contracts, we went over a basic discussion about data rights and then addressed the matter of unlimited data rights for the government. As discussed, unlimited data rights basically give the government free rein to do as they wish with the data. More importantly, the FAR provides that such unlimited data rights are the government’s default rights. But there is a way to limit the government’s rights: limited data rights.
NOTE: This
Happy Friday! We hope you had a wonderful and reflective Veteran’s day. I just got back from speaking at the APTAC Fall Conference on the big changes that will be taking place in the SDVOSB certification program, along with other legal updates. Thanks to the many wonderful people at APTAC, including Allen Waldo, who helped make that conference a success. It was a great event.
This week in federal government contracting saw important stories about CMMC 2.0 and other cyber initiatives, as well
A proposed rule from SBA will make changes to the SDVOSB rules. SBA has modified its rules allowing surviving spouses to continue owning Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Businesses after the veteran owner has passed away. This should provide some help to spouses of disabled veterans. SBA has updated a few dollar thresholds as well.
SDVOSB Surviving Spouse Rule
The existing surviving spouse rule had provided some leeway for a surviving spouse to continue to own and operate the SDV
Today, SmallGovCon salutes veterans and the families of veterans who have served our country. Veterans have given their time, resources, and lives for the protection of our country. We especially honor those sacrifices today, and the sacrifices of their families.
On this Veterans Day, let us remember what the members of the armed services have done for our country.
The post SmallGovCon Salutes Veterans first appeared on SmallGovCon - Government Contracts Law Blog.View the full article
The SBA has released a proposed rule to use a 24-month period to calculate a company’s number of employees for eligibility purposes in all of SBA’s programs. This change will affect any business seeking to qualify as small under an employee-based NAICS code, such as those applicable to manufactured products.
The SBA’s proposed rule would amend 13 CF.R. 121.106. That regulation currently states that SBA calculates the size of a business by averaging the number of employees for each pay
The Department of the Interior (DOI) proposes to revise regulations implementing the Buy Indian Act, which provides the Department with authority to set aside procurement contracts for Indian-owned and controlled businesses. The proposed rule is to revise current procurement regulations that have created barriers to Indian Economic Enterprises (IEEs) from full participation in the DOI’s procurement process. The proposed rule is here.
The Buy Indian Act was signed into law in 1910 and was
Evaluation of offers is a crucial point in the procurement process. During this time period, an agency may, in certain procurements, reach out with discussion questions meant to bring clarity to the decision-making process. However, any such discussions must be meaningful.
As one offeror recently found out, meaningful discussions even apply in so-called simplified acquisitions.
GAO’s recent decision in Academy Leadership, LLC B-419705.2 is a cautionary tale for an agency’s conduct of
Happy Friday, Readers. We hope you had a productive week. November 11 is Veteran’s Day. This holiday started as a day to honor the heroism of those who died in our country’s service and was originally called Armistice Day. It fell on Nov. 11 because that is the anniversary of the signing of the Armistice that ended World War I. However, in 1954, the holiday was changed to “Veterans Day” in order to recognize and honor all veterans of war. Koprince McCall Pottroff LLC would like to thank all vete
This morning, the White House released updated Covid-19 vaccination guidelines. This update includes a nearly month-long delay in the mandate implementation. Previously, all federal workers and contractors must have either been fully vaccinated or granted some form of extension or accommodation by December 8, 2022. Fully vaccinated means two weeks following the final dose, meaning the actual deadline was early November for employees to begin the two-shot cycle of Pfizer or Moderna.
The new d
.gif)
