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Memorial Day 2022: A Day of Remembrance

Memorial Day, originally known as Decoration Day started on May 30th, 1868 as a day of remembrance for Civil War veterans. According to History.com, the date was chosen because it wasn’t tied to any particular battle. In 1968, Congress passed the Uniform Monday Holiday Act. This Act established Memorial Day as the last Monday in May in order to create a three-day weekend for federal employees. The change went into effect in 1971. The same law also declared Memorial Day a federal holiday.

Koprince Law LLC

Koprince Law LLC

Setting the Standard: How the SBA Determines Size Standards for Small Businesses

In a recent post, we examined some proposed new size standards for manufacturing and other industries that utilize employee-based size standards. This probably got many of you wondering: How does the SBA determine what the size standards should be? It’s a good question, and today, we’re going to look at just that. Hopefully, this will provide some insight as to the SBA’s approach to setting size standards. The SBA revised its size standards methodology most recently back in April 2019. T

Koprince Law LLC

Koprince Law LLC

Back to Basics: EDWOSB Eligibility

Last week, Nicole Pottroff went through the basics of eligibility for participation in the SBA’s Women-Owned Small Business (“WOSB”) Federal Contracting Program. Today, I’ll walk you through the additional eligibility requirements for participation in SBA’s Economically Disadvantaged Women-Owned Small Business (“EDWOSB”) Program as stated in 13 C.F.R. § 127.200(a). If it has you feeling a little déjà vu, there is good reason for that. Eligibility requirements for the SBA’s WOSB and EDWOSB Progra

Koprince Law LLC

Koprince Law LLC

Coming Soon: The SmallsCast Podcast

We invite you to tune into this informative podcast series hosted by The Smalls with discussions on federal government contracting. I just taped an episode with Nate Moser and it was a blast! In it, I discussed what we do at the firm to assist our federal government contracting clients, including things like drafting joint venture and mentor-protégé agreements. The podcast comes out in June and I hope you will give it a listen. The Smalls is nonprofit consortium of Government Contractors,

Koprince Law LLC

Koprince Law LLC

SmallGovCon Week in Review: May 16-20, 2022

Happy Friday, Readers! We’ve been as busy as bees this week here at SmallGovCon. We hope you have had a productive week, as well. The flowers are blooming, the crops are growing and the grass is greening up nicely here in Kansas. Here are a few articles on the happenings in federal government contracting this week. Have a great weekend! The Federal Contract Spending Trends For The Last 5 Years [ExecGov] Class Waiver of the Nonmanufacturer Rule [SBA] Construction Company Agrees to Pay $2

Koprince Law LLC

Koprince Law LLC

Buy American Act Thresholds Are Going Up

As we’ve written about, it seems like there have been more changes to the Buy American Act and domestic preferences in the last few years than in decades before that. Recently, the FAR Council issued a final rule that spells out how the domestic content thresholds will increase over the next few years. This rule is effective October 25, 2022, so contractors need to be preparing for it now. Originally passed in 1933, the Buy American Act (BAA) supports the policy of federal agencies proc

Koprince Law LLC

Koprince Law LLC

Back to Basics: WOSB Eligibility

To level the playing field for women business owners, the Federal Government limits competition for certain contracts to businesses participating in SBA’s Women-Owned Small Business (“WOSB”) Federal Contracting Program. Ideally, those contracts are for specific industries where WOSBs are historically underrepresented. And in fact, the Government even has certain WOSB contracting goals to encourage such set-asides. So, its easy to see why the WOSB Program can be a great opportunity for small busi

Koprince Law LLC

Koprince Law LLC

SmallGovCon Week in Review: May 9-13, 2022

Happy Friday blog readers! Hope you are having a nice week. Kick back and relax with the latest federal contracting updates. This week saw some interesting federal contracting news. GAO has issued a new report on ways the federal government can potentially save billions of dollars in spending and improve efficiency of its programs. Additional stories include an article I’m quoted in from Bloomberg Law discussing U.S. agencies requests for brand name items in contract proposals. Read on for t

Koprince Law LLC

Koprince Law LLC

GAO Sustains Protest to Solicitation’s Implementation of Randolph-Sheppard Act

GAO recently sustained a protest to the terms of a solicitation incorporating the Randolph-Sheppard Act (RSA). The RSA is a statutorily-prescribed preference for blind individuals in the operation of vending facilities (which include cafeterias, snack bars, and automatic vending machines) on Federal property. The protester here, the incumbent contractor and a non-RSA HUBZone concern, challenged the agency’s decision to include the RSA preference in its HUBZone set-aside solicitation for foo

Koprince Law LLC

Koprince Law LLC

Industrial Expansion: Proposed New Size Standards for Manufacturing and Other Industries with Employee-Based Size Standards

The SBA’s regulations state it will examine monetary-based size standards (e.g., receipts, net income, assets) at least once every five years and determine if adjustments are needed to those standards at such time. 13 C.F.R. § 121.102. But what about employee-based size standards? In fact, the same rule applies for reviewing and adjusting those standards as a result of the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010. On April 26, 2022, the SBA published its proposed rule to change the size standards for a n

Koprince Law LLC

Koprince Law LLC

SmallGovCon Week in Review: May 2-6, 2022

Happy Friday, Readers! The lilacs are blooming and this spring seems to be a particularly good year for them. We are enjoying their sweet scent as we stroll through the neighborhood when we get a dry day to do so. April showers are carrying over into May and we are all ready for some sunshine. Fun Fact: Kansas ranks #8 on the sunniest states list according to stacker.com. See how your state ranks here. There was news this week on the OBM gearing up to implement the Infrastructure Investment

Koprince Law LLC

Koprince Law LLC

The FAR will Soon Allow Small Business Set-Asides Outside the US

Small business federal contractors may soon want to think about getting new luggage. The FAR will be updated to allow for–but not require–small business set-asides in overseas procurements. This has the potential to open up a substantial number of contracting opportunities to small businesses who have the capabilities to compete. The final rule will be effective May 26, 2022. Here are some of the key details to know about. The rule was originally proposed in 2019 and the FAR Council revi

Koprince Law LLC

Koprince Law LLC

SmallGovCon Week in Review: April 25-29, 2022

Happy Friday, Readers! It’s time for another addition of the Week in Review. This week saw a lot of interesting updates, including lots of programs for small business owners, a little news on CMMC, and some new initiatives to help contractors navigate the federal marketplace. Catch up on all the latest, and enjoy the weekend! New acquisition leader at the Pentagon; TSP technology update; Making ZT work at DOL [FedScoop] Introducing BUY.GSA.GOV [GSA] SBA Administrator Guzman Launches

Koprince Law LLC

Koprince Law LLC

Back to Basics: Size Protests and Appeals

When a business is poised to win a federal contract award set aside for small businesses, there is always the potential for a competitor to challenge that award on the basis that the proposed winner is not actually a small business based on SBA’s size and affiliation rules. Or, if your company just lost an award, you may consider challenging that the proposed winner is a small business. Either way, it pays to know the basics behind size protests and appeals. While you could read through my recen

Koprince Law LLC

Koprince Law LLC

Top of the Class: 8(a) Early Graduation

The SBA’s 8(a) Business Development Program is the crème de la crème of federal government contracting and there are two ways for an individual and its business to get into the program. First, individuals can gain admission to the program by being a member of one of the recognized groups individuals that is automatically presumed to be socially and economically disadvantaged. If an individual does not fall into one of the presumed socially and economically disadvantaged groups, the individual mu

Koprince Law LLC

Koprince Law LLC

SmallGovCon Week in Review, April 18-22, 2022

Happy Friday, Readers! I hope you had a very productive week. It’s hard to believe that we are almost through the month of April already and It won’t be long before the kids are out of school. Parents get ready!!! The world of federal government contracting just seems to get busier and busier. This week there were several articles on the Pentagon’s budget increasing for AI capabilities and the implementation of Buy American Preference for infrastructure. We’ve also included a few cautionary

Koprince Law LLC

Koprince Law LLC

Back to Basics: The Nonmanufacturer Rule

To qualify as a small business under most set-aside or sole-source contracts seeking manufactured products or supplies, SBA’s regulations require an offeror to be the item’s manufacturer or, alternatively, comply with the nonmanufacturer rule. In this post, we’ll discuss qualifying under the nonmanufacturer rule. 1. Do I need to qualify under the nonmanufacturer rule? That depends on the type of procurement you’re bidding on. Again, the nonmanufacturer rule comes into play for so

Koprince Law LLC

Koprince Law LLC

SmallGovCon Week in Review: April 11-15, 2022

Hello, readers and happy Friday! The trees are starting to bloom here in the Midwest and they are beautiful but they have many of us sneezing. A small price to pay for warmer weather and a beautiful spring landscape. Am I right? This week in the federal government landscape world saw a hearing on the federal contractor vaccine mandate, greener IT contracts, and a new GSA contracting vehicle. Former Federal Official Sentenced To Prison For Contract Bribery Conspiracy And Tax Fraud [D

Koprince Law LLC

Koprince Law LLC

MyGovWatch Live: The B2G Roundtable with Federal Contracts Attorney Nicole Pottroff: April 20, 2022 @ 1:00pm EDT

Please join this informative Q & A session hosted by Nick Bernardo, the president and founder of MyWatchGov.com, as he speaks with Koprince McCall Pottroff LLC’s equity partner, Nicole Pottroff, on April 20, 2022 at 1:00pm EDT. Nick has extensive experience helping “companies of all sizes figure out how to find, compete for, and actually win government contracts.” Nick’s program, MyGovWatch Live: The B2G Roundtable, is “a casual, talk-show style, interactive monthly online forum for anyone t

Koprince Law LLC

Koprince Law LLC

Polaris: GSA Releases Solicitations, New Q&A

GSA recently released new solicitations for the Small Business Pool and the Women Owned Small Business Pool. The Q&A has some additional details on the Polaris solicitation. As we’ve written about, the purpose of the Polaris solicitation is to provide federal agencies with information technology services from qualified small businesses. I’ll mention some of the highlights from both the solicitations and the update, which includes some more information on the timing for the solicitation, othe

Koprince Law LLC

Koprince Law LLC

SmallGovCon Week in Review: April 4-8, 2022

Happy Friday, Readers! Our hometown Kansas Jayhawks won the NCAA National Basketball Championship and it’s an understatement to say that we are very excited about it here in Lawrence, Kansas. Thousands of people took to the streets in downtown Lawrence on Saturday night to celebrate the win and the energy was incredible! What a fun ride! There were several announcements by the SBA this week concerning adding more industries that are eligible for the Women-Owned Business Federal Contract Prog

Koprince Law LLC

Koprince Law LLC

New Senate Bill Takes Aim at Organizational Conflicts of Interest

These days it often seems like both sides of the congressional aisle cannot agree on anything and bipartisan support is in short supply. However, one thing that Congress can agree on is the fact that organizational conflicts, which can lead to unfair advantages, have no place in Federal contracting. On March 23, 2022, Michigan Senator Gary Peters, with support of three other senators, introduced S. 3905, the Preventing Organizational Conflicts in Federal Acquisition Act (the Act). The bill aims

Koprince Law LLC

Koprince Law LLC

Back to Basics: SBA’s 8(a) Business Development Program

If you’re a small business owner interested in government contracts, you’ve probably heard about the SBA’s 8(a) Business Development Program. The 8(a) Program itself is complex, and its eligibility rules are some of stricter rules out there; but its potential benefits are tremendous. In this Back to Basics post, I’ll break down some of the very basics about the 8(a) Program. But don’t worry, not only will I follow this post up with another to unpack more of the complexities, I have also included

Koprince Law LLC

Koprince Law LLC

Event: Government Contracts Update with UTSA PTAC

Our attorneys will be presenting a Government Contracts Legal Update 2022 in cooperation with The University of Texas at San Antonio Institute for Economic Development PTAC. We will provide a comprehensive update on the most important government contracting legal changes of late 2021 and the first months of 2022. This free event will take place on April 14 from 10:00 AM – 11:30 AM (CDT). Be sure to check out the registration link if you are interested! The post Event: Government Contracts U

Koprince Law LLC

Koprince Law LLC

SmallGovCon Week in Review: March 28-April 1, 2022

Happy April 1st, everyone! In honor of April Fools’ Day, here are some noteworthy pranks over the years. In 1957, the BBC reported that Swiss farmers were experiencing a record spaghetti crop and showed footage of people harvesting noodles from trees. In 1985, Sports Illustrated writer George Plimpton tricked many readers when he ran a made-up article about a rookie pitcher named Sidd Finch who could throw a fastball over 168 miles per hour. And in 1996, Taco Bell, the fast-food restaurant chain

Koprince Law LLC

Koprince Law LLC

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