The House recently passed Senate Bill 583, titled the “Promoting Rigorous and Innovative Cost Efficiencies for Federal Procurement and Acquisitions (PRICE) Act.” The Price Act would require the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to report projects from its Procurement Innovation Lab (PIL) that have used innovative techniques to help modernize contracting procedures. The bill would also require the DHS to offer training to its personnel on how to use these techniques. In addition, the PRICE Ac
Happy Friday, Readers! We hope you had a wonderful Valentine’s Day and a very productive week. Another winter storm blew in on Thursday and we received 7 inches of snow. But do you know what we say in Kansas? “If you don’t like the weather, wait a minute. ” By Monday we will reach a temperature of almost 70 degrees! The weather in Kansas can change on a dime.
We put together some informative articles on federal government contracting news. Enjoy and stay warm or cool or anywhere in between
Koprince McCall Pottroff LLC presents a webinar hosted by EPHCC that covers important legal concepts in federal government contracting that are easy to get wrong.
Federal contracting rules and laws are complicated, and the rules aren’t always intuitive. Many contractors make legal mistakes routinely, involving everything from completing SAM profiles to calculating small business size to communicating with government contracting officers. The attorneys from Koprince McCall Pottroff will disc
Hello Readers! In this webinar hosted by the Ohio PTAC, attorneys Nicole Pottroff and John Holtz will be pointing out and helping you avoid common legal mistakes in federal government contracting. Join us this Thursday (February 17) by registering here.
The post Webinar Event: Ohio PTAC – Top 10 Legal Misconceptions in Federal Contracting and Pending Legal Changes first appeared on SmallGovCon - Government Contracts Law Blog.View the full article
GAO recently sustained a protest to the evaluation of an awardee’s management approach based on a material misrepresentation in its proposed key personnel experience (that the protester found on Linkedin, no less). And GAO found the misrepresentation was material because the agency relied upon it, and it significantly impacted the agency’s evaluation. Let’s take a closer look.
Insight Tech. Sols., Inc., B-420133.2 (Dec. 20, 2021) involves a task order issued by the Department of Homelan
Happy Friday, Blog Readers! We are sad that our Kansas City Chiefs will not be playing in the Super Bowl, this Sunday, but nevertheless it should be a competitive game and fun to watch. If you are heading out to that Super Bowl Party or just staying in this weekend, we thought we would share a delicious dip recipe from one of our SmallGovCon team members to enjoy during the big game.
9 Layer Italian Dip
1lb. Italian Sausage (browned & drained) (2) Bricks of Cream Cheese (1) Packa
In response to an Executive Order, the FAR Council has recently proposed to amend the FAR in an effort to ensure that major federal procurements will minimize the risk of climate change. And DoD, GSA, and NASA sought the public’s input on the issue. Let’s take a closer look.
The FAR Council issued an advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on October 15, 2021, which covers the second case (FAR Case No. 2021-016, Minimizing the Risk of Climate Change in Federal Acquisitions) the FAR Counci
Hello Readers! If you work with the army, you might find it helpful to get an overview of additional FAR regulations that the army has to abide by. Attorneys Nicole Pottroff and John Holtz break down the AFARS for you in this complimentary webinar. Join us tomorrow by registering here.
The post Webinar Event: FAR Supplement – AFARS – Army first appeared on SmallGovCon - Government Contracts Law Blog.View the full article
Additional changes to the submission date and the self-scoring requirements for CIO-SP4 offers make up the latest batch of amendments published by the National Institutes of Health Information Technology Acquisition and Assessment Center, leaving offerors hopeful the latest changes will be the last in a long string of amendments. Amendment 15 pushes back the submission date for CIO-SP4 offers and addresses a change to offer modifications. Amendment 16 includes additional changes to submission re
Happy February, Readers! We had some excitement this week when a winter snowstorm moved into our neck of the woods. I’m happy to report that all is well and the streets have been cleared by our vigilant city road crews whom we are very grateful for. It sure was a beautiful, snowy site.
There was a lot going on in federal government contracting, this week, including an announcement from the DoD that John Sherman will be acting chief digital and AI officer as well as the deadline has
Hello Readers! We have three events this month that we’d like to invite you to attend. All three events are complimentary, so we hope to see you there!
First off, on February 9, we have a webinar about the FAR Supplement for 2022 that is specific to the Army – AFARS. The presenters for this event are Nicole Pottroff and John Holtz. Register here.
Next, on February 16, we have a webinar about the FAR Supplement for 2022 that is specific to the Air Force – AFFARS. The pres
On January 13, 2022 the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued its Final Rule governing the implementation of the Buy Indian Act (Act). This rule clarifies the preference for Indian-owned and controlled businesses and removes barriers by alleviating unnecessary regulatory burdens. If you’re a frequent visitor to our blogs, you may be thinking, “wait what, didn’t you just blog about this last November?” Actually, the subject of the blog about the Buy Indian Act from
The White House has announced the launch of a Made in America Council, which will be the overarching group to “coordinate and advance the Made in America Office’s work across the entirety of the Federal Government.” This represents a new strategy for things like the Buy American Act and related policies, because it will try to centralize these efforts to some degree, instead of having them disbursed throughout the various federal agencies. Below are some of the highlights from this announcement.
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) NITAAC has been busy over the past month with three amendments to the CIO-SP4. Amendments 12, 13, and 14 primarily revise submission dates and make changes to the reporting of past experience examples. Below is a summary of the pertinent details from these amendments, as we know this is an important procurement for many contractors.
Amendment 12, released December 16, 2021, requests proposal revisions from offerors who provided proposals by August
When an agency restricts a solicitation to a single brand-name, the agency must appropriately justify its decision, even where the solicitation is competed among holders of a governmentwide acquisition contract.
In a recent case, the GAO sustained a protest, holding that an agency violated the FAR by failing to properly justify its brand-name restriction.
The GAO’s decision in Westwind Computer Products, Inc., B-420119 (Dec. 8, 2021) involved a USDA solicitation seeking enterprise bu
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
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