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
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
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
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
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
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
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