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
The vaccine mandate remains the talk of the governing contracting community. Even as a new lawsuit seeks to block the mandate, many contractors are working feverishly in an effort to comply.
Last week, I addressed responses to five common misconceptions I am hearing about the vaccine mandate. But I am seeing many more misconceptions, and updated guidance from the Safer Federal Workforce Task Force helps address some of them. So let’s take a look at five more common misconceptions about the
Here at Koprince McCall Pottroff LLC, we’ve had a lot of contractors ask, “are you going to give a webinar on the contractor vaccine mandate?” I am pleased to say that the answer is yes.
On November 17, please join me and Shane McCall for a special Govology webinar 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 t
Ask any attorney, and there’s a good chance they’d agree with this statement: Intellectual property is a particularly complex area of law. Dealing with property rights in things that don’t physically exist, unsurprisingly, can result in a lot of confusion. Couple this with the labyrinthine regulations and rules concerning government contracts and procurements, and even the most experienced contractor can be left confused with a pounding headache.
To help clear up these murky waters, this pos
Happy Friday and Happy Halloween! As always, there was a lot of news in the federal government contracting world this week including an announcement from the SBA concerning a new community navigator pilot program which will provide $100 million in funding to 51 organizations to help support local community entrepreneurs. Also, the GSA announced it will be making revisions to its commercial platform initiative. You can read more about these and other federal government contracting related topics
The nonmanufacturer rule is one that is commonly misunderstood in the federal government contracting realm. But it is also one we encounter quite often in our role assisting federal contractors.
On November 4, please join me, Shane McCall, and my colleague, Nicole Pottroff, as we dive deep into the nonmanufacturer rule, tackling the ins and the outs and answering some of your questions surrounding it. The webinar will be hosted by our friends at Govology, and it is easy to register: just c
The contractor vaccine mandate is the talk of the government contracting community. As contractors scramble to understand the ins-and-outs of the new requirement, my colleagues and I are seeing some of the same misconceptions repeatedly arise.
Without further ado, here are five common misconceptions about the contractor vaccine mandate, and the actual rules you should know in regards to each.
1. Misconception: the vaccine mandate automatically applied to all prime contractors and
The House-passed version of the 2022 National Defense Authorization Act would make some significant changes for the HUBZone program. Among them are the ability to have HUBZone appeals heard by administrative judges. Below is a summary of the key changes The House version of the 2022 NDAA includes some amendments that could come about if they are all included in the final law.
HUBZone Appeals
The first one is HUBZone appeals. The House version of the NDAA provides authority for SBA Of
Hope everyone is enjoying their fall. I’ll be doing some pumpkin carving this week after going to the pumpkin patch. It was another busy week in the federal government contracting world. The vaccine mandate has been a hot topic, this week, as well as the passing of General Colin Powell.
Here are a few articles that we found to be of interest to those in federal government contracting. Enjoy and have a great weekend.
Colin Powell, Who Shaped U.S. National Security, Dies at 84 [NYT]
My colleagues and I here at Koprince McCall Pottroff have been hearing lots of questions about the new COVID-19 vaccine mandate for certain employees of federal government contractors. Perhaps unsurprisingly, given the pandemic-related rise in remote work, one of the most common questions is “are work-from-home employees required to be vaccinated?”
The answer, it turns out, is “it depends.”
The underlying Executive Order requires contractors to follow guidance issued by the Safer Fe
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
Happy Friday, Readers! We hope you have had a great week. The leaves on the trees are starting to turn beautiful colors and the temperatures are beginning to cool here in Lawrence, Kansas. It truly feels like Fall now and the kids are getting excited about Halloween. We hope you are enjoying Fall in your neck of the woods.
As usual, there was a lot of activity in the federal government contracting world, this week, such as a continuation of news concerning the Covid safety protocols for fed
The sole source thresholds for the major socioeconomic preference programs would increase significantly under the House-passed version of the 2022 National Defense Authorization Act.
The House version of the 2022 NDAA includes an amendment that would raise the sole source caps for contracts awarded to qualified 8(a) Program participants, service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses, HUBZone Program participants, and woman-owned small businesses (as well as the economically disadvantaged s
GSA has been hard at work on the Polaris solicitation. The goal: provide federal agencies with information technology services from qualified small businesses. GSA recently released the updated draft versions of the submission instructions and evaluation criteria for Polaris. Like CIO-SP4, which we blogged on in detail, Polaris is going to be of interest to many small business IT contractors. So, here are a few highlights from the draft sections.
GSA has indicated that the changes to the
Happy Friday and we hope you had a very productive week. There was a lot of discussion this week concerning the federal vaccine mandate as well as an announcement from the Department of of Justice concerning the cyber fraud. You can read more about those topics and other news in federal government contracting in the articles below.
Have a great weekend!
DOJ Launches Initiative to Address False Cybersecurity Fraud Claims by Contractors [GovConWire] Pentagon security agency looks to ex