The San Antonio Business Opportunity Counsel will be hosting this workshop that will include a day of training, networking, speakers and exhibitors in beautiful San Antonio, Texas. I’m excited for the opportunity to be the keynote speaker and will be presenting on Mentor Protege, Teaming and Joint Venture Agreements. For more information on this event please visit www.saboc.org. Hope to see you there!
The post Event: “Small Business is BIG Business in Government Procurement” Training Workshop,
Happy Friday, Readers! As we move into a new month this week, big things are happening in the world of federal government contracting, from the impacts of recent federal court decisions on SBA’s 8(a) Program–to the ever-developing conversations about artificial intelligence and social media (and the benefits, limitations, and concerns surrounding each). But amidst many a changing landscape, some things certainly remain constant–the likelihood of facing severe consequences for dishonesty and frau
The SBA’s Office of Government Contracting and Business Development, the office that handles the 8(a) Business Development Program applications, has just confirmed that SBA has “temporarily paused” the submission of new 8(a) Program applications in light of the recent decision by the federal district court of the Eastern District of Tennessee.
As we recently blogged about here, on July 19, 2023, the federal district court of the Eastern District of Tennessee enjoined SBA’s 8(a) Program
SBA, like other agencies, publishes a semiannual Regulatory Agenda to provide an update on the various rules it has coming up as well as a timeline for when they will be published or become final. While SBA doesn’t have to meet these timeframes, it’s always good to check in on what SBA has been working on when the final rules will come out. This agenda includes an update on increased size standards, along with some other important rules. Here is a summary of the upcoming rules and what we think
Happy Friday! It’s time for another edition of WIR. I’d like to start off by thanking the El Paso Community College’s Contract Opportunities Center APEX Accelerator and the always-lively Pablo Armendariz for hosting me and allowing me to speak at the Procurement and Contracting Symposium, in El Paso, Texas, earlier this week. It was a wonderful event for discussions around federal government contracting. I met some new folks and got to talk to many people with great excitement for the federal co
The SBA published its annual Government Wide Small Business Procurement Scorecard for fiscal year 2022, and it appears that nearly every type of small business set-aside by the SBA, with the continued exception for Woman-Owned Small Businesses and HUBZone businesses, either met or exceeded their goal. Overall, agencies exceeded their goals for the year, earning an overall score of “A” due to meeting the small business contracting goals with 104.05% of the total goal.
In case you have nev
On July 19, 2023, the federal district court of the Eastern District of Tennessee issued a decision regarding a case involving the rebuttable presumption of social disadvantage in place under the 8(a) Business Development Program. Ultima Servs. Corp. v. U.S. Dep’t of Agric., 220CV00041DCLCCRW, 2023 WL 4633481, at *1 (E.D. Tenn. July 19, 2023). This decision found that this presumption is unconstitutional as it violates the right to equal protection. This, understandably, has caused a great deal
Hello and Happy Friday! We hope you had great week and are finishing the week strong today. The SBA and Whitehouse announced that the current administration exceeded its small business goal with a record breaking $163 Billion in federal procurement opportunities. That’s an $8.7 billion increase from the previous year, which is great news for small businesses. You can read more about this and other newsworthy articles below. Have a great weekend.
Biden-Harris Administration Sets Record-
On behalf of CMS (Centers for Medicaid & Medicare Services), the National Contract Management Association (NCMA) and the Professional Services Council (PSC) will host a 90-minute virtual industry-led discussion, with our very own Nicole Pottroff as a presenter. The webinar will provide an in-depth look and interactive conversation regarding CMS procurement protests–the common factors and considerations contractors take into account when deciding whether to protest CMS procurement decisions,
Something we frequently hear, when talking to those involved in the federal contracting industry, is that just when you think you have a handle on all the different ways federal contracting is run, you find out about another new program, authority, protest, guidance, regulation, or any other possible wrinkle of federal contracting. One prime example of this is that many individuals getting into federal contracting will often be surprised that the FAR is not the only standard that may drive how a
Steven Koprince, Govology Legal Analyst and retired founder of Koprince McCall Pottroff (and all around cool dude) will be presenting this webinar providing a big-picture overview of small business certifications in the government marketplace. In this webinar, you will learn about various federal small business certification programs, including Small Business Self Certification, Small Disadvantaged Business (SDB) & 8(a), Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB), Veteran-Owned S
Happy Friday! Our SmallGovCon authors and attorneys were busy this week. Aside from our normal updates, Nicole Pottroff and John Holtz presented a 3-Part Series for Govology, this week, on compliant and effective teaming agreements, joint ventures and subcontracts. This is always a popular webinar and there was a lot of great information shared as well as a lot of great questions. If you were not able to attend, please check out Govology’s upcoming webinar events at Govology.com. It’s a wonderfu
It’s here–the first ever SBA Office of Hearings and Appeals (OHA) HUBZone appeal decision! Sure, it is a very short decision and a dismissal–in fact, one reiterating some of the limitations of the new appeal avenue. But that doesn’t make it any less important. This is still SBA OHA’s first ever HUBZone appeal decision, only made possible by the SBA’s recent issuance of a new rule allowing HUBZone appeals (again, in limited circumstances). Let’s take a closer look.
That’s right! The SBA’s
Federal contractors, be sure to ask your kids or a young person what TikTok is (if you don’t already know), because those providing services to the federal government now have to take steps to ban it from employee’s devices in certain situations. A recent FAR rule has now implemented Congress’s ban on use of TikTok on government devices.
The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023, enacted the No TikTok on Government Devices Act (the Act) and OMB provided additional implementing guidance.
Happy Friday! We hope you had a nice 4th of July and a great week. It was another scorcher here in Kansas, on the 4th, but thankfully our temperatures are much cooler to finish out the week. Here’s hoping you can find time to rest and relax this weekend and perhaps, read a few articles we thought were interesting from the federal government contracting world. Enjoy!
In this week’s edition, the federal fiscal fourth quarter is upon us!
Busy federal fourth quarter to bleed into just a
Well, summer is certainly here. You only need to step outside to be able to tell. And with the arrival of summer, the long-awaited end to the HUBZone map freeze just occurred on June 30, 2023. The new map took effect the following day, July 1, 2023. If you’re in the HUBZone program, or are considering certification in the HUBZone program, you might have some questions as to what this means for you. In this post, we’ll explore what the changes will bring.
In the 2018 National Defense Auth
If you are in to podcasts, law firm blogs, or legal marketing, check out my appearance on the Legally Contented podcast with Wayne Pollock. Here is the YouTube version, and below are links to the audio podcast on your format of choice. In this podcast, we discuss how blogging can make attorneys better attorneys balancing breaking news-type blog posts with substantive blog posts–and lots more. It was a great experience discussing SmallGovCon with Wayne. Hope you enjoy it.
https://podca
Happy Friday! We hope you have had a productive week. We are having a heat wave here in Kansas, with the heat index getting up to 106 degrees, and we know it’s even higher in other parts of the country. I think I speak for everyone here when I say we are grateful for air conditioning. We hope you are staying cool and healthy in your neck of the woods and looking forward to the weekend.
This week in federal government contracting news saw movement on the 2024 NDAA as well as calls for enhanc
While every federal government contractor is likely familiar with bid protests, whether directly involved in one or not, it is far less likely that those same contractors are as familiar with NAICS code appeals. This is probably due to the infrequent nature of NAICS code appeals, with roughly 20 being filed each year. However, even if so few are filed annually, they tend to have a relatively high success rate, with appeals decided on the merits being decided in favor of the Appellant about 50% o
Koprince McCall Pottroff LLC is a premier small business and federal government contracts firm in Lawrence, Kansas. The management team is pleased to announce that Gregory Weber has been promoted to the role of Senior Associate Attorney.
Greg quickly integrated himself into the fabric of our firm, and working with federal contractors has become second nature to him. In response to the announcement, Greg said, “I am thrilled to be given this opportunity to further help our clients and work wi
A common path for many federal contractors to bid on and perform a federal contract is through a joint venture (“JV”). Utilizing a JV can provide some great opportunities for two (or sometimes more) businesses to share resources and boost each others’ performance on a contract. Additionally, it can be a great tool for contractors to utilize both JV partners’ experience and to jointly gain more experience. There are even widespread SBA regulations requiring agencies to “consider” both JV partners
I’m very excited to be speaking at the Procurement & Contracting Symposium held at EPCC Administrative Services Center (ASC) in El Paso, Texas on July 25. The wonderful Pablo Armendariz is putting this one together. I’ll be providing a comprehensive update on the most important government contracting legal changes.
It’s going to be a great opportunity for Federal, state, and local government agencies, buyers, prime and subcontractors, suppliers, providers, and the regional business com
Happy Friday and happy Summer Solstice! It’s officially summer and the temperatures here in Lawrence, Kansas sure feel like it. We have been in the 90’s this week and we are certainly grateful for air conditioning (and maybe even looking forward to winter). We hope our readers have some fun summer vacation plans and find time to rest and relax a bit this weekend. Wear your sunscreen and stay hydrated!
In federal government news this week, budget talks and the draft NDAA are being worked on,
SBA recently revised its affiliation regulations in a number of ways, some of which we have already discussed here. We have likely sounded pretty upbeat about most of SBA’s recent updates thus far, as the majority do seem to be a step in the right direction–adding clarity to SBA’s rules and furthering the policies SBA seeks to enforce. Well, not trying to rain on any parades here, but at least one of SBA’s recent regulatory updates, (at least in our humble opinion) has the potential to confuse f
Touted as a “game-changer” when it was first introduced in 2016, the U.S. Small Business Administration’s All Small Mentor-Protégé Program isn’t new anymore. Known now as simply the “SBA Mentor-Protégé Program,” it is still extremely powerful for large and small contractors alike.
In this course, Koprince McCall Pottroff LLC government contracts attorneys Stephanie Ellis and I will explain the ins and outs of the Mentor-Protégé Program, covering the program’s eligibility requirements, its po
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