The government contracting legal landscape has gone through many important changes in 2022 and the first part of 2023, including new small business rules, SDVOSB certification requirements, recent domestic preference changes under the Buy American Act, key provisions of the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act and other laws passed in 2022, and much more.
In this session, John Holtz and I, will provide a comprehensive update on the most important government contracting legal changes in 2
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
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
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
Hello Readers! If you work with the Air Force, you might find it helpful to get an overview of the supplement FAR provisions that the Air Force applies to its procurements. Attorneys Nicole Pottroff and Kevin Wickliffe break down the AFFARS for you in this complimentary webinar. Join us next Wednesday (February 16) by registering here.
The post Webinar Event: FAR Supplement – AFFARS – Air Force first appeared on SmallGovCon - Government Contracts Law Blog.View the full article
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
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.
I invite you to join Greg Weber and myself as we discuss the Top 21 Most Common Legal Mistakes that contractors make time and time again hosted by the El Paso Chamber of Commerce. You will learn what these common mist
Please join us for a very informative webinar hosted by The Catalyst Center for Business & Entrepreneurship.
Joint ventures can be a powerful tool for multiple businesses to compete for proposals and combine the best capabilities they have to offer. But how do businesses keep their agreements in order? This presentation will address the benefits of a joint venture, including use of past performance and capabilities such as facility clearances. Recent changes to how federal agencies must
The Texas South-West Small Business Development Center (SBDC) Network is hosting this upcoming, informative webinar on the Buy American Act. The Buy American Act permits agencies to buy foreign end products only under certain exceptions, such as when domestic items are not available at a reasonable cost. Further, U.S. trade agreements waive the Buy American restrictions for certain products. Please join us to learn more about these rules to include the recent updates. You can register here.
Th
An unequal evaluation can get an agency into hot water and force a reevaluation, as GAO has stated before. But with agencies entitled to broad discretion in their evaluations, how do you know what constitutes unequal evaluation?
Some GAO opinions can leave you wondering where the line is drawn, but a recent GAO decision provides an easy-to-understand example involving a requirement to train personnel under certain regulations. In that case, the GAO held that it was improper for the agency to as
Following up on its proposed waiver of the nonmanufacturer rule for laptops in December (which we covered here), the SBA (keeping its New Year’s Resolution?) is now proposing waivers for exercise equipment, sophisticated walkie-talkies, and more.
As a reminder, the nonmanufacturer rule generally applies to small businesses selling goods to the government through small business set-aside contracts. Under the rule, a small business must “be the manufacturer or producer of the end item be
In Fiscal Year 2022, 1,595 bid protests were filed with GAO. While that seems like a large number, it pales in comparison to the number of federal contracts the federal government awards in a given year. On average, the government awards over 11 million contracts per year. That’s a lot of acquisitions that are not subject to any feedback from outside the agency. But things might change now with the new rule that the FAR Council enacted. Today, we’ll take a look at what this entails.
Back
Contractors in the COVID-19 era may be tempted to think that the Government will compensate them for increased costs caused by virus-induced shutdowns, quarantines, and the like. And this line of thought has some inherent appeal. After all, the virus was entirely unforeseen by both parties when the contract was inked. So shouldn’t the customer–the party wanting the good or service–bear the risk of these extraordinary events?
In a very timely and relatable case, the Civilian Board of Cont
GAO’s outcome prediction alternative dispute resolution (“ADR”) can be a tempting option for all parties to a protest, as it provides a preview of sorts for GAO’s written decision. A recent GAO decision, however, underscores that despite its relative informality, outcome prediction ADR can have significant repercussions on future protest developments.
In Will Technology, Inc; Paragon TEC, Inc., B-413139.4 et al., __ CPD ¶ __ (Comp. Gen. June 11, 2018), NASA issued a procurement for acquisitio
For large and small contractors alike, teaming agreements are often essential to winning and successfully performing federal government contracts. Many agencies are (increasingly) requiring teaming agreements for a prime contractor to rely on subcontractor experience, qualifications, or resources. Even where a teaming agreement is not required to compete for a contract, it can still significantly reduce the likelihood of disputes during contract performance. So it is easy to see why teaming agre
SDVOSBs and VOSBs are big winners today, as the Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the VA’s “rule of two” is mandatory, and applies to all VA procurements–including GSA Schedule orders.
The Supreme Court’s decision in Kingdomware Technologies, Inc. v. United States, No. 14-916 (2016) means that the VA will be required to truly put “Veterans First” in all of its procurement actions–which is what Kingdomware, and many veterans’ advocates, have fought for all along.
History of the Kingd
Earlier this week, I was privileged to attend and present at the 14th Annual Veterans Business Conference. As always, the Contract Opportunities Center at El Paso Community College did a great job organizing the conference and connecting contractors with information they need to thrive. In the morning, I presented on size/affiliation issues and joint ventures and mentor protégé agreements. And at lunch, I spoke about various legal developments affecting small businesses. After that, the whole c
Despite a longstanding and very common misconception, the VA’s SDVOSB verification requirement doesn’t apply to non-VA SDVOSB contracts.
As the SBA Office of Hearings and Appeals recently reiterated, it was “simply not correct” to believe that a company was required to be verified in VetBiz to be awarded a non-VA SDVOSB contract.
Confusingly, the federal government currently runs two SDVOSB programs: one under the VA’s rules and the other under the SBA’s. The SBA’s program (which is the “or
The VA has officially withdrawn its November 2015 proposal to overhaul its SDVOSB and VOSB regulations.
The VA’s action isn’t surprising, given that the 2017 National Defense Authorization Act requires the VA to work with the SBA to prepare a consolidated set of SDVOSB regulations, which will then apply to both VA and non-VA procurements. What’s interesting, though, is that the VA doesn’t say that it’s withdrawing the 2015 proposal because of the 2017 NDAA, but rather because of numerous objec
The VA will begin using the SBA’s eligibility rules to verify SDVOSBs and VOSBs beginning October 1, 2018.
In a final rule published today in the Federal Register, the VA confirms that the SBA’s eligibility requirements will apply beginning next week–but in my eyes, one very important question remains unanswered.
As regular SmallGovCon readers know, the differences between the government’s two SDVOSB programs have caused major headaches for veterans. Because the two sets of regulations have
The VA will “immediately comply with the Court’s decision” in Kingdomware Technologies, Inc. v. United States, according to a top VA official.
In written testimony offered in advance of a Senate committee hearing tomorrow, the Executive Director of the VA’s Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization tells Congress that the VA will work to implement the Kingdomware decision, including by improving its market research processes.
In his testimony, Executive Director Thomas J. Leney
The VA and SBA have numerous regulations defining the eligibility requirements for participation in the veteran-owned and service-disabled veteran-owned small business programs. To help laypersons better understand these regulatory hurdles the VA publishes Verification Assistance Briefs. These “are resources to assist applicants in obtaining VA Verification for the Veterans First Contracting Program” and understand SBA’s ownership and control criteria. The VA recently updated all of its existing
As of September 2019, the VA has updated its Verification Assistance Brief on SDVOSB joint ventures. The old assistance brief was last revised in 2017 and contained some incorrect information. To its credit, this update removes the wrong info and it contains some additional guidance that could be helpful for SDVOSB joint venture members.
The new assistance brief contains a lot of the same information as the old, but it has been updated in some key ways.
First, the the incorrect gui
On May 21, 2018, the VA will suspend SDVOSB and VOSB applications for “approximately thirty (30)” days while the VA transitions to a new VIP interface.
According to a notice posted on the VA OSDBU website, the suspension will affect “both new applications and applications for re-verification.” However, the VA CVE “will continue processing previously submitted applications during the suspension.” The VA doesn’t beat around the bush: “any applicants (Veterans) that desire to have their cases be
A happy Veterans Day to all veterans and their families as we remember what you’ve done for our country. And there’s good reason for veteran business owners in particular to be happy. The Department of Veteran Affairs has recently made it easier to stay verified as a veteran-owned or service-disabled veteran-veteran owned small business.
VA’s Center for Verification and Evaluation is the the certifying authority for SDVOSBs or VOSBs. While it can be a source of frustration, the CVE is a
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