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Thirty-eighth Time’s the Charm? Not for this Protester.

GAO dismissed a protest recently that was the 38th docketed GAO bid protest action regarding a single solicitation. GAO said the protest was untimely. The decision is a reminder that even seasoned protesters who have gone through complicated bid protests have to stay mindful of GAO’s timeliness rules. The matter, CredoGov, B-414389.38 (May 31, 2019), had to do with a Department of the Army solicitation seeking off-the-shelf items like computers, workstations, notebooks, and printers

Koprince Law LLC

Koprince Law LLC

Third Time’s the Charm: Protest Sustained by COFC Due to Failure to Conduct Discussions and Flawed Price Reasonableness Evaluation

Proving that an agency acted improperly in its source selection process can be a difficult task for any protester. In theory, for a best value tradeoff decision, the agency’s decision and the process to come to that decision seems easy: the agency does a tradeoff between cost and non-cost factors, and that which is most advantageous to the government is awarded. How hard could it be? And the decisions handed down by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) and the Court of Federal Claims (COFC

Koprince Law LLC

Koprince Law LLC

The VA’s SDVOSB JV Verification Assistance Brief Is Wrong

The VA’s Verification Assistance Brief for SDVOSB and VOSB joint ventures flat-out misstates the law regarding the manner in which joint venture profits must be split. SDVOSBs and VOSBs often rely on Verification Assistance Briefs to guide them through the CVE verification process, and CVE analysts sometimes use Verification Assistance Briefs, too.  Which begs the question: how many CVE-verified joint ventures are legally invalid? The VAAR provides that a joint venture can be eligible for a

Koprince Law LLC

Koprince Law LLC

The Thaw: Dealing with the End of the HUBZone Map Freeze

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

Koprince Law LLC

Koprince Law LLC

The Simplified Acquisition Threshold and Micro-Purchase Threshold are Going Up

The DoD, GSA, and NASA are proposing increases to the Simplified Acquisition Threshold and Micro-Purchase Threshold. Although this may seem like a minor update, it will cause changes across the federal contracting landscape, will alter the FAR, and will result in more contracts being issued under the Micro-Purchase and Simplified Acquisition Thresholds. On October 2, the DoD, GSA, and NASA issued a proposed rule that would amend the FAR to increase the Micro-Purchase Threshold and Simpli

Koprince Law LLC

Koprince Law LLC

The SBA Proposes New Rules to Help Small Businesses in Obtaining Past Performance

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

Koprince Law LLC

Koprince Law LLC

The Role of Small Business Innovation in America’s Space Program

The Senate Committee on Small Business & Entrepreneurship recently held a hearing focusing on the role small businesses will play in NASA’s renewed focus on going back to the Moon and then on to Mars. We have recently touched on the growing impact space exploration is having on small businesses, and vice versa, but this dedicated hearing prompts a closer look at the opportunities small businesses will have for working on space exploration. Two NASA representatives spoke at the hearin

Koprince Law LLC

Koprince Law LLC

The Mysterious Case of the Missing SBA Women-Owned Small Business Certification Program

On December 19, 2014, then-President Obama signed the 2015 National Defense Authorization Act into law.  The 2015 NDAA eliminated the statutory basis for federal agencies to award women-owned small business set-aside contracts to self-certified companies.  In essence, then, the 2015 NDAA effectively eliminated WOSB self-certification. Flash forward almost four years, and the SBA has not yet implemented a WOSB certification program.  In fact, the SBA hasn’t even proposed rules to implement such

Koprince Law LLC

Koprince Law LLC

The Large Business Runway Extension Act: For Some Contractors, New Five-Year Size Period Will Backfire

The House and Senate have passed the “Small Business Runway Extension Act of 2018,” which appears poised to become law in the coming days.  As my colleague Matt Moriarty has written, the bill would amend the SBA’s small business size rules to use a five-year average, instead of a three-year average, in calculations using receipts-based size standards. The purpose of the bill is to help contractors avoid becoming “other than small” following a period of quick growth, but not all companies wil

Koprince Law LLC

Koprince Law LLC

The HUBZone 35% Residency Requirement in Between Certifications

It is well established that, in order to be eligible for HUBZone certification or recertification, one of the requirements is that 35% of a company’s employees must reside in a HUBZone. That part is (relatively) straightforward. But, as we all know, employees might come and go at any time. This raises a few questions about what the requirement is when a company is preparing to bid on contracts as well as when performing them. We explore this question here. As we noted above, “[i]n order

Koprince Law LLC

Koprince Law LLC

The FAR’s Nondisplacement of Qualified Workers Clause is Finally Getting the Boot

Federal agencies will be issuing a final rule that will remove the infamous nondisplacement of qualified workers clause from the FAR. The final rule goes into effect June 5, 2020. Let’s take a look. The new rule, issued May 6, 2020, implements Executive Order 13897, “Improving Federal Contractor Operations by Revoking Executive Order 13495” (published in the Federal Register on November 5, 2019, at 84 FR 59709), which we previously blogged about. The prior Executive Order, through

Koprince Law LLC

Koprince Law LLC

The FAR will Soon Allow Small Business Set-Asides Outside the US

Small business federal contractors may soon want to think about getting new luggage. The FAR will be updated to allow for–but not require–small business set-asides in overseas procurements. This has the potential to open up a substantial number of contracting opportunities to small businesses who have the capabilities to compete. The final rule will be effective May 26, 2022. Here are some of the key details to know about. The rule was originally proposed in 2019 and the FAR Council revi

Koprince Law LLC

Koprince Law LLC

The Dog Ate my Addendum: Don’t Neglect your Joint Venture Addendum, says OHA

Spring is upon us, and for many of us, it evokes thoughts of friendly weather, and new life. In the world of federal contracting, new life is often seen through the forming of new joint ventures. As most contractors and readers of this blog know, there are many requirements placed on a joint venture that intends to bid on set-asides, and most deal with the content of a joint venture agreement between the joint venture members. In a recent case, the SBA Office of Hearings and Appeals (OHA) review

Koprince Law LLC

Koprince Law LLC

The DoD Mentor-Protégé Program’s New Look: Expanded Protégé Eligibility

Many SBA programs and offerings have their origins in other agencies or parts of the federal government. Contractors who do not work with the DoD might be surprised to learn that the DoD’s own Mentor-Protégé Program is in fact the oldest continuously operating mentor-protégé program, dating back to the First Gulf War. Recently, this program received some updates, one of which will greatly expand the pool of eligible proteges. Let’s take a look at these changes in more detail. Back in Feb

Koprince Law LLC

Koprince Law LLC

The DFARS Approach to Data Rights

We have discussed data rights in the general federal government context, now it is finally time to look at the DFARS’ approach to this area of intellectual property. One thing: The DFARS (Defense Acquisition Regulation Systems) does not replace the FAR. It is a supplement, not a completely different set of rules. That said, there are certain nuances that the contractor needs to be aware of in order to navigate the DoD’s requirements. In General As the DFARS is simply a supplement to

Koprince Law LLC

Koprince Law LLC

The Coronavirus Stimulus Package Could do More for Small Business Contractors

Congress is expected to pass a huge coronavirus stimulus package in the coming days. While lobbyists and congressional staffers wrestle over the last bits and pieces to find their way in to the bill, there seems to be a pretty important group left out—small business federal contractors. Yes, the proposal includes some $300 billion in loans for small businesses. But there is much more that can be done and there can be greater focus on helping small contractors who are facing incredibly t

Koprince Law LLC

Koprince Law LLC

The Coronavirus Stimulus Package Could do More for Small Business Contractors

Congress is expected to pass a huge coronavirus stimulus package in the coming days. While lobbyists and congressional staffers wrestle over the last bits and pieces to find their way in to the bill, there seems to be a pretty important group left out—small business federal contractors. Yes, the proposal includes some $300 billion in loans for small businesses. But there is much more that can be done and there can be greater focus on helping small contractors who are facing incredibly t

Koprince Law LLC

Koprince Law LLC

The CIO-SP4 RFP Allows Broad Past Performance Information–But Does It Go Too Far?

One of my major concerns with the draft solicitation for the CIO-SP4 GWAC was the limited nature of the past performance NITAAC intended to consider. Under the draft RFP, NITAAC would not have considered the past performance of subcontractors–something I believed violated 13 C.F.R. 125.2(g) in certain cases, and was contrary to the guidance of FAR 15.305(a)(2)(iii), which says that agencies “should” consider the past performance of “subcontractors that will perform major or critical aspects of

Koprince Law LLC

Koprince Law LLC

The Basics: Socioeconomic Sole Source Awards

Just last week during a Govology webinar on Women-Owned Small Businesses, one of the attendees asked my colleague Haley Claxton and I an insightful question about the different standards for giving sole source awards to participants in various government programs. She wanted to know the difference between how contracting officers go about offering an 8(a) sole source award and a WOSB sole source award. I had to admit, the practical, ground-level, nitty gritty business of how these awards ar

Koprince Law LLC

Koprince Law LLC

The Anatomy of a Solicitation: How to Read the Standard Sections of a Federal Solicitation

Being familiar with the structure of a solicitation is imperative if you hope to be a successful federal government contractor. However, the solicitations that accompany competitive procurements, in the form of a “request for quote,” “invitation for bid,” or “request for proposal,” are often lengthy, making it easy for contractors that are new to federal government contracting to get lost in the legalese, and unable to pinpoint the vital information. Does that mean that parts of the solicitation

Koprince Law LLC

Koprince Law LLC

The 8(a) Program: Our New Handbook is Available

The 8(a) program can be a powerful accelerator for those small businesses eligible to participate; however, these benefits come with substantial strings attached. As such, the fourth volume of the Koprince Law LLC GovCon Handbooks discusses this unique and heavily regulated program. Written in plain English and filled with easy-to-understand examples, this GovCon Handbook demystifies the SBA’s rules regarding 8(a) eligibility and participation. Inside The 8(a) Program, you’ll find ch

Koprince Law LLC

Koprince Law LLC

The “Three-in-Two” SBA Joint Venture Rule is Partly Gone–Now It’s Time to Get Rid of the Rest

Last year, SBA made joint venturing a little easier by relaxing the so-called “three-in-two” rule. But the “two-year” portion of the rule still exists–and in my view, the rule continues to unfairly elevate form over substance. SBA, it’s time to take the plunge, and get rid of the rest of the three-in-two joint venture rule. The three-in-two joint venture rule went through a few iterations in its lifetime. But in its most recent form before SBA’s 2020 amendment, the rule said that w

Koprince Law LLC

Koprince Law LLC

Thanks to the Missouri Procurement Conference 2019!

I recently returned from the Procurement Conference 2019 featuring Congresswoman Vicky Hartzler in Warrensburg, Mo. It was a great experience! Thanks to all who organized the event, especially Bill Stuby with Missouri PTAC. I was able to provide an update on current issues in government contracting to a lively audience. And thanks to all who stopped by our booth to chat! View the full article

Koprince Law LLC

Koprince Law LLC

Thank You, Wyoming!

I’ve just returned from Casper, Wyoming, where I had the pleasure of presenting at the annual GRO-Biz Conference & Idea Expo. It was a great opportunity to meet new folks and learn about issues facing the government contracting community. Special thanks to the Wyoming Procurement Technical Assistance Center for organizing the event along with the Wyoming Small Business Development Center, the Small Business Administration, the Wyoming Business Council and the University of Wyoming. Oh,

Koprince Law LLC

Koprince Law LLC

Thank You, Veterans!

I am back in Lawrence after a great trip to Minneapolis last week for the 2016 National Veterans Small Business Engagement.  At the NVSBE, I presented four Learning Sessions: one on the nomanufacturer rule, the second on SDVOSB joint ventures, the third on best (and worst) practices in prime/subcontractor teaming agreements, and the fourth on common myths in the SBA’s size and socioeconomic set-aside programs (no, a contractor is not required to list a solicitation’s specific NAICS code in the c

Koprince Law LLC

Koprince Law LLC

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