I am back in Kansas, where it is a balmy 39 degrees, after a great trip to Orlando for the National 8(a) Association Small Business Conference.
The weather in Florida was “for real” balmy, as my kids might say–but as tempting as the sunny outdoors was, the convention hall was packed with representatives from 8(a) companies, large primes, government agencies, and others. You know a conference has great content–and great networking–when attendees voluntarily choose the lecture hall over a nearby
If you have been reading our blog recently, you may be aware that this is the 999th SmallGovCon post. My colleagues and I are excited to reach the 1,000-post milestone next week. To celebrate SmallGovCon‘s first 1,000 posts, we’re offering one lucky reader a chance to win a free one-hour custom webinar with me on the government contracting legal topic of your choice. All that you need to do is tell us why you read the blog and you will be entered–you don’t need to be a Koprince Law client or eve
This is it: the 1,000th SmallGovCon post. And if you’re reading this, you are a big reason why we’ve hit such a major milestone in less than five years.
Thank you, SmallGovCon readers.
Before I launched SmallGovCon, I thought it would be a good idea to read a bunch of other legal blogs, just to get a sense of how others were doing it. A few hours in, and I was ready to beat my head against the nearest wall. While, in fairness, a few of the blogs were quite good, most of them were pretty d
In determining whether a prime contractor and subcontractor are affiliated under the ostensible subcontractor rule, the SBA is supposed to consider the totality of the relationship between the parties. But when it comes to determining whether the ostensible subcontractor rule has been violated, not all components of the prime/subcontractor relationship are created equal.
In a recent decision, the SBA Office of Hearings and Appeals confirmed that there are “four key factors” that are strongly s
Taken as a whole, the Government-wide performance metrics for small business utilization are encouraging.
The Small Business Administration’s FY2015 report card shows that the Government exceeded its prime contracting goals across four of the five socioeconomic categories measured. Moreover, the amount of federal spend going to small businesses reached an all-time high of over 25%.
These numbers do not tell the whole story, however. The 5% goal for WOSBs has been in place since 1994, and s
Spring seems to have sprung here in Lawrence, even though the calendar still says February. These past few days we have been treated to 70+ degree weather. For me, the early spring temps have meant playing outside with the kids and, well, blogging about government contracts here inside the office, but with the window open.
Speaking of government contracts blogging, it’s time for our weekly look at the latest government contracting news and notes. In this week’s SmallGovCon Week In Review, Congr
An agency’s task order award was improper because the order was outside the scope of the underlying IDIQ contract.
In Threat Management Group, LLC, GAO sustained a protest holding that the Air Force violated the Competition in Contracting Act by issuing a task order for some work beyond the scope of the awardee’s IDIQ contract. GAO’s decision highlights the fact that an order must be within the scope of the underlying contract–and the award of an out-of-scope order can be successfully challenge
The big government contracting news of the week was certainly the SBA’s proposed changes to the HUBZone regulations. But that wasn’t the only news. So let’s recap in this week’s edition of the SmallGovCon Week In Review!
Below, we’ll look at the DOD’s plan to audit registered SDVOSBs, an update on the CloudSmart strategy, and more.
Have a great weekend (and enjoy that leftover Halloween candy)!
DOD announces it will audit registered SDVOSB contractors for set-aside and sole-source contract
Last week, the SBA released a proposal to overhaul the HUBZone Program. The proposed rule will make major changes to almost all aspects of the HUBZone Program, and my colleague Ian Patterson is covering those changes in a series of two posts on SmallGovCon.
But while the proposed HUBZone Program rule changes will garner most of the headlines, the SBA also has used the proposed rule as an opportunity to clear up a few very common HUBZone Program misconceptions–such as the notion that so-called
SDVOSBs and VOSBs will only be required to obtain reverification every three years under an interim final rule adopted yesterday by the VA.
The VA’s new rule replaces the prior rule, which required reverification every two years. The purpose of the change? To “reduce the administrative burden on SDVOSB/VOSBs regarding participation in VA acquisition set asides for these types of firms.”
When the VA originally finalized its SDVOSB/VOSB program in 2010, VA “anticipated that annual examinatio
It’s hard to believe, but this is already the last SmallGovCon Week In Review of February 2017. The year seems to be flying by, and there’s never a shortage of government contracting news. This week is no exception.
In this edition of the SmallGovCon Week in Review, one commentator suggests that the Trump administration revive an old contracting practice, a Pennsylvania man faces up to 10 years in prison after admitting to paying bribes and kickbacks on federal construction projects, government
Imagine that you’re a manufacturer of appliances, and respond to a solicitation seeking one of your appliances (on a brand name basis). You, of course, propose to provide your appliance. But you lose out on an award to an offeror that submits an offer for a different appliance that admittedly does not comply with the solicitation’s minimum requirements.
In this situation, you’d probably be fairly upset. And as a recent GAO decision acknowledged, you’d likely have a successful basis of protest—t
The SBA Office of Hearings and Appeals reaffirmed recently that a business need not manufacture the most expensive component of an item in order to be considered its manufacturer.
Rather, under the SBA’s size rules, a company may be considered a manufacturer if it adds important functionality to the end product, even if the proportion of total dollar value added by the company is relatively small.
The case, Size Appeals of MPC Containment Systems, LLC & GTA Containers, Inc., SBA No. SIZ-
Happy final Friday of February! Can you believe that next week is March already? I guess we can start preparing for St. Patrick’s Day because it will be here soon. I think folks are hoping that our spring like weather will hold and that winter is over. Of course, in Kansas, the weather can change on a dime so we won’t count on it! Here’s hoping the weather is nice wherever you are and have a great weekend.
This week in federal government contracting news included reactions to proposed feder
For Federal Supply Schedule procurements, agencies are not required to evaluate past performance references of subcontractors, unless the solicitation provides otherwise.
As one offeror recently discovered in Atlantic Systems Group, Inc., B-413901 (Jan. 9, 2017), unlike negotiated procurements, where agencies “should” evaluate the past performance of subcontractors that will perform major or critical aspects of the contract, offerors bidding under FSS solicitations should not assume that a subc
A major tenet in government contracting is that agencies enjoy broad discretion in identifying their needs and developing the most appropriate solicitation to satisfy them. Though broad, this discretion is not unlimited. If challenged, an agency must demonstrate that its specifications are reasonably necessary to meet its needs and are not unduly restrictive of competition.
GAO recently affirmed this principle in Pitney Bowes, Inc., B-413876.2 (Feb. 13, 2017), when it sustained a protest challe
March has arrived, and March Madness will be here soon. With the Kansas Jayhawks looking like a top seed and my Duke Blue Devils sitting at Number 14 in the Coaches Poll, I’m hoping to be watching my teams a lot this month.
While we await conference tournaments and Selection Sunday, it’s time for the SmallGovCon Week In Review. This week’s edition is packed with the latest developments in government contracting, including guilty pleas from seven defendants accused of contract fraud, questions
The Supreme Court’s now-famous Kingdomware decision doesn’t affect the timeliness of SBA size protests of GSA Schedule orders.
In a recent decision, the SBA Office of Hearings and Appeals rejected the notion–based in part on Kingdomware–that an GSA Schedule order is a “contract” for purposes of the SBA’s size protest timeliness rules. Instead, OHA held, the SBA’s existing rules clearly distinguish between contracts and orders, and often effectively do not permit size protests of individual ord
The HUBZone contracting program, while well-intended to provide economic and employment opportunities in otherwise low income, high unemployment areas, must nonetheless connect HUBZone firms with government contracts, the overwhelming majority of which are not located within a HUBZone.
If HUBZone firms are to experience growth, they will need to utilize the local labor force in the area where the contract is to be performed, in addition to utilizing the labor force residing in their HUBZone to
In Mckenna Brytan Indus. LLC, SBA No. VSBC-334, 2023 (Feb. 8, 2024), the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) Office of Hearings and Appeals (OHA) sustained the Service-Disabled Small Business (SDVOSB) status protest of BTNG Enterprises, LLC (BTNG). In its decision, OHA reiterated the two current regulatory options for calling yourself an “SDVOSB” concern: the first, is having your SDVOSB application officially approved by the SBA and your company listed in the SBA’s Veteran Small Business C
I am headed back to Kansas after a great trip out west to speak at the 2017 Alliance Northwest Procurement Conference in Puyallup, WA. It was great seeing many familiar faces and meeting many other new ones. But I won’t be home long: I will be off to fabulous Las Vegas for the National RES Conference, where I’ll be presenting on Monday. If you will be at RES, please be sure to connect.
Even with all of this travel, I’ve been keeping a close eye on government contracting news–and that means that
Resolving a protest challenging a past performance evaluation, GAO is deferential to the agency’s determinations. It is primarily concerned with whether the evaluation was conducted fairly and in accordance with the solicitation’s evaluation criteria; if so, GAO will not second-guess the agency’s assessment of the relevance or merit of an offeror’s performance history.
For protesters, therefore, challenging an agency’s past performance evaluation can be difficult. But a recent decision makes cl
Companies controlled by a father and son, respectively, were affiliated under the SBA’s affiliation rules because there was no clear fracture of the family members’ business relationships.
In a recent size appeal decision, the SBA Office of Hearings and Appeals held that a son’s company was affiliated with a company owned by his father because the son had worked for many years at the father’s company, the son’s company leased office space from the father’s company, and the two companies engaged
I am back in Lawrence after two fantastic trips to the West Coast, in very rapid succession.
Last Thursday, I was in Puyallup, Washington for the annual Alliance Northwest conference. As always, the conference was one of the best events of its type nationwide. Thank you to Tiffany Scroggs and her colleagues at the Washington PTAC for sponsoring this great event and inviting me to participate. If you missed Alliance Northwest (and my presentation on the SBA’s All Small Mentor-Protege Progra
As federal contracts attorneys, we often get questions about what happens in the event of an acquisition of a small business. Reporting requirements, whether before or after an acquisition, tend to vary from one type of small business socioeconomic program to another. And there are other considerations such as whether the small business in question is the one being acquired or the one acquiring another small business and the timing with regard to proposal submission, contract performance, task o
.gif)
