The Department of Defense awarded contracts to an average 30,806 small businesses each year in fiscal year 2016, 2017, and 2018. A proposed rule to update the DFARS may lead to these same businesses receiving payments from the government, or prime contractors, within 15 days of invoicing.
The proposed rule is found at 84 FR 25225. It was published on May 31, 2019 and comments close on July 30, 2019 if you’d like to put in your two cents.
The proposed rule acknowledges that “[c]urrent D
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
The GAO has suspended a protester for “abusive litigation practices,” for the second time.
Last year, the GAO suspended Latvian Connection LLC from participating in the GAO bid protest process for one year, after the firm filed 150 protests in the course of a single fiscal year. Now, citing “derogatory and abusive allegations,” among many other concerns, the GAO has re-imposed its suspension–this time, for two years.
The GAO’s decision in Latvian Connection LLC–Reconsideration,
What are federal contractors supposed to do when FedBid (now
Unison) requests additional information related to a proposal and the awarding
agency ignores that information in its awarding decision?
GAO recently held that the agency must consider all information gathered by reverse auction providers.
In BCW Group, LLC, B-417209, 2019 WL 1398813 (Comp. Gen. Mar. 27, 2019), BCW protested the Department of Interior, Bureau of Indian Affairs’ award to another offeror. The award was the re
Contracting officers are given significant discretion in choosing NAICS codes for procurements. But, as decision makers, they aren’t infallible. As a recent OHA case shows, using the NAICS Manual can help small business contractors challenge an incorrect NAICS code.
In Keystone Turbine Services, LLC, SBA No. NAICS-5996 (Apr. 5, 2019), the Navy issued an RFQ for engine overhaul and engine repair for the TH-57 helicopter. The Navy originally issued the RFQ under NAICS code 336412 (Aircraft
When I went out for pizza with my family the other night, the only number that mattered to me when I got the check was the bottom-line price. It didn’t matter to me what the price for each pizza or each lemonade was, as long as the total price was within my budget.
For an agency evaluating a proposal for reasonableness in a fixed-price setting, the same holds true: it is the bottom-line price that matters, not the individual items that add up to the bottom-line price. The GAO recently had the o
If a contracting officer determines that a small business offeror is not qualified to perform under a solicitation, that usually means the offeror’s proposal will be rejected. In some instances, however, the offeror gets a second chance through the SBA’s Certificate of Competency (“COC”) program.
Here are five things you should know about the COC program.
1. What rules govern the COC program?
The Small Business Act, specifically 15 U.S.C. § 637(b)(7), introduces us to the COC p
Government contractors often assume that a foreign-owned company cannot qualify as a small business under the SBA’s government contracting size rules.
Not so. As demonstrated by a recent SBA Office of Hearings and Appeals size appeal decision, a foreign-owned entity can qualify as a small business, provided that it has a physical location in the United States and contributes to the U.S. economy.
OHA’s decision in A&Y Government Services, LLC, SBA No. SIZ-5966 (2018) involved an Army sol
Around these parts, we’re counting down the days to the Super Bowl, where we can watch our hometown Chiefs hopefully win their first one in half a century. But in the mean time, we’re still keeping a watchful eye on all things government contracting so we can keep our readers on track.
This week, articles include using AI to help evaluate contractor past-performance data, contractors don’t understand the new DOD cybersecurity requirements, and sharing data about security clearance checks.
Happy Friday, everyone! If there’s a better way to get the weekend started than the SmallGovCon Week In Review, we haven’t yet found it.
In this week’s edition, we’ll take a closer look at (never-ending) efforts to streamline the acquisition process, defense contractors that are putting workers in danger, projected #GovCon trends for 2019, proposed changes to SDVOSB and WOSB sole-source limits, and the FBI’s current investigation into the JEDI cloud procurement.
Have a great weekend!
GAO recently issued a report on several ongoing issues with SBA’s management of the Woman-Owned Small Business program. Because of the number of issues in the report, we’ll summarize it in a few posts.
In this post, we’ll provide some background on GAO’s review of the WOSB program and address how (and whether) SBA has implemented the changes required in the WOSB program by the 2015 National Defense Authorization Act. Long story short, SBA has still not done all Congress has asked of it in th
It’s been more than a year since the SBA issued a final rule overhauling the limitations on subcontracting for small business contracts. The SBA’s rule, now codified at 13 C.F.R. 125.6, changes the formulas for calculating compliance with the limitations on subcontracting, and allows small businesses to take credit for work performed by similarly situated subcontractors.
But the FAR’s corresponding clauses have yet to be changed, and this has led to a lot of confusion about which rule applies–
In honor of Father’s Day, how about a dad joke?
What kind of train eats too much?
A chew-chew train!
. . .
Now that you’ve stopped laughing, let’s dig into the SmallGovCon Week in Review. This week’s edition includes articles about the draft 2019 NDAA, an update on the SAM.gov hack, a proposed FAR amendment, and more. Happy Father’s Day, and have a great weekend!
House version of the NDAA contains biggest overhaul to DoD’s commercial buying practices being debated in the Senate this week
Among its suggestions to streamline the acquisition process,
the Section 809 Panel has proposed to eliminate the ability to file a protest
at GAO and the Court of Federal
Claims. Instead, the Panel would require protesters to choose between filing at
GAO or the Court.
Let’s take a look.
By way of background, a disappointed offeror can file a bid protest in three potential forums: the agency itself, GAO, or the Court of Federal Claims (COFC). Depending on the forum first selected, the
Joint ventures can be formally organized as limited liability companies–and that should come as no surprise, given how often joint ventures use the LLC form these days.
In a recent size appeal decision, the SBA Office of Hearings and Appeals rejected the argument that, because a company was formed as an LLC, its size should not be calculated using the special rule for joint ventures. Instead, OHA held, the LLC in question was clearly intended to be a joint venture, and the fact that it was an
Happy February, everybody! After a bit of frigid weather here in Lawrence this past week (though not nearly as frigid as it was for our friends up north), we’re gearing up for a spring-like weekend. Don’t get too jealous: it’ll turn cold again just a few days later. Gotta love that Kansas weather!
Now that the federal government is open again (at least for now), let’s take a look at some of the post-shutdown news in this edition of the Week In Review. We’ll look at federal IT spending, mount
I hope everyone has a safe and happy 4th of July as we celebrate our nation’s independence. If you’re still struggling to think of top-notch grilling ideas for Independence Day, might I suggest this delicious recipe from the fine folks at the Big Green Egg?
But before firing up the grill, let’s take a look at the latest and greatest in government contracting news. In this week’s star-spangled edition of the SmallGovCon Week in Review, a former government employee pleads guilty to criminal char
An agency can’t award an offeror a contract if its proposal doesn’t conform with a material solicitation requirement. So if, for example, the solicitation requires certain types of documentation showing an offeror’s right to use property, but the awardee offers something different, GAO will likely sustain a protest.
Put differently, GAO won’t let an agency relax key solicitation requirements even though the agency might, during evaluation, accept the non-complying proposal.
This sc
Following a size determination, any person adversely affected by that determination may file an appeal with the SBA’s Office of Hearings and Appeals. To be timely, the appeal has to be filed within 15 calendar days from the date the person receives the determination. If not timely-filed, the appeal will be dismissed.
This 15-day deadline is strict. The OHA doesn’t have the power to extend it, even if good reason exists to do so. In fact, the OHA’s recent decision in Sentient Digital, Inc. dba E
Memorial Day is almost here, which means the unofficial start of summer. I hope everyone enjoys the long weekend while remembering all the men and women who gave their lives in service to our country.
In this week’s edition of the SmallGovCon Week in Review, two Topeka men were named in a scheme to fraudulently obtain government contracts set aside for minority and disabled military veteran contractors, contractors argue that a Pentagon proposal to curb bid protests would deny fair access of co
NAICS code appeals can be powerful, and while they’re infrequent, they often succeed. But NAICS code appeals are subject to a strict, 10-day deadline–and that deadline isn’t extended by deliberations with the Contracting Officer.
In a recent NAICS code appeal decision, the SBA Office of Hearings and Appeals reiterated that the 10-day deadline isn’t affected by discussions with the procuring agency.
OHA’s decision in NAICS Appeal of AMEL Technologies, Inc., SBA No. NAICS-5892 (2018) involved
GAO recently gave its blessing to a VA decision not to follow the Rule of Two, despite knowing several SDVOSBs would bid. The VA’s decision was based on the contracting officer’s opinion that prices would not be fair and reasonable based on an evaluation of prices and market research. The decision is important for providing some clarification on what research a contracting officer must undertake to establish that prices will not be fair and reasonable for purposes of the Rule of Two.
In
The SBA Office of Hearings and Appeals lacks jurisdiction to consider whether an entity owned by an Indian tribe or Alaska Native Corporation has obtained a substantial unfair competitive advantage within an industry.
In a recent size appeal case, OHA acknowledged that an unfair competitive advantage is an exception to the special affiliation rules that tribally-owned companies ordinarily enjoy–but held that only the SBA Administrator has the power to determine that an Indian tribe or ANC has o
A protester recently lost an effort to get an agency to consider a late proposal arguing that it was emailed to the agency on the due date.
Even though the quote would have been less expensive than the awardee’s and this was a lowest-price technically-acceptable procurement, GAO denied the protest finding that the email was a few hours late and did not include the attached quotation.
In Utech Products Inc. d.b.a EndoSoft LLC, B-416915 (Dec. 27, 2018), EndoSoft LLC, a Schenectady, N
It has been a bit of a double-whammy for us in the Kansas City-area this week. Not only did our Chiefs lose in a heartbreaker last weekend, but we’ve also been dealing with cold temperatures, snow, and ice.
But there is also some good news. As we’re writing this post, word came down that the government will soon reopen (if only temporarily). To all our friends that work for or with the federal government, we’re thrilled that you’ll soon be back at work.
With that, let’s take a look at
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