Not too many government contracting disputes make it to a federal court of appeals—the level just a step below the U.S. Supreme Court. The most notable recent examples would probably be the Federal Circuit’s decision in Kingdomware Technologies (which, as SmallGovCon readers know, was ultimately overturned by the Supreme Court in 2016) and the D.C. Circuit’s decision Rothe Development (which the Supreme Court declined to consider).
But recently, the Federal Circuit issued a decision of note to
For most Americans, tax season is happily behind them and Memorial Day festivities signaled the start of summer. A recent GAO report, however, may give cause for some federal contractors to revisit their tax policies before lighting up the grill next weekend.
Contracting Officers are required to take in a wealth of information prior to awarding a contract. One piece of information each contracting officer is supposed to review is the tax status of offerors. If an offeror is delinquent in pay
In the world of federal contracting, precision matters. In fact, precision is often essential when developing a winning proposal. When it comes to subjective evaluation considerations, however, it can be challenging to articulate relevant evaluation criteria with a high level of precision. Indeed, as one prospective offeror recently discovered, some evaluation terms are good enough for government work, despite being imprecise.
Federal Acquisition Services Team OASIS JV, LLC, B-418776 (Co
The SBA takes its SDVOSB joint venture requirements very seriously, and even a relatively minor deviation or omission can be enough to render a joint venture ineligible.
Time and time again, the SBA’s Office of Hearing and Appeals has shown that it will strictly enforce the rules governing SDVOSB status. OHA’s stance on SDVOSB joint venture agreements is no different. A recent OHA ruling reinforces that SDVOSB joint venture agreements must abide by the letter of the regulation when it comes to
This week, I wanted to send a special thank you our nation’s veterans. Your service is vital to our country and a big part of the work that many federal contractors perform.
With that in mind, here are some of the interesting federal contracting updates from the past week. This week we have stories about a potential government shutdown, the annual suspension and debarment report, and new tools coming to protect the supply chain from potential malicious actors.
US military supplier i
If you’re a parent, you might be familiar with the SBA and Treasury Department’s current strategy to crack down on businesses taking Paycheck Protection Program funds when they don’t qualify: if ineligible businesses ‘fess up and return the money by May 7, nobody gets in trouble.
On April 28, the SBA published its most recent interim rule on the PPP, including updates on promissory note requirements and additional information on the kinds of businesses eligible for PPP loans. Among these
I have just returned from Indian Country Business Summit in Norman, Oklahoma, where I enjoyed catching up some old friends and making some new ones. This conference continues to grow every year–if you haven’t been yet, get it on your calendar for next year. You won’t regret it.
Of course, like all of us, my thoughts this week have been with the citizens of Houston and elsewhere in Texas as they battle the horrible effects of Harvey. While Harvey dominated the news this week, there was still p
The VA’s “rule of two” for service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses provides a powerful contracting preference. Thanks to the rule of two, the VA awarded 23.39% of prime contracting dollars to SDVOSBs in Fiscal Year 2019, compared to 4.39% governmentwide.
But the rule of two has its limits. Importantly, before issuing an SDVOSB set-aside, the Contracting Officer must have a reasonable belief that “the award can be made at a fair and reasonable price that offers best value to the U
You can access the internet from your couch, the skies above, and even from space. This means that you can also access your emails from each of these locations. I am sure that some of you have received emails from GAO, an agency, or a contracting officer on your phone in the last month. You may even be reading this blog while on the go. In our ever-connected world, is it possible to establish “regular business hours” and truly disconnect when it comes to emails? As it turns out, GAO says you can
Although a lease may be a “contract” in common parlance, does a lease qualify as a contract under the Contract Disputes Act?
The answer is important, because the Contract Disputes Act provides jurisdiction for the Court of Federal Claims and Board of Contract Appeals to decide challenges to contracting officers’ final decisions. If a lease isn’t a contract under the Contract Disputes Act, government lessors could be in a bind.
The United States Court of Federal Claims recently decided the iss
Good news for small business looking to break into Department of Defense contracting: the 2017 NDAA establishes a new prototyping pilot program for small businesses and nontraditional defense contractors to develop new and innovative technologies.
The DoD is putting its money where its mouth is: the new pilot program is funded with $250 million from the rapid prototyping fund established by last year’s NDAA.
The new pilot program is officially called the “Nontraditional and Small Contractor
TGIF! Let’s get the weekend started off with a look at the latest and greatest in government contracting.
In this week’s edition of the SmallGovCon Week in Review, we’ll take a look at DoD’s final rule amending DFARS to increase certain micro-purchase thresholds, more questions about the SBA’s small business participation report cards, a former background investigator’s guilty plea, and much more.
Have a great weekend!
DoD issues final rule amending DFARS to increase micro-purchase thresho
A contractor has many requirements when submitting a claim against the federal government. But the government must also abide by some of the same rules.
Case in point, a recent Civilian Board of Contractor Appeals case affirms that the government is bound by the same six-year time limit to file a claim against a contractor that a contractor has to file a claim against the government.
The case is JBG/Federal Center, L.L.C. v. GSA, 18-1 B.C.A. ¶ 37019 (2018). To understand how the government b
Your small business is interested in submitting a proposal that requires a Department of Defense Facilities Clearance (FCL). While you will not have the required FCL when proposals are due, you have applied for the FCL and all signs indicate you will have the FCL by the time contract performance begins. In this scenario, can the agency outright deny your proposal or would it have to refer your proposal to the SBA for a certificate of competency? Turns out, it all hinges on whether GAO views the
A GAO protest can rest on a number of different grounds. One of the most fertile, however, is disparate treatment. That is, GAO is particularly sensitive to arguments that a procuring agency wasn’t even-handed in evaluating the same features or omissions in competing proposals.
Disparate treatment was the theme in a recently sustained GAO protest: Battelle Memorial Institute, B-418047.3 et al. (Comp. Gen. May 18, 2020). In the underlying procurement issued through a task order on the O
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
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
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
Happy Memorial Day! I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday weekend as we remember those who have sacrificed for our country. Memorial Day was first observed in 1868. At that time then Congressman and former general James Garfield remarked of those that had died for our country: “For love of country they accepted death, and thus resolved all doubts, and made immortal their patriotism and their virtue.”
While we remember their sacrifice, there was also much news in the world of federal contr
The Labor Day weekend is inching closer! Before you enjoy the unofficial end of summer, let’s take a look at the SmallGovCon Week in Review.
This week’s edition includes suggestions for interacting with a Contracting Officer Representative, a proposed DFARs amendment, contractors behaving badly, and more.
Have a great weekend!
Suggestions for interacting with a Contracting Officer Representative [Clearance Jobs]
A recent report shows large compensation gaps among federal government contra
Last week, SBA proposed big changes for some of its small business regulations, particularly those in the 8(a) Program. This blog post is Part 2 in our coverage of the proposed amendments (see Part 1 here) and will cover SBA’s potential changes to the procurement process for 8(a) contracts.
First, SBA proposed removing the mandate that agencies offer work for SBA’s acceptance into the 8(a) program before competing it as an 8(a) set-aside. Currently, 13 C.F.R. § 124.504(b) requires an a
The FAR Council has added a new provision to the FAR to restrict the permissible terms of employee confidentiality agreements.
Effective January 19, 2017, contractors wishing to do business with the federal government will need to certify that they do not limit the ability of their employees to report waste, fraud, or abuse to appropriate government officials.
The final rule creates a new FAR 3.909 and two new FAR clauses, FAR 52.203-18 (Prohibition on Contracting with Entities that Require
My heart rate has finally come down after the exciting finish to Game Five of the Cubs-Nationals playoff series last night. I caught the first few innings waiting for my flight in Salt Lake City, and the game (which clocked in at more than 4 1/2 hours) was still going when I landed in Kansas City a couple hours later. Thanks in part to the magic of instant replay, my Cubs were victorious, and will continue their World Series title defense against the Dodgers this weekend.
Clearly, my mind is
Thinking about hiring an employee of the incumbent contractor for your next bid? If so, make sure to protect yourself from disqualification based on an organizational conflict of interest (“OCI”).
In a recent bid protest by Archimedes’ Global, Inc., (“Archimedes”), the GAO reversed the Government’s decision to exclude Archimedes from consideration for a bid when an alleged OCI was based on mere innuendo and supposition instead of hard facts supported by the record.
Pursuant to FAR 9.505, certa
GAO recently sustained protest to an agency’s FAR Part 13 procurement that relied exclusively on CPARS-generated assessment chart rating percentages to evaluate vendors’ past performance. The agency’s goal was to “maximize competition” by considering all past work, rather than just relevant work. While there is no FAR Part 13 regulatory prohibition on doing so, GAO found the CPARS charts incomplete and misleading and the evaluation inconsistent with the terms of the solicitation.
GAO’s d
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