For many people—and for businesses all across the country—the news over the past month or two has been bleak. Even for those lucky enough to stay healthy, COVID-19 has caused significant financial pain, as business disruptions have led to unemployment numbers rivaling those seen during the Great Depression.
To be sure, there are rays of sunshine poking through the storm clouds. The federal government has tried to get financial support to small businesses coping with economic uncertainty. And
I’m pleased to announce that volume 5 of the “Koprince Law LLC GovCon Handbooks” series will be published soon! This GovCon Handbook, entitled Procedures and Pitfalls of Size Protests and Appeals, will be published through Amazon. Check the video below and the rest of this post for additional details.
What should a business do when it is facing an SBA small business size protest and is under the gun? On the other hand, how should a company prepare a well-written size protest that w
This YouTube Tuesday is extra special for SmallGovCon, as we launch our new YouTube Channel! Check out our first video below and subscribe for new weekly videos here.
On SmallGovCon’s new YouTube Channel, we aim to provide you with the fundamentals of Federal Government Contracting law–in Plain English.
The new Channel will feature videos from the contributors of this Blog which will aim help contractors navigate the complicated world of contracting with the U.S. Federal Gover
What happens when an SBA area office finds a joint venture compliant with SBA rules in a size protest, but SBA’s Office of Hearings and Appeals says the same agreement fails to meet requirements in a status protest? Let’s find out.
KTS Sols., Inc., SBA No. SIZ-6049 (Feb. 28, 2020), involved a United States Department of Veterans Affairs’ solicitation for non-emergency special mode transportation services to be issued as an indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract. It was 100% se
Spring has definitely sprung here in Lawrence. The red buds are blooming everywhere. As many of us are working from home, it’s interesting to see a different view out of the window as we wait for the time when we can return to the office.
But, in the mean time, we’re still providing incisive posts and updates for our government contractor readers. This week saw a number of intriguing stories about how COVID-19 is affecting contractors, as well as other updates, including potential relief fo
In the ongoing effort to minimize the effects of COVID-19, the Civilian Agency Acquisition Council (CAAC) has recommended that agencies implement a class deviation to accelerate payments to small business prime contractors to prime contractors with small business subcontractors.
Under FAR 1.404, agency heads, or their designees, are permitted to issue class deviations to the FAR (i.e., ones that will affect more than one contract action). Typically, agencies initiate class deviations and
We’ve written a lot about the Paycheck Protection Program as part of the blog’s COVID-19 coverage. The program has really been helping a lot of businesses, so much so that the money ran out a few days ago. Well, the Senate has approved a bill that would replenish funds for the Paycheck Protection Program, so more companies can get help.
The bill, approved Tuesday, would provide an additional $310 billion in loan funds for the Paycheck Protection Program. The House is expected to pass the
As with many things, when filing a size protest with the Small Business Administration, timing is of the utmost importance! In this YouTube video, I walk you through how to file your size protest on time to avoid dismissal:
Stay tuned to the blog for more important information on size protests and government contracting! And if you think you might have a size protest and require assistance call Koprince Law– before it’s too late!
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Of late the pages of this blog have been entirely coronavirus and COVID-19 obsessed—and for good reason. But that does not stop the Government Accountability Office from deciding bid protests.
With all that’s been going on, writing about a GAO decision regarding run-of-the-mill unreasonable cost realism evaluation is downright refreshing.
According to the opinion, Sayres and Associates Corp. protested a task order award the Navy awarded to Reliability and Performance Technologies d
I hope all of our readers are doing well and staying healthy. Here at SmallGovCon, we’ve been monitoring the ongoing updates from the federal government for news relevant to federal contractors.
This week, our attorney-authors provided a few more updates about relief for contractors and other businesses under the Paycheck Protection Program as well as other governmental policies. Updates included the formal Paycheck Protection Program rules and guidance on applying for loans for independent
As the social isolation saying goes: “Another day; another clarification from the SBA regarding the Paycheck Protection Program.” Alright, maybe that saying hasn’t caught on, yet. Nevertheless, the SBA did publish additional guidance specific to sole proprietors and general partners applying to the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP).
The SBA’s new Rule clarifies that self-employed individuals who file Form 1040 with a Schedule C would be eligible for PPP loans, provided the business satis
We’ve written quite a few posts about how contractors can adapt and deal with the changes caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Some small businesses federal contractors, however, face unique challenges. This is particularly true of participants in the HUBZone Program. Specifically, while the OMB has encouraged agencies to allow contractor employees to telework, how will this affect HUBZone entities, where the location of their employees is key to maintaining their HUBZone status?
Well, the SBA h
CMMC continues to be in the news as the government ramps up the process to start requiring contractors to be compliant with the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification. In this video, I remind contractors why CMMC is so important.
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The SBA is set to release two interim final rules on the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). While much of the SBA’s guidance and procedure for these loans has already been discussed and released on SBA’s website, this is SBA’s formal rulemaking that aggregates all of the rules on eligibility and how to apply. The rulemaking also provides a chance for businesses to provide feedback to SBA on what is and isn’t working the program.
The SBA issued two interim final rules. A main rule impleme
Here at SmallGovCon, we’re working to keep our readers informed of the rapidly changing situation involving COVID-19 and how federal contractors can adapt and thrive in meeting the federal government’s various needs. We’ve also raised some serious questions and provided practical advice for federal contractors. There is also a roundup of other interesting news from the federal contracting world as you settle into this Easter weekend.
This week saw a number of interesting posts related to
Well, we thought we had this figured out. Yet here we are a week later and we keep hearing conflicting reports.
The question remains, can a foreign-owned company receive a Paycheck Protection Program loan or not? Let’s try to figure it out.
Last week, on the eve of the program going live, we wrote that the form being circulated seemed to disqualify companies who are 20 percent or more owned by foreign nationals or entities. At some point, either that night or early the next morning
The title of this post is a touch misleading. Of course the Paycheck Protection Program is helping small businesses. But is it helping the right ones, and is it helping enough of them? My colleague Matt Moriarty’s post last week on the Paycheck Protection Program elicited a lot of feedback. From this feedback and what we’ve heard anecdotally, it’s been tough for many small businesses to get these loans.
But there may be ways for Congress, the SBA, and lenders to make this program–or any sim
Since the SBA’s Paycheck Protection Program went into effect last Friday, there has been considerable confusion about eligibility and, in particular, what affiliation rules apply to program applicants. The affiliation rules are important for helping companies determine if they can seek out these important loans. In this blog post, I’ll let you know which affiliation rules apply to the program’s applicants and explain some exceptions to the applicable affiliation rules.
The Paycheck Prot
According to reports, there is a great potential for increased government spending on Artificial Intelligence this year. Check out the video below to learn more about what this trend means for federal contracting in 2020:
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In an effort to combat the spread of COVID-19, Congress is seeking to eliminate some red tape surrounding biomedical research and development. Specifically, Congress has removed approval requirements on specific transitions to support advanced research and development initiatives.
In terms of the mechanics, the $2 trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (aka the CARES Act) modified an existing statute that authorized expenditures on advanced research for developing “a
The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act created the Paycheck Protection Program as one tool to help small businesses. But it also provided for additional emergency funds under the SBA’s existing Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program. Congress appropriated $10 billion for the program. Here are some of the main details on this program.
The CARES Act expands and modifies the existing EIDL program in a number of important ways. The existing loan rules, unless mo
This past week, SmallGovCon continued to provide important updates and insights related to how federal contractors can prepare and support their business during this unprecedented response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Because we’ve provided a lot of information, I’ve summarized what our authors discussed in the past week, as well as providing a roundup of other news in the government contracting arena.
Here’s what our authors wrote about:
Details on the new Paycheck Protection Pr
Based on the text of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, the fact that a company has foreign owners shouldn’t necessarily disqualify it from participating in the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP).
But the form used to apply says otherwise.
A company seeking to participate in the program must fill out an application designated as Small Business Administration Form 2483. It requires the applicant to answer several questions, one of which is whether it is a
Last week, John Mattox wrote of OMB’s guidance to contracting officers in dealing with the extraordinary challenges caused by COVID-19. Among other things, OMB instructed agencies to be flexible in providing extensions on performance deadline and encouraged open communication with industry partners on the response to COVID-19.
Now, the Department of Defense—the federal government’s largest purchasing unit—has issued its own guidance to constituent agencies.
Overall, DoD’s guidance ec
When you are a business that manages parking lots and garages and then suddenly out of the blue the entire country stops leaving the house, well, you’d be excused for some despair.
But that’s not what Penn Parking, Inc., did. Instead, it decided to help. It is making face shields for doctors, nurses, and other healthcare professionals on the front lines in Maryland, where Penn Parking is located.
Penn Parking, who has been a Koprince Law client since 2015, has made and distributed h
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