Executive Order 13495 has had a bit of a rocky past.
Originally issued by President Clinton, the Order has been rescinded and then
replaced, depending on the President’s political persuasions. After being reinstated
by President Obama in 2009, many (like me) assumed that President Trump would
have promptly rescinded it again.
Three years into his administration, President Trump has now acted: on Halloween, he rescinded Executive Order 13495.
Let’s take a step back by refreshing ours
Hope everyone had a great Halloween yesterday! Around these parts, the thermometer got down to freezing last night. But I took the kids out for a quick trick-or-treat outing down the street. And we also had some fun painting pumpkins in the office.
Amidst all the spooky fun, the government contracting news kept rolling in. This week, we highlight updates about supply chain cybersecurity, DOD modernizing software development, and the Pentagon announcing a big push to incorporate 5G technolog
In a slew of recent activity, H.R.4405, the Women’s Business Centers Improvements Act of 2019, sponsored by Rep. Sharice Davids (D-KS) and Rep. Jim Hagedorn (R-MN), was one of many bills to pass the House of Representatives. Most notably, the bill doubles the available grant monies for each Women’s Business Center (“WBC”) and introduces an accreditation program for WBCs. These components, if approved, will help WBCs better serve women-owned businesses across the nation. This post will also highl
In its report published last week, GAO both commends and criticizes SBA for its handling of tribally affiliated 8(a) business development firms—particularly Alaska Native Corporations (ANCs) and ANC-owned businesses participating in the 8(a) program.
Generally, ANCs and ANC-owned firms are subject to special 8(a) eligibility rules, located at 13 C.F.R. § 124.109. In sum, there are a number of benefits which distinguish Tribes, ANCs, and Native Hawaiian Organizations from other 8(a) part
The Department of Labor annually increases the minimum wage for federal contractor employees in accordance with Executive Order 13658. It recently noticed, via the Federal Register, that the 2020 minimum wage for most of these employees will increase from $10.60 to $10.80. For tipped employees, the cash wage will increase from $7.40 to $7.55.
In 2014, President Obama signed Executive Order 13658. That order increased the minimum wage for federal contractors to $10.10 for new contracts i
Last night marked the start of the college basketball season here in Lawrence, and I attended the exhibition game for our Jayhawks in historic Allen Fieldhouse. For you college basketball fans, the road to March Madness begins now.
For you government contracting fans, there’s also news in that world. This week, we bring you updates about security guidance for the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure cloud, a reminder about FedBizOpps going away, and a House of Representatives panel loo
It’s not too soon to start thinking about those New Year’s resolutions. Along with other personal goals, federal contractors might want to add a cybersecurity resolution to their list. The Department of Defense has drafted a cybersecurity certification that will be finalized in January 2020. Starting next fall, contractors will have to be certified in order to submit proposals on defense solicitations. Read on for some of the highlights.
The Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification,
In any negotiation, either party may walk away from the deal at any time for any reason. While this is typically viewed as a negotiation “nuclear option,” it does happen. Unlike the private commercial space, doing business with Uncle Sam typically goes through a progression ultimately resulting in an awarded contract. As one contractor recently discovered, however, agencies still retain the nuclear option–cancelling the solicitation–if they cannot obtain value for the government.
U.S. Ma
The SBA Office of the Inspector General has taken it upon itself to look at the SBA’s programs and activities in order to determine what risks the SBA may face in the 2020 Fiscal Year. It appears that the OIG did not like what it found. The examination found multiple risks and problems associated with SBA programs, including the 8(a) program, the WOSB program, and SBA’s small business contract goaling methods.
The SBA OIG report focused on many aspects of the SBA, but the portions of t
When protesting at GAO, it’s important to explain not only what you believe the agency did wrong, but also the legal significance of that departure.
That’s what Trinity Global Consulting learned recently when GAO dismissed its protest.
Trinity filed a bid protest against the Army’s decision to amend a solicitation seeking military identification card services. Trinity argued that the amendment disclosed Trinity’s proprietary information to its competitors.
The solicitation tol
We’re getting into the Halloween spirit early in these parts, including Lawrence’s annual Zombie Walk that took place last night. Government contractors should not feel left out, as the CDC has its own Zombie Preparedness emergency preparedness campaign that you can check out.
We’ve also scared up some interesting (or potentially frightening) stories from the government contracting world this week. This week, look for updates about the National Background Investigations Bureau being transfe
Small businesses often search for ways to increase their competitiveness for federal government contracts. A sometimes overlooked method is to try to better define the procurement’s requirements in a manner that improves a firm’s chances of being awarded the contract, through a pre-award bid protest.
Here are five things you should know about pre-award protests:
1. What is a pre-award protest?
A pre-award protest is a protest
that challenges the terms of a specific solicitation.
NASA is going back to the moon and is looking for private companies to help get it there. In 2018, NASA awarded nine IDIQ Commercial Lunar Payload Service contracts for commercial payload delivery services between the Earth and the lunar surface. This is a sea-change for NASA as “no [United States] commercial company has ever attempted to launch, transit, and land” on the moon. Prior to award, NASA asked for task order proposals to include a description of risks and mitigation efforts. You might
With the ongoing rise of technology in the workplace, safe email practices are increasingly important. In particular, many in the cybersecurity community are concerned about email attachments and spam. Even so, in Information Unlimited, Inc., B-415716.40 (Oct. 4, 2019), GAO warned protesters not to delay in opening email attachments provided by the government.
Information Unlimited Inc. (IUI) submitted a bid on an RFP for the Air Force’s Small Business Enterprise Application Solutions (
OHA recently confirmed that it lacked jurisdiction to decide a NAICS code appeal regarding a GPO procurement, even though that procurement was conducted on behalf on the VA. OHA’s dismissal was based on the fact that GPO, a legislative branch agency, is not subject to the same rules as the executive agencies.
OHA’s decision in Veterans4you, Inc., SBA No. NAICS-6021, (Aug. 13, 2019), involved a U.S. Government Publishing Office (GPO) procurement of suicide prevention gunlocks with printe
A quick update on a proposed FAR rule that will put in place restrictions on use of lowest-price, technically acceptable (LPTA) solicitations in non-DOD agencies, as mandated in the 2019 NDAA. There are a few differences from the similar rule that recently went into effect for DOD.
The proposed rule implements the 2019 NDAA’s policy to avoid LPTA “in circumstances that would deny the Government the benefits of cost and technical tradeoffs in the source selection process.” It applies only
The end of the government’s fiscal year always brings a rash of government purchasing. We hope the government’s purchasing push has been good for all of our readers. As you recover from the busy last couple of weeks, enjoy this week’s updates in government contracting, which may help put some perspective on what just happened at the end of the last fiscal year and identify future trends for government acquisitions.
This week’s updates include a recap of large defense deals, the future of th
A few months ago, GAO confirmed that where VA uses GPO as it buying agent, it still must to comply with the Rule of Two in 38 U.S.C. 8127(d) (see our blog post on the case ). After VA took corrective action, however, another bid protest was again filed, but this time in the Court of Federal Claims. Surprisingly, there, the Court concluded differently, finding that GPO was not required to set aside the procurement for SDVOSBs or VOSBs, despite acting on VA’s behalf. In so doing, it has weakened t
As of September 2019, the VA has updated its Verification Assistance Brief on SDVOSB joint ventures. The old assistance brief was last revised in 2017 and contained some incorrect information. To its credit, this update removes the wrong info and it contains some additional guidance that could be helpful for SDVOSB joint venture members.
The new assistance brief contains a lot of the same information as the old, but it has been updated in some key ways.
First, the the incorrect gui
The first step in competing for a federal contract is knowing that an opportunity exists in the first place. In a recent protest, a contractor argued it was not able to find an opportunity despite routinely searching the appropriate federal procurement opportunity system, e-Buy. Thus, according to the protesting company, the procurement was not properly publicized and the award was improper. GAO did not agree.
CC&C Management Services, LLC, B-417594 (Comp. Gen. Aug. 28, 2019), involv
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
With little fanfare, the SBA has updated the template for agreements under the All Small Mentor-Protégé Program (ASMPP). The new template adds a series of check box-style questions, mainly about potential affiliation between the mentor and protege. Be sure to check out the new template if you are working on a mentor-protégé agreement.
The SBA described the changes to the form this way in a federal register notice:
The questions basically mirror the affiliation assumptions found i
Hi there loyal readers! We’ve been getting some great cool fall weather here in Lawrence. Seems like summer is officially over. Hope you’re enjoying fall as well.
We also hope you enjoy’s this week’s round-up of government contracting news, including stories about GSA’s new commercial e-Marketplace, issues impacting women veteran-owned businesses, and an update to LPTA procurements for non-DOD agencies (we recently blogged about the related LPTA update for DOD agencies).
TRANSCOM s
Because I’m at least partially a North Carolina country boy, I like to promise I’ll finish a project by a certain date “god willing and the creek don’t rise.”
I never give much thought to what I’ll do if the unexpected happens. I assume most people don’t. They expect things to go according to plan. As Meridian Engineering Company found out at the U.S. Court of Federal Claims recently, sorting it out when things don’t go to plan can be a long and arduous process.
In what would appear
It’s early October, which means that the federal government’s end-of-fiscal-year contracting binge has drawn to an end. With the spate of contract awards, this time of year typically sees an increase in the number of bid protests being filed, or at least contemplated.
If you’re considering filing a bid protest, here are five (more) things to keep in mind:
1. Debriefings are helpful guides.
The most useful piece of information when considering a bid protest is, unsurprisingly, th
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