AAC

 I recently ran across this situation:

A woman-owned small business recently created a new business. The new business has an affiliate who has 70% ownership share in the new business. can the new business still be classified a WOSB? If not, can the new business claim to be a small business?

Thanks Bob!

Should there be a centralized Federal Acquisitions Emergency Operations Center established to control all this guidance that is coming out?   How are people learning what works and what does not work in this chaotic environment? ............Not business as usual.

Thank You! Other resources a NCMA website as well:

• For procurements valued at $100 million or less, contracting officers are not required to execute a justification and obtain approval for award of a sole source contract under the Small Business Administration’s 8(a) program, Class Deviation—Justification and Approval Threshold for 8(a) Contracts, DARS­ Tracking Number: 2020-O0009, Effective March 17,2020

• Progress payment rates at Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) 232.501-1 are increased to 90 percent for large business concerns and 95 percent for small business concerns, Class Deviation—Progress Payment Rates, DARS Tracking Number: 2020-O0010, Effective March 20,2020

• Coronavirus (COVID-19): Small Business Guidance & Loan Resources

• Executive Order invoking the Defense Production Act, March 18, 2020

  • Defense Priorities & Allocations System (DPAS)
  • The Defense Production Act of 1950 authorized the President to require preferential treatment of national defense programs. The purpose of DPAS is to assure the timely availability of industrial resources to meet current national defense and emergency preparedness program requirements and to provide an operating system to support rapid industrial response in a national emergency.

• Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment Memorandum, "Defense Industrial Base Essential Critical Infrastructure Workforce" (March 20, 2020)

• OMB Memorandum M-20-19 "Harnessing Technology to Support Mission Continuity” (March 22, 2020)

• OMB Memorandum M-20-18 "Managing Federal Contract Performance Issues Associated with the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19)” (March 20, 2020)

• GSA FAQ (March 13, 2020)

• Defense Pricing and Contracting Memorandum, “Planning for Potential Novel Coronavirus Contract Impacts” (March 10, 2020)

• DASA(P) Memorandum, “Response to the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19)” (March 12, 2020)

• OMB Memorandum M-20-17, “Administrative Relief for Recipients and Applicants of Federal Financial Assistance Directly Impacted by the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) due to Loss of Operations (March 19, 2020)

• “Coronavirus (COVID-19) Government Contracts Advisory,” BakerHostetler (March 18, 2020)

• “Pandemic Implications for Government Contractors: How the FAR Covers COVID-19,” Ward & Berry PLLC, (March 17, 2020)

• "Scenarios Government Contractors May Face During the COVID-19 National Emergency” Pillsbury Insights (March 17, 2020)

• “Corona Virus and Government Contracts,” Dempsy Fontana (March 16, 2020)

• “COVID-19 Federal Contractor’s Survival Guide,” SheppardMullin (March 16, 2020)

• “Actions Federal Government Contractors Should Consider in Response to COVID-19,” Greenberg Traurig (March 15, 2020)

• “COVID-19 – Impacts and Possible Remedies for Government Contractors,” Reed Smith (March 13, 2020)

• “Prepare, Communicate, Document, and Segregate—A Government Contractor's Guide to Addressing Performance Disruptions and Delays Related to COVID-19,” Arnold & Porter (March 11, 2020

• “How the Coronavirus Will Affect Government Contractors,” Oles Morrison (March 10, 2020)

• “The Government Contractor Coronavirus (COVID-19) Preparedness Toolkit,” Crowell & Moring (March 3, 2020)

• “FEMA chief says Defense Production Act will be used for coronavirus test kits,” The Hill, March 24, 2020
• White House tells agencies to use technology to the ‘greatest extent practicable’ during coronavirus, fedscoop, March 23, 2020

• OMB’s new coronavirus contractor guidance doesn’t answer some of the toughest questions, Federal News Network, March 23, 2020

• CORONAVIRUS NEWS: Pentagon Takes Steps to Aid Industrial Base During COVID-19 Crisis, National Defense, March 23, 2020

• Pentagon loosens cash flow for industry, more measures likely coming, Defense News, March 23, 2020

• New HHS buying authorities among options available under Defense Production Act, Federal News Network, March 20, 2020

• CORONAVIRUS NEWS: Tips for Contractors Navigating COVID-19 Pandemic, “National Defense (March 19, 2020)

• “The Defense Production Act and the Coronavirus Executive Order: Key Considerations,” Inside Government Contracts, Covington, (March 19, 2020) 

• “COVID 19 tests contractor resiliency,” Washington Technology, (March 18, 2020) 

• “The Likely Effects of COVID-19 on Contract Awards and Contract Formation,” Inside Government Contracts, Covington (March 18, 2020

• “DoD coronavirus plan causing confusion among contractors,” Politico (March 17, 2020) 

• “A Coronavirus Contractor’s Guide to the Defense Production Act,” Inside Government Contracts, Covington (March, 17, 2020)  

• “Contractors: It’s Time to Send Your COVID-19 Notice,” The National Law Review (March 17, 2020)

• “COVID 19: What can contractors do? Plenty.” Washinton Technology, (March 17, 2020)

• “COVID-19 Federal Contractor’s Survival Guide,” The National Law Review (March 13, 2020)

• “COVID-19: The Government Contractor’s Guide to Compensable & Excusable Delays,”  
  Buildsmart, Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP (March 12, 2020)   

• “Coronavirus (COVID-19) – Is it an excuse for non-performance of a commercial contract?” Dentons (March 10, 2020)

Does anyone know if the federal government is going appointment an office within the acquisition community to start collecting the lessons learned during the Corona virus outbreak?

I work for years teleworking / remotely and supporting DOD programs for large aerospace firm. Then I got a new supervisor who was "old school". He said I need to see you in the office everyday because I'm old school. Everyday I scratch my head because everything I did at the work site was everything I was doing remotely. Some supervisors just don't have the confidence or experience to supervise a telework/remote workforce. That's just poor leadership....PERIOD

Telework challenges for the contracts management professional during Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak

Here is a link to an article where the GSA and the SBA tried to answer some general questions in new contracting-focused fact sheets. The Defense Department said March 17 it will hold daily calls with industry associations to discuss the impact of the virus on industry.

https://federalnewsnetwork.com/industry-associations/2020/03/new-guidance-defense-production-act-and-other-coronavirus-challenges-vendors-should-know-about/

Bob. What reason was given as to why the liquor store is closing? Just curious

That's not a problem here_2_help. I really appreciate your comments and continued participation in this poll.

Thank you

Bob.... I really appreciate your comments and and thank you for reopening the poll.

Best Regards...

I want to just say that I have been more of a reader of the posts on WIFCON than actually responding to posts. I hope to change this in the future. Having said that, I have appreciated the responses from Vern that I have seen over the years. In order to survive while working in the Government contracts profession, you must be open to the advice of professionals who have been in this business for many years. You have to be able to throw away the perception that someone with more knowledge than you is trying to make you feel small when rendering their opinion. You have to continuously grow and learn. I have been involved in Government Contracting since 1986, hold 2 certifications from NCMA, and would not have survived this long if it were not for the efforts of the professionals on this website to keep our profession moving forward. If you look at the responses Vern has graciously offered over the years, you can see he is trying to move us to clarify the questions. Yes, we know that means getting a response from Vern that may rub one the wrong way. But this is not what he is trying to do, he is tying to make us think before we act, he is trying have us learn something. There are better ways of responding to people that you feel rub you the wrong way. If your customer, contractor, or subcontractor rubs you the wrong way I am sure the response would not be such as what was provided to Vern.

What is the basis of the protest?

What has been the extent of your search? Just curious to know if you have done a Google search or gone to any other websites.

He floated the idea of having contracting professionals rotate between government and the private sector. Was he only talking about the contracting professionals on the Government side going back and forth? The best he can come close to with this is the Training With Industry (TWI) that the Army used to send selected contracting professionals to train with industry for a year. Don't know if they still do this or not. If he was also including the contracting prfessionals on the private industry side..........forget it. What private firm would risk getting themselves in some sort of conflict of interest situation that may prevent them from bidding on future government work. Yep, this is not a good idea.

What exctly is the criteria for a person in DOD to obtain a warrant?

Thanks Vern. I have read the property clause and will act accordingly. As always, your comments are very insightful and so inspiring.

Thanks everyone for your insight.

Since September 2009 we have been having problems with the GFE provided to us from the USG. We have provided formal notification to the Contracting Officer (5 letters) , detailing the facts and circumstances. We further have asked the USG to provide us with assistance in trying to understand how the internal mechanisms in the GFE work to help us understand whether the results of our testing is due to some issue with the internal mechanism inside of the GFE. This type of assistance from the USG has not been forthcoming. A few weeks ago we started to receive some assistance but no determination has been made on whether or not the GFE provided is defective. I have the Government Delay of Work, FAR clause 52.247-17 in my contract and perhaps I should be citing this clause to file a claim instead of a REA. We tried to work with the USG to avoid schedule slips by trying to push forward to figure out the problem on our own. However, we are now getting into schedule slips and of course additional cost issues.

We are incurring unplanned costs and schedule slips due to defective GFE equipment. We have done a very good job of documenting the issues with numerous emails/briefings and formal contractual notices to the USG. We are still working the issue to avoid incurring costs and schedule slips.

I have DFARS Clause 252.243-7002 Requests for Equitable Adjustment in my contract. Therefore, I would have to act IAW with this clause should we decide to submit a REA. If this risk is realized, it will occur first with our subcontractor and I am sure we will be paying them before the USG gets around to dealing with the REA which hopefully results in getting us paid. Does anyone have experience dealing with REAs? Any idea on how long a REA can take on average?

In order to insure that the supplies will be unloaded by the trucking company what do I need to make sure I have in the contract? Is it the norm that they don't unload and that the govt is responsible?

Check the clause at 52.247-15

As stated in 47.207-5 (e) Loading and unloading: The contracting officer shall insert the clause at 52.247-15, Contractor Responsibility for Loading and Unloading, when the contractor is responsible for loading and unloading shipments

Does anyone know of a specific FAR clause that addresses Counterfeit Parts

Thanks for the response. This satisfies the question I had. My fault for not including the specifics.

The defintion of Inane is as follows:

1 : empty, insubstantial

2 : lacking significance, meaning, or point : silly <inane comments>

I always thought that there was no such thing as a "silly" question. It seems that Joel thinks otherwise. Please do me a favor Joel. If you take pleasure in answering questions in this manner, please do not responsd to questions I ask on these boards. This is supposed to be a place where people feel free to ask questions among professionals for those of us who are seeking more knowledge in the profession.

I posed this question as general question and I suppose you could replace fee with profit but if that would make things easier. However, If I have a T&M contract is the material portion of the contract allowed to have Fee or profit applied to it or is the fee or profit built into the labor portion of what is billed for the time portion of the "Time" and materials contract.

Under what conditions would is fee be applied to material?