Jump to content

Exclusion of Joint Ventures


Mr_Batesville

Recommended Posts

Greetings Contracting World,

What a pleasure to glean once again from this consortium of knowledge.

Background: Joint Ventures present problems that some agencies are not willing to risk on highly sensitive requirements. Some of those issues include but are not limited to; Governance and operation issues, financial issues i.e invoicing etc. Although, there are rules in place for the CO's to monitor the aforementioned sometimes it just does not work and  the customer suffers in the end with requirements being held up and the snowball affect. 

Question: JV's are not considered a small business concern such as women owened, Vet Owned, HuZone, HBCU etc. Does the Government legally reserve or should I say can the Government Reserve the right to preclude JV's from proposing on a full and open requirement? If so, does this eliminate Mentor Protege' JV's from submitting as well? 

Any guidance would be appreciated. The recent changes to the Mentor Protege and Large + Small = Small has sparked such conversation in my office. 

Thanks Again! :)

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Two small businesses can form a joint venture. See 13 C.F.R.§121.103 (h)(3) as follows: Exception to affiliation for certain joint ventures. (i) A joint venture of two or more business concerns may submit an offer as a small business for a Federal procurement, subcontract or sale so long as each concern is small under the size standard corresponding to the NAICS code assigned to the contract. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Mr_Batesville said:

can the Government Reserve the right to preclude JV's from proposing on a full and open requirement?

If the procurement is conducted on a full and open competitive basis, I do not see how the government can state that offers from JVs will not be considered.  On the other hand, the government may erect barriers that make it difficult for a JV to compete.  For example, if the procurement is being conducted under FAR Part 15, the government may say that it will only consider past performance of the JV and not its individual members.  This practice has been sanctioned by the GAO.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

26 minutes ago, Neil Roberts said:

Two small businesses can form a joint venture. See 13 C.F.R.§121.103 (h)(3) as follows: Exception to affiliation for certain joint ventures. (i) A joint venture of two or more business concerns may submit an offer as a small business for a Federal procurement, subcontract or sale so long as each concern is small under the size standard corresponding to the NAICS code assigned to the contract. 

Neil - Yes I do understand that they can do that, my question is more of can the Government or what measures can the Government put in place to avoid getting JV's submissions. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 minutes ago, Retreadfed said:

If the procurement is conducted on a full and open competitive basis, I do not see how the government can state that offers from JVs will not be considered.  On the other hand, the government may erect barriers that make it difficult for a JV to compete.  For example, if the procurement is being conducted under FAR Part 15, the government may say that it will only consider past performance of the JV and not its individual members.  This practice has been sanctioned by the GAO.

Retreadfed - What other barriers would be realistic and also could you cite the GAO reference supporting you earlier claim? Thanks....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

See, Aljucar, Anvil-Incus & Co., B-408936 (January 2, 2014).  Other barriers could be requiring the JV to have its own accounting system that has been audited by DCAA, requiring the JV to undergo a pre-award survey, if the JV is not small, having it submit a small business subcontracting plan instead of relying on plans submitted by the members.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
×
×
  • Create New...