Good morning and happy Friday! After the heatwave and rain the tomatoes are starting to ripen here in the Midwest. It’s always fun to visit our local farmer’s market at this time of the year to take advantage of the abundant harvest. We hope you had a great week and have some fun things planned for the weekend.
This week in federal government contracting news, be sure to look at articles related to an overview of governmentwide contracting, thoughts about government buying forecasts, and pot
There are multiple overlaps in SBA’s socioeconomic rules for the 8(a) Program, Women-Owned Small Business Program (WOSB), and the Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) Program. One in particular has often caused some confusion for our clients: the full-time devotion requirement. This rule generally requires that the service-disabled veteran owner (or equivalent key owner in the other programs) work full time for the company with the SDVOSB status. But what does this mean in prac
We often see price realism in protests when the protester is making the claim that the awardee’s price, which was lower than the protester’s price, is low enough that the awardee would not be able to perform the work as solicited. Most often, GAO will determine that the agency’s price realism analysis was acceptable. However, in Criterion Corporation, B-422309 (Apr 16, 2024), the agency determined that the lowest priced offeror’s price was too low, and that the company could not possibly perform
When it comes to SBA’s many small business socioeconomic certification programs, the 8(a) Business Development Program is often considered SBA’s “golden child”–as its potential benefits are nearly endless. But it certainly wouldn’t be a “golden child” at all if just anyone could get into it. The 8(a) Program has some of the most extensive and strict requirements out there. In this post, we’ll dig into the basic components of one of those requirements: economic disadvantage. But don’t fret, this
Happy Friday and we hope you had an enjoyable Juneteenth. Yesterday was the first day of summer and our humidity was a balmy 96% on the first official day! Whew…so hot. I think that everyone here would agree that we hope that won’t be the norm. We hope you have a great weekend and find a nice cool place to read the articles we have included below. Enjoy!
This week in federal government contracting news: agencies are cracking down on everything from cybersecurity to discrimination in the fede
We get a lot of questions about federal government contracting as federal government contracting attorneys, which makes sense. One thing we get asked about a lot is the Buy American Act. This is also unsurprising, as the government really did not do the best job in making it clear what this act does. We have talked about the Act before, but now, let’s take a deeper dive into it.
Overview
The Buy American Act is one of those “more complicated than it looks” laws. It is implemented at
Many contractors utilize a GSA schedule contract to provide the Government with their products and/or services. After all the effort it takes to get on a GSA schedule contract, a contractor would certainly not want to lose its chance at a small business task orders issued under it, just because it’s circumstances have changed since it first got the schedule contract as a small business. In a recent decision, the SBA’s Office of Hearings and Appeals (“OHA”) confirmed that even if a business chang
Happy Friday! The weather gave us a taste of summer with a heat index of over 100 degrees here in the Midwest. We are grateful for air conditioning here at SmallGovCon. We hope you have been staying cool and have some fun things planned for the weekend. Enjoy!
This week in federal government contracting news there is buzz about AI procurement, supply chain risks, and timing changes on the 8(a) and WOSBS programs from SBA.
Accounting software keeps small business out of federal marke
As SmallGovCon readers may recall, SBA has already eliminated the ability to self-certify as a Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) for all prime contracting opportunities set aside for SDVOSBs. This change occurred January 1, 2024 and meant that self-certified SDVOSBs will no longer be eligible for set-aside and sole source contracts. We wrote about the change here. However, the rule change left in place the self-certification ability for self-certified SDVOSBS, but only for s
It’s Friday, which means it’s time for another week in review. We hope you have had a productive week and are ready for a great weekend. This week saw some interesting news including an SBA rule to eliminate self-certification for service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses that are awarded Federal Government contracts or subcontracts. You can read more in the link below and we will be blogging on this new development, as well.
Have a great weekend!
Significant Advancement Seen
If you’re interested in winning more B2G business through the bid process, but you don’t have all the answers, join this LIVE forum and talk about this market with people who have helped hundreds of companies win BILLIONS of dollars in government contracts. This month’s co-hosts are, our very own Koprince McCall Pottroff LLC’s, Nicole Pottroff and Gregory Weber who will be joining, Angela Seymour, a seasoned procurement and GovCon professional with an impressive background in public service span
If you ask any small business federal government contractor or their attorney for the top complaints about the regulations that apply to the Small Business Administration, inconsistency between the various programs is likely to show up on that list. At first glance, it seems the requirements are pretty standard across the board. However, when you dive deeper, you’ll likely notice that even though the requirements are similar, there are enough small differences in the language you can’t just assu
Happy Friday! Can you believe that tomorrow is already June? We are getting some rain here in the Midwest to kick off summer, so I’m sure those lawn mowers will be out in full force this weekend. My tomato plants are growing tall and it won’t be long before we have an abundance of summer produce. We hope you have a wonderful weekend and can get out and enjoy some sunshine.
This week in federal contracting news, there are new contracts coming out in the telecom and IT sectors, and DoD is look
If you’re a contractor thinking about protesting an award decision to the Court of Federal Claims (COFC), you have to show that the agency’s mistake prejudiced you in some way (the same goes for GAO, as we have explored before). That is, you have to show that there was a substantial chance you would have received contract award if not for the agency’s mistake. In a recent decision by the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals, it appears that the COFC will have to give protesters a good bit of benefit
Memorial Day weekend is almost here, which means the unofficial start to summer! Whether you are hitting the road or relaxing at home, I hope you have an enjoyable long weekend while remembering those that have given their lives to protect our country.
Of course, a relaxing weekend isn’t complete without some good reading material, and we’ve got you covered. This week in federal government contracting news….
Defense Industrial Base Adoption of Artificial Intelligence for Defense App
The nonmanufacturer rule is one that is commonly misunderstood in the federal government contracting realm. But it is also one we encounter quite often in our role assisting federal contractors. Despite its seemingly straightforward definition, being classified as a “nonmanufacturer” entails more than simply not being the manufacturer.
On June 6, please join my colleagues, Nicole Pottroff & Greg Weber, as they dissect the complexities of this rule and answer your questions. The webinar
Please join Federal government contracts attorneys John Holtz and Stephanie Ellis for this informative webinar, hosted by the Catalyst Center for Business & Entrepreneurship, on June 5 at 10:00 am CDT.
The SBA’s Mentor Protege Program allows two or more businesses to come together and form a joint venture to bid on small business set-aside government contracts. One of the most advantageous aspects of this program is the ability for a large business to mentor a small business through the
So much of federal contracting discussion is focused on the pursuit of contracts (set-aside certifications, size status, solicitation terms, bid protests etc.). But, what sometimes gets lost in all of that is what happens after. The performance of a contract is where the rubber meets the road in federal contracting, but that doesn’t mean agencies are without limits on what they can do during performance.
It is a monumental feat for any contractor to win an award, and it should always be
The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) runs four socioeconomic programs aimed at providing equal opportunity to participate in federal contracting. And one would think that all of them have similar options if a contractor is denied certification. One would be wrong. SBA’s Office of Hearings and Appeals (OHA) recently dismissed an appeal for lack of jurisdiction, showcasing the different options in the various programs. The contractor was decertified from the Women Owned Small Business Prog
It’s Friday and time for another week in review. The kids are finishing up the school year, so get ready parents! There are lots of activities happening in town and as I drive by our local ice cream shop it seems to be constantly filled with kids as they celebrate the beginning of summer. We hope you are looking forward to a lot of fun summer activities, as well. Enjoy the weekend!
This week in federal government contracting included updates on veteran-owned and WOSB contracting, as well as
Once again, an initial awardee has had its award revoked because of a noncompliant joint venture agreement addendum. We see it happen regularly at SmallGovCon. And the decision in Colt-Sunbelt Rentals JV, LLC is yet another data point highlighting that SBA requires strict adherence to the joint venture agreement requirements in 13 C.F.R. § 125.8. Here, an incomplete joint venture agreement and its addendum resulted in a finding of affiliation which resulted in Colt-Sunbelt losing its small busin
Steven Koprince, Govology Legal Analyst and retired founder of Koprince McCall Pottroff will be presenting this webinar to help you understand when a small business subcontracting plan is required for a federal prime contractor. Additionally, the course will cover common oversights and mistakes made by prime contractors in connection with establishing and implementing small business subcontracting plans. Please join Steve as he walks you through the process. Register here.
The post Govology Web
If a contracting officer determines that a small business offeror is not qualified to perform under a given solicitation, that typically means the offeror’s proposal will be rejected. But when the rejection deals with responsibility, the offeror may get a second bite at the apple through the SBA’s Certificate of Competency (“COC”) program. Whether this is news to you, or something you simply wish to understand a bit better, let’s take a look at the basics of the SBA’s COC Program, rules, and pro
In a recent size appeal, the SBA OHA made it clear that the nonmanufacturer rule has it limits, and will not apply depending on the dollar value of the acquisition. OHA reminded contractors that the nonmanufacturer rule applies only to acquisitions over the simplified acquisition threshold.
As avid readers of our blog know, some things that can be quite confusing in small business federal contracting are the limitations on subcontracting, and its counterpart, the nonmanufacturer rule. (L
Happy Friday and Happy Mother’s Day! Celebrations of mothers and motherhood can be traced back to the ancient Greeks and Romans, who held festivals. The American incarnation of Mother’s Day was created by Anna Jarvis in 1908 and became an official U.S. holiday in 1914. Did you know that the most phone calls are made in the United States on Mother’s Day? We hope you have a wonderful weekend and please acknowledge all those mothers and mother-figures in your life. Have a nice weekend.
And now
