Government Contracts MonitorSmall Business / Socioeconomic Issues2016 New Year’s ResolutionsJanuary 4, 2016 Reassess Your Size Status, Update Your DSBS and SAM Listings, Check Your Past Performance Ratings, and Update Your Employment Policies, Handbooks and Postings Happy New Year! The start of a new year is a time for New Year’s Resolutions. Here are several we strongly urge you to follow-through on early in 2016. 1. Reassess Your (and Any Subcontractors’) Small Business Size Status: Most… OHA Appeals: Why Bother Appealing If You Aren’t Going to Review the Record?December 15, 2015 Two recent decisions by the Small Business Administration (SBA)’s Office of Hearings and Appeals (OHA) raise the question of why parties file appeals concerning fact-based issues if they don’t want to review the record on which the challenged determinations were based. The decisions also vividly demonstrate the practical problems and litigation risks such parties run when they don’t timely… “Control” Is Based on the What the Governing Documents Say, Not How the Owners ActDecember 15, 2015 As businesses grow and change over time, practical aspects of their internal governance often change as well. If the owners’ day-to-day practices gradually diverge from their originally agreed upon approaches, it can be easy to forget the governing documents and what they say. Owners of small business contractors, however, do so at their peril. As the recent Small Business Administration (SBA)… Size Protests 101: Do Your Homework and Don’t Rely on SBADecember 7, 2015 A recent decision by the Small Business Administration (SBA)’s Office of Hearings and Appeals (OHA) provides a good reminder that concerns filing size protests need to do their homework and submit supporting evidence with their protests. Protestors should not rely on the SBA to investigate or look for materials that might be relevant to the issues raised in the protest, much less look for… Knowing and Meeting Solicitation Requirements, Part IINovember 30, 2015 A recent article addressed the dangers of “aspirational analysis”, the dynamic in which offerors interpret a solicitation as saying what they want it to say rather than recognizing what it actually requires. A slightly different version of the problem is highlighted by the decision in Aerostar Perma-Fix TRU Services, LLC, B-411733; B-411733.4 (October 8, 2015), where the protester… Exactly What Does the Solicitation require? Know it and Meet itNovember 10, 2015 Companies assessing and working to respond to solicitations need to be careful not to fall prey to “aspirational analysis” – finding what they want to find in the stated requirements instead of understanding and accepting what those requirements actually say. Of course, contractors sometimes decide to ignore the solicitation terms and pursue the contract anyway, either confident that they have a… Get It Right and Be On Time or Don’t Waste Time ProtestingNovember 2, 2015 A recent GAO decision demonstrates the critical importance of timely submitting and following-up with the Small Business Administration (SBA) on your Joint Venture Agreement (JVA) application if you want to obtain a competitive joint venture (JV) award under SBA’s 8(a) business development program. FedServ-RBS JV, LLC, B-411790, Oct. 26, 2015. In this instance, an 8(a)’s failure to pay… You Can’t Always Rely on the Kindness of Strangers, or Contracting OfficersOctober 5, 2015 Disappointed small business offerors sometimes turn to the certificate of competency (COC) procedures of the Small Business Administration (SBA) when their proposals are found technically unacceptable. Arguing that the unacceptability is actually a matter responsibility that must be considered by SBA, these offerors hope that a favorable COC determination will save the day. Sometimes… Short Take: Counterfeit Electronic Parts – the Saga ContinuesSeptember 21, 2015 DoD is proposing to revise the DFARS rule entitled “Detection and Avoidance of Counterfeit Electronic Parts”. See Proposal here. The rule proposes amendments to DFARS 246.870 and a new clause at DFARS 252.246-70XX, Sources of Electronic Parts, to require that DoD and its contractors and subcontractors, except in limited circumstances, acquire electronic parts from trusted suppliers in order to… Short Take: SBA Authorizes WOSB Sole-Source AwardsSeptember 14, 2015 The Small Business Administration (SBA) has issued its eagerly-awaited Final Rule implementing the new sole source award authority for Women-Owned Small Businesses (WOSBs). The Final Rule essentially adopts and follows the Proposed Rule, previously discussed here. Most importantly, the Final Rule authorizes sole source awards in industries identified by SBA in which WOSBs are underrepresented or… Mentor/Protégé Joint Venture Agreements – The Devil Is in the DetailsAugust 31, 2015 Over the past year, the Small Business Administration (SBA) has begun to require a greater deal of specificity in proposed Joint Venture Agreements (JVAs) between Mentors and their Protégés, and in at least two instances both the cognizant SBA Area Offices and SBA’s Office of Hearings & Appeals (OHA) have rejected such Agreements and found the respective joint ventures ineligible for the… Feds Fall Short on Small Business Subcontracting and Other Goals for FY14July 20, 2015 The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) recently announced the federal government’s Fiscal Year 2014 (FY14) small business goaling results and Small Business Procurement Scorecard. According to SBA, the federal government awarded a total of $91.1 billion in prime contracts to small business – an $8 billion increase over FY13. SBA naturally highlighted the fact that this equaled… |
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