Webinar! Small Business Certifications, March 20, 2024, 10:00-11:00 am CDT

Please join federal government contracts attorneys Nicole Pottroff & Greg Weber for this informative webinar on SBA certifications hosted by Catalyst Center for Business & Entrepreneurship. Participants will get an overview about the Small Business Certifications including:

  • Woman Owned Small Business and Economically Disadvantaged Woman Owned Small Business
  • 8(a)  Business Development Program
  • HUBZone (Historically Underutilized Business Zone)
  • Service Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business

We will discuss how to get certified, how long it may take, regulations, changes, updates, and tips and tricks on how to be prepared. Please Register here.

OHA Sustains Status Protest: Self-Proclaimed SDVOSB Awardee Not Certified by VetCert, Not Eligible For SBA’s Grace Period, And Not Veteran Owned or Controlled

In Mckenna Brytan Indus. LLC, SBA No. VSBC-334, 2023 (Feb. 8, 2024), the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) Office of Hearings and Appeals (OHA) sustained the Service-Disabled Small Business (SDVOSB) status protest of BTNG Enterprises, LLC (BTNG). In its decision, OHA reiterated the two current regulatory options for calling yourself an “SDVOSB” concern: the first, is having your SDVOSB application officially approved by the SBA and your company listed in the SBA’s Veteran Small Business Certification Program (VetCert) data base; and the second, is having submitted your complete application to SBA through VetCert prior to December 31, 2023, and be currently waiting for approval or denial. Here, OHA was unable to conclude that BTNG had done either of those things–despite looking for evidence of eligibility from the SBA and from BTNG itself.

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SDVOSB Updates: SBA VetCert Achievements, JV Certification, and NDAA Contracting Goal

It’s been one year since the U.S. Small business Administration (SBA) took over the federal government’s veteran-owned small business contracting program from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), and a lot has happened in that amount of time. Here, we discuss how SBA has handled the Veteran Small Business Certification Program in the first year and some of SBA’s achievments. And in other big SDVOSB news, the federal government will be providing more contracts for veteran-owned entities under the National Defense Authorization Act’s increased contracting goals.

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Reminder: 2023 SDVOSB Deadline Looming

SmallGovCon has covered the SBA’s assumption of control over certification of Service-Disabled Veteran Owned Small Businesses (“SDVOSB”) and Veteran Owned Small Businesses (“VOSB”) since it was first announced well over a year ago. Now, we are coming close to one of the final deadlines associated with SBA taking over these certification processes. It is hard to believe that it is already the end of the calendar year once again. But time flies when you are having federal contracting fun! With the end of 2023 comes a crucial deadline for certain veteran businesses to keep in mind–the date for self-certification to go away.

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Joint Venture Agreement Fails for Lack of Detail–And Too Much Detail on Venturer Control

A joint venture agreement must closely follow Small Business Administration rules to be compliant for a small business set-aside. And SBA interprets those rules strictly. If they are not followed, a joint venture that was up for award, can see that award go up in smoke. Here, SBA said that a joint venture involving a Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) was not compliant because it was both (a) not specific enough and (b) too detailed in providing for oversight of actions of the JV partners.

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Senate-Passed 2024 NDAA set to Raise DoD Set-Aside Sole-Source Contract Threshold Limits

Through an amendment to the Senate-Passed 2024 NDAA, the Department of Defense (“DoD”) sole source threshold for many socioeconomic set-aside programs would be increased significantly under the Senate-passed version of the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act. Also a method to adjust DoD sole-source thresholds for inflation would be created.

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$162B in Small Business Contracts: SBA Releases Small Business Scorecards for FY 2022

The SBA published its annual Government Wide Small Business Procurement Scorecard for fiscal year 2022, and it appears that nearly every type of small business set-aside by the SBA, with the continued exception for Woman-Owned Small Businesses and HUBZone businesses, either met or exceeded their goal. Overall, agencies exceeded their goals for the year, earning an overall score of “A” due to meeting the small business contracting goals with 104.05% of the total goal.

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