The Rule of Two is the federal contracting rule requiring agencies to set aside a solicitation for competition only between small businesses when there are at least two small businesses that could do the work for a fair price. But that rule does have some exceptions. These exceptions can make it difficult to know the situations that would justify filing a Rule of Two protest. Read on to find out.
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GAO: Don’t Slip Up on SAM Registration, Even for One Day
If federal contracting had a proverbial town square, it would be SAM.gov. So much federal contracting activity flows through or starts there. A large portion of SAM is contractor information. Contractors are required to be on SAM and are expected to keep their profiles on SAM updated. A “hot off the presses” GAO ruling has confirmed that the timing of SAM registration can make or break a contractor’s winning bid.
Continue reading2023 Bid Protest Report, Success Rate Up, Total Protests Up a Little Bit
One of our favorite fall traditions is back. No, not gorging on stuffing after a turkey trot. Rather, it’s time for GAO’s annual bid protest report. This report is GAO’s summary of bid protests for the previous fiscal year. It contains some key insights for how the protest numbers have changed from prior years.
Here are some key points from this year: (1) the key effectiveness metric, showing numbers of sustains and corrective actions at GAO, was up even higher to 57% for the 2023 fiscal year and (2) total bid protest numbers are up slightly, reversing a downward trend in total protest numbers from the last few years.
Continue readingBuy American? Agencies Must Carefully Document Market Research for Domestic Preference Compliance, says GAO
A recent GAO case on protest costs looked at whether costs were reimbursable centered around whether a Buy American Act waiver was properly applied in the procurement process. As you likely know, the Buy American Act is something many contractors (especially supply and construction contractors) must deal with in their contracting process, and getting a waiver or an exception often may be critical to a proposal. This case arose from a protest seeking costs, but it is still a great opportunity for contractors to better understand the limits of a waiver or exception of the Buy American Act and GAO’s expectations surrounding such an action.
Continue readingWeek in Review: Oct. 31-Nov 4, 2022
Happy Friday, Readers and Happy November! I’m excited to be attending the APTAC Conference in Washington DC next week. It should be a great week to chat with PTAC procurement specialists from around the country. If you are attending, please stop by our table and say hello.
We’ve included some articles below on the happenings in federal government contracting, this week, including updates on the GSA UEI delays and the CIO-SP4 procurement. Enjoy your weekend!
Continue readingSmallGovCon Week in Review: June 6-10, 2022
Happy Friday, Readers! We hope you had a very productive week and can take some time this weekend to relax and unwind. The start of June is proving to be a wet one here in the Midwest and the gardens and trees are loving it! Everything is so green and the spring flowers are beautiful. I’m sure the town will be filled with the sound of lawn mowers this weekend.
Here are a few noteworthy articles this week, concerning federal government contracting issues, including some policy changes on the federal management level, reports on time and materials contracts, and small business tech opportunities. We hope you can kick back, relax and carve out some leisure time this weekend. Enjoy!
Continue readingSmallGovCon Week in Review: May 9-13, 2022
Happy Friday blog readers! Hope you are having a nice week. Kick back and relax with the latest federal contracting updates.
This week saw some interesting federal contracting news. GAO has issued a new report on ways the federal government can potentially save billions of dollars in spending and improve efficiency of its programs. Additional stories include an article I’m quoted in from Bloomberg Law discussing U.S. agencies requests for brand name items in contract proposals. Read on for the details and have a great weekend!
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