SBA Adds Affiliation Questions to Revised All Small Mentor-Protege Template

With little fanfare, the SBA has updated the template for agreements under the All Small Mentor-Protégé Program (ASMPP). The new template adds a series of check box-style questions, mainly about potential affiliation between the mentor and protege.

Be sure to check out the new template if you are working on a mentor-protégé agreement.

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SBA OIG All Small Mentor-Protégé Program Evaluation Reveals Concerns and Suggests Improvements

In 2016, SBA established the All Small Mentor-Protégé Program, or ASMPP, enabling mentors of any size to provide business development assistance to small protégé businesses to enhance the protégé’s ability to compete for federal contracts. Since then, the ASMPP has served as a powerful tool for many businesses and, as of August 1, there were 885 active mentor-protégé agreements.

Recently, however, the SBA’s Office of the Inspector General released a report highlighting some opportunities to improve the program and recommending SBA take additional steps to ensure compliance with the program’s requirements.

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SBA Mentor-Protégé Joint Ventures: Even GAO Appears a Tad Confused

The SBA’s All Small Mentor-Protégé program offers a tremendous opportunity for participants to pursue set-aside contracts as joint venture partners.  But misunderstandings and misconceptions about how SBA mentor-protégé joint ventures work are pervasive.

One very common misconception is that the SBA must pre-approve a mentor-protégé joint venture.  In most cases, that’s not so.  In a recent bid protest decision, even the GAO appeared a little confused, repeatedly mentioning SBA approval of a joint venture even though no such approval was required for the contract in question.

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All Small Mentor-Protege: SBA Confirms “Two Per Lifetime” Limit

A small business “can have no more than two [SBA] mentors over the life of the business,” according to the SBA’s All Small Mentor-Protege Program website.

The SBA’s clarification of the lifetime limit provides important guidance for proteges, especially because the SBA’s mentor-protege regulations aren’t exactly crystal clear when it comes to this point.  The SBA’s limit ensures that small businesses don’t become permanent proteges–but is “two per lifetime” the best way to carry out that policy?

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SBA Plans to Consolidate All Small and 8(a) Mentor-Protégé Programs

The SBA plans to issue a proposed rule consolidating the All Small Mentor-Protégé Program and the 8(a) Mentor-Protégé Program.

According to a recent SBA publication in the Federal Register, the SBA has had a change of heart about whether it is necessary to run two similar mentor-protégé programs–one for everybody, and another only for 8(a) firms.

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Thank You, Utah!

I am back from a great trip to Salt Lake City, where I spoke at the Utah PTAC Symposium.  My talk at the symposium centered on prime/subcontractor teams and joint ventures–topics of ever-increasing interest for small and large contractors alike.

It was wonderful to see so many clients and old friends at the Symposium and meet so many new people, too.  A big “thank you” to Chuck Spence and his team at the Utah PTAC for organizing this event and inviting me to speak.  And thank you, also, to everyone who attended my seminar and stopped by the Koprince Law LLC booth to talk about government contracts.

I’ll be sticking around Kansas for a few weeks, although I’ll be making a short trip down to Wichita on Tuesday to give a half-day session on the SBA’s All Small Mentor-Protege Program, sponsored by the Kansas PTAC.  If you’re a Kansas contractor, I hope to see you there.

How Joint Ventures Really Work: My “Game Changers” Podcast

Ah, joint ventures.  Few topics in government contracting these days seem to cause as much confusion.  And that’s due, in large part, to some common misunderstandings I hear repeated over and over.

Recently, I joined host Michael LeJeune on the “Game Changers” podcast to talk about some of the most common areas of confusion regarding joint ventures.  What is the relationship between joint ventures and the SBA’s new All-Small Mentor-Protege Program?  How do the rules for joint venture work share operate?  What are some frequent mistakes companies make when they draft joint venture agreements?  And so on.

My podcast is available now on the Federal Access website.  Click here to give it a listen, and while you’re there, check out the many other great podcasts featuring a range of government contracts thought leaders.