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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Why File: A VOSB or SDVOSB Status Protest
The second entry in our new “Why File” series covers some of the main reasons unsuccessful offerors file veteran-owned small business (VOSB) and service-disabled veteran owned small businesses (SDVOSB) status protests. Don’t worry if VOSB and SDVOSB are new acronyms to you–or you just need a refresher–we’ve got a Back to Basics blog for that. If you’re a seasoned vet (pun intended), you already know SBA now handles the Veteran Small Business (VSB) Certification Program (VetCert) (which covers VOSBs and SDVOSBs) administration and status protests. So, the following (non-exhaustive) list of some of the most common reasons VSB status is protested is based primarily on SBA regulations and cases. But please keep in mind, despite the commonalities discussed below, the question of whether to protest is highly fact-specific and demands careful consideration.
Continue readingSDVOSB 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.
Continue readingReminder: 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.
Continue readingClearing Things Up: OHA Remands Matter for Unclear Veteran-Owned Bylaws
SBA administers four socioeconomic programs: Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB), 8(a) Business Development Program (8(a)) Women-Owned Small Business Program (WOSB) and HUBZone. The SDVOSB, 8(a), and WOSB programs all require that the key owner generally have control over the long-term decision-making and the day-to-day operations of a company. These same rules apply to the veteran-owned small businesses program (VOSB) as well. A recent decision from the Office of Hearings and Appeals at SBA reveals that the operating agreement or bylaws for these types of companies must be very clear about how they are operated.
Continue readingSmallGovCon Week in Review: July 3-7, 2023
Happy Friday! We hope you had a nice 4th of July and a great week. It was another scorcher here in Kansas, on the 4th, but thankfully our temperatures are much cooler to finish out the week. Here’s hoping you can find time to rest and relax this weekend and perhaps, read a few articles we thought were interesting from the federal government contracting world. Enjoy!
In this week’s edition, the federal fiscal fourth quarter is upon us!
Continue readingBack to Basics: Status Protests
In the world of Federal Government Contracting, it often feels like there are 20 different ways that your business or your business’s awards can be protested. In addition to size protests and bid protests (at both GAO and the COFC), there is also what is commonly referred to as a “status protest.” A status protest, while certainly less common than size protests and bid protests, still presents its own unique factors, procedures, and corresponding risks that contractors should be aware of. In this next installment of our Back to Basics series, we will walk you through a status protest and what impact a status protest may have on a federal contractor’s business.
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