Whether you know from firsthand experience or have read our blogs on the topic, it’s no secret that a company applying for one of SBA’s socioeconomic programs will be examined extremely closely by SBA during the application process. Sometimes even more so in the 8(a) Program. This can include sifting through the language in a company’s operating agreement (as in this case we blogged on here), down to the meeting minutes. It can sometimes be overlooked that this close review also includes a look at the personal finances of the qualifying individual, at least for 8(a) and EDWOSB programs.
Continue reading…Executive Order: Consolidation of Procurement
The Trump administration has issued an executive order entitled Eliminating Waste and Saving Taxpayer Dollars by Consolidating Procurement. This order, or Consolidation EO, has some guidelines for how procurement will be reorganized under the Trump administration, so it’s useful to go through some of the key language. One item in particular is a keen focus on category management by using GSA for various types of procurement. While it’s been a driving force of procurement reform over the years, this order puts category management into even sharper focus.
Continue reading…SmallGovCon Week in Review: March 24-28, 2025
Hello! It’s Friday and time for another week in review. This time of year brings both the ripping up of March Madness brackets and the opening day of baseball–hope springs eternal! And for non-sports ball folks, we hope that spring is bringing all of our readers both renewed energy and productivity.
This week saw a number of interesting stories, including proposed consolidating of procurement with GSA and changes to GSA schedules, along with updates on termination of some contracts.
Continue reading…OHA Says: Show me the Money! (in Ostensible Subcontracting Review)
Size and status protests, which are reviewed by the SBA’s Office of Hearings and Appeals (OHA), are far less common than GAO protests which protest an evaluation aspect of a solicitation or award. But when they are used they can be a powerful tool to keep contracting dollars intended for small businesses to stay with small businesses. In the case of Winergy, LLC, OHA takes a look at an award intended for SDVOSBs, to determine if the awardee is in compliance with the ostensible subcontractor rule or if it is subcontracting out the primary and vital parts of the contract. The lesson? If you want to keep an award, be sure that you, or a similarly situated subcontractor, will be performing the primary and vital parts of the contract and that you can support that assertion with evidence.
Continue reading…Webinar Event! Top 21 Legal Mistakes in Federal Government Contracting, April 9, 2025, 11:00-12:00pm CDT
Federal contracting rules and laws are complicated, and the rules aren’t always intuitive. Many contractors make legal mistakes routinely, involving everything from completing SAM profiles to calculating small business size to communicating with government contracting officers. Federal government contracts attorneys, Shane McCall & Annie Birney of Koprince McCall Pottroff, will discuss the top 21 most common legal mistakes that contractors make time and time again. You will learn what these common mistakes are and how to avoid them. Please join us for this free webinar hosted by our friends at The Catalyst Center for Business & Entrepreneurship. Please Register here.
SmallGovCon Week in Review: March 17-21, 2025
Happy Spring! It’s been a long, cold winter here in the Midwest. But we are starting to see many signs of spring this week. I just got back from a spring break trip to Gulf Shores and Fort Morgan, Alabama and this picture was taken on the beach there. It was a great time to recharge the batteries so I could get back to staying up to date on federal contracting news.
This week in federal government contracting news saw stories including consolidating a number of multiple award contracts under GSA and cutting spending at both DoD and SBA.
Continue reading…A Look at the Duty of Good Faith and Fair Dealing (Part 1)
The duty of good faith and fair dealing in contract law is, admittedly, a bit poorly named. It does not require that a party act in bad faith to breach it. You do not need to act nefariously to run afoul of it. But then the question arises: What is it? How does one breach it? This was (among other things) a question explored in a recent Court of Federal Claims decision regarding an Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) contract. We will look at that decision’s review of the duty of good faith and fair dealing here in a 2-part series.
Continue reading…