The Trade Agreements Act (TAA) and Buy American Act (BAA) are among the most complex regulatory systems in federal contracting. There’s been a lot of confusion from both contractors and agencies on when they apply to a procurement and how. We have written on the BAA and TAA in the past. Recently, the Court of Federal Claims issued a decision discussing how the two laws interact, and showed that how they apply depends significantly on the circumstances of the procurement, providing some clarification on a past GAO decision we wrote on as well (which held that the TAA is inapplicable to small business set-asides). We will explore that here.
Continue reading…SmallGovCon Week in Review: August 11-15, 2025
Happy Friday to our SmallGovCon readers. I just got back from a lovely trip through upstate New York and Canada to visit Niagara Falls. Here is the view of Horseshoe Falls, the largest of the waterfalls in Niagara Falls. The view of the falls is majestic and the cooler weather in that area was a welcome relief. We also visited Saratoga Battlefield and got to learn how the first battle against the British was won by the US military. Hope you are having a great end to the summer. Here are some key updates from federal contracting, including some potential legislation on procurement reform and updates to the FAR.
Continue reading…GovCon FAQs: Can I Ask the Government to Participate in ADR?
Why yes, yes you can! In fact, there is a little known provision of the Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) that speaks directly to a contractor’s right to request government participation in Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) for any contracting “issue in controversy.” And as long as the four essential elements of ADR stated therein are met, a contracting officer must either agree to such ADR or provide a written explanation with cited statutory or legal authority for rejecting the request.
Continue reading…SmallGovCon Week in Review: August 4-8, 2025
Happy Friday! I just got back from a trip to Niagara Falls and enjoyed some cooler weather up there. Unfortunately, the bulk of the country, including in the Midwest, is suffering through some heat. I think it is safe to say that we are looking forward to some cooler weather this Fall. We hope you had a great week and are staying cool in your neck of the woods. Have a wonderful weekend.
This week in federal government contracting news included stories about CMMC approaching, increased FAA funding, and a new GSA administrator.
Continue reading…GAO Pushes Back on 2025 NDAA’s Fee Shifting Suggestion
Diving into the National Defense Authorization Act (“NDAA”) has become something of an annual tradition in federal contracting. There seem to always be some sections that impact federal contracting, pushing for changes in processes or procurements. Part of 2025’s NDAA suggests fee shifting when there is a GAO protest of a Department of Defense (“DoD”) procurement. Basically, the 2025 NDAA suggested that if a bid protest of a DoD procurement is unsuccessful, the protester would be required to pay certain costs. Unsurprisingly, the GAO emphatically objected to this proposed change to its bid protest process.
Continue reading…Back to Basics: Brand Name or Equal
In some circumstances, it is in the best interest of the government customer to require a specific item made by a specific manufacturer. Though it doesn’t use this technique often, the government can achieve this by soliciting the contract using a “brand name or equal” basis. But the government can’t just decide that it wants a Hoover over a Bissel vacuum. No, there is a process that must be followed, and circumstances must warrant such a requirement.
Continue reading…SmallGovCon Week in Review: July 28-August 1, 2025
Happy Friday! And happy August! The cool Fall weather is slowly, but steadily making its way to the Midwest. Let us tell ya’, we at SmallGovCon are quite excited for more double-digit temperatures (as 100+ degrees is nothing rare for a summer in Kansas). And as you can see from all the happenings in the federal government contracting world this week, the winds of change sure do affect more than just the weather. Between a bold executive order and the first ever government chief AI officer, Artificial Intelligence sure is continuing its journey deeper into our federal procurement system–with even more haste (and apparently, more certainty) than the promise of sweater-weather in the Midwest. Also, this week: SBA released an important reminder to federal contracting agencies about maintaining fairness and integrity in federal contracting and reporting concerns regarding the same; GSA introduced its new GO.gov federal travel management solution; GovCon experts discuss the recent OMB initiatives encouraging agencies to consolidate and streamline how they buy their goods and services; and oh, so much more. Read all about it in some of our favorite articles of the week.
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