In Spring 2025, President Trump issued Executive Order 14271, titled “Ensuring Commercial, Cost-Effective Solutions for Federal Contracts” which informed agencies that they should emphasize procuring commercially available products and services as much as possible. Fast forward a year later, and it would seem the White House’s Office of Management and Budget (“OMB”) is not seeing the push for utilizing commercially available products and services they expected among federal agencies. So a few weeks ago, almost a year to the day of President Trumps 2025 Executive Order, OMB issued a memo to federal agencies driving home the points of President Trump’s 2025 Executive Order and placing reporting requirements on agencies, which could effect the direction of future possible procurements across federal contracting.
Continue reading…Webinar Announcement: The SBA Mentor Protégé Program, May 5, 2026 hosted by Washington DC APEX Accelerators
Touted as a “game-changer” when it was first introduced in 2016, the U.S. Small Business Administration’s All Small Mentor-Protégé Program isn’t new anymore. Known now as simply the “SBA Mentor-Protege Program, it is still extremely powerful for large and small contractors alike. In this webinar, I will explain the ins and out of the SBA Mentor-Protégé Program, covering the program’s eligibility requirements, its potential benefits (including the ability to form special mentor-protege Joint Ventures), the application process, and common misconceptions and pitfalls.
Target Audience: Small Businesses (SDVOSB, WOSB, HUBZone, 8(a), SDB) and large businesses interest in doing business with the federal government. Register here!
A Reversal in Course? SBA Rescinds Several 8(a) Suspension Notices
As you may recall, this past December, SBA launched a massive audit of the 8(a) Program, in which 8(a) participants were required to submit a long list of financial documents for review. Many feared it was the beginning of the end of the 8(a) Program when several 8(a) Participants were hit with suspension notifications earlier this year. Most of these suspensions were a result of SBA’s review of the documents collected during the December data call. The basis was often a claimed failure of these participants to submit all the data asked for. However, as provided for in 13 C.F.R. § 124.305(c), these participants had the opportunity to appeal these suspensions, and many of them took that opportunity. In several cases, it turns out that SBA itself decided that its suspension was unnecessary, and rescinded those actions. Today, we’ll look at this development.
Continue reading…SmallGovCon Week in Review; April 20-24, 2026
Happy Friday! Everything seems a bit more in motion with the longer days of spring, including the feds. It’s been another active week in the federal government contracting world. We’ve included some articles below highlighting what’s been in the news this week. Key stories include a push for more commercial procurement from OMB, and reactions to the EOs barring DEI activities by contractors.
We hope you have a great weekend.
Continue reading…FAR Updates Trade Agreement Act Thresholds
The The Trade Agreements Act (TAA) and its companion, the Buy American Act (BAA), both set policies for a preference for increased domestic purchases by the federal government and its contractors. However, the TAA is designed as kind of a counterweight to the BAA. The BAA (passed in 1933), “the first of the major domestic content restriction laws, requires federal agencies to apply a price preference for ‘domestic end products’ and use ‘domestic construction materials’ for covered contracts performed in the United States.” So, the BAA encourages use of US-produced goods.
The TAA, on the other hand, waives some of those requirements in favor of certain countries. The TAA permits waiver of BAA “domestic content restrictions” with respect to certain “countries that have trade agreements with the United States.” So, for “covered end products or construction materials imported from a designated country” where they are manufactured or transformed “are treated as domestic end products or materials for purposes of the BAA.”
A recent change to the FAR updates the thresholds at which the TAA becomes applicable to federal procurements. Because these thresholds can change, it can have an impact on which contracts are applicable to the TAA versus the BAA.
Continue reading…Webinar Announcement: Joint Ventures & Teaming, April 23, 2026 hosted by El Paso Texas APEX Accelerators
Please join, government contracts attorneys, Nicole Pottroff and John Holtz from Koprince McCall Pottroff, as they explain how to develop, negotiate and administer agreements that are both compliant and effective. The presentations will cover both the key rules (such as flow-downs and ostensible subcontractor affiliation) and best practices for agreements that go beyond the bare minimum legal requirements.
Hope you can join us! Registration link here.
SmallGovCon Week in Review: April 13-17, 2026
Happy Friday! We’re keeping a close watch on the skies lately as we’ve some severe spring storms lately. This time of year can bring some intense weather across Kansas, so things can turn unpredictable quickly. Wherever you are, we hope the weather is kind and that you stay safe.
Things can sometime get unpredictable in federal contracting too. Now, here’s what’s happening this week in federal government contracting news: the continuing rumblings of AI and cybersecurity are big topics in procurement, along with the FY 2027 budget process.
Continue reading…