Often contractors will protest an award, then learn that the contract at issue was cancelled by the government due to corrective action. When that occurs, contractors of course feel as if their concerns were not resolved, or the protested other parties were let off the proverbial hook. The U.S. Court of Federal Claims recently explained that if that happens, there is no procurement left to protest, even if there are related research and development projects or actions continuing within the Government.
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GovCon FAQs: Do I need an SBA MPA for a JV?
We at SmallGovCon are excited to announce this first in a new line of blogs we call GovCon FAQs. Our firm handles a wide variety of federal procurement and contract matters, from bid protests, size protests, joint ventures, socio-economic certifications, to everything in between. Often, when talking to blog readers and contractors we hear the same sort of questions pop up. Of course, we can only provide direct legal advice to our clients. But many of these questions hit on issues that face contractors as a whole, or are items that are commonly misunderstood. So, we decided contractors needed an FAQ page for those common general questions. This blog will kick off that FAQ page for contractors. The first big frequently asked question:
Do I need an SBA Mentor-Protege Agreement to form a joint venture and perform on federal contracts as a joint venture?
Continue readingPreview Shows Changes to 8(a) Application in New SBA Portal
As many in federal contracting know, the SBA had its certification portal (certify.sba.gov) closed for upgrades for a few months. The SBA is replacing it with a new portal called MySBA Certifications which as of the writing of this blog post is now live. While it hasn’t been widely published, SBA released screenshots of this new portal, which indicate SBA is making some large changes to applications, especially for applications to the 8(a) Program. We here at SmallGovCon think it is important for Federal Contractors to be aware of these changes before utilizing this new portal.
Continue readingSBA Proposed Rule: New Size and Status Recertification Standard
In a proposed rule in August of 2024, SBA has unveiled a brand new regulation related specifically to recertification of size and status. A frequent question of federal contractors is whether they can continue to be small, or maintain a specific socio-economic status (i.e., WOSB, SDVOSB etc.) after a change in ownership or business structure. The SBA’s size and status recertification standards are currently found in multiple places: the size determination timing regulations, each socio-economic status regulation, and of course in case law. But this would presumably create a one stop shop for size recertification questions, while also changing some of the long relied-upon standards.
Continue readingSBA Proposed Rule: SBA Plans to Relax 8(a) Program Restrictions
The SBA recently dropped a large proposed rule that it grouped mainly under the HUBZone program, but actually touches on almost every SBA socioeconomic certification. So, it should come as no surprise that the SBA’s 8(a) Program is facing some potential changes based on this proposed rule. There are quite a few proposed updates to the 8(a) Program. We wanted cover just a few that really stood out to us here at SmallGovCon. Be sure to review the whole rule if you want to comment on any of these 8(a) changes.
Continue readingSBA Getting Strict on MPA Language
One of the most popular programs in small business federal contracting seems to be the SBA’s Mentor-Protege Program. It is generally a great program for small businesses to utilize the resources and knowledge of a larger or more experienced business to grow. In turn, it also gives large businesses the ability to work on small business contracting opportunities, and the Government the ability to contract with more robust teams. Unfortunately, there has been a recent trend of the SBA being somewhat strict on minor language in Mentor-Protege Agreements, possibly stifling participation in the program, or at least making it take longer for SBA to approve these agreements.
Continue readingGAO Reminder: Joint Ventures Must Register on SAM
SAM.gov is like the home base of federal government contracting. Everything in federal government contracting seems to either start there, or require using SAM in some fashion. As a consequence, contractors are expected to register on SAM to work in federal contracting. However, it can be easy to overlook registering a joint venture entity on SAM, when contractors making up the joint venture are already registered on SAM. GAO recently took the opportunity to remind contractors of the need to register their joint venture separately on SAM through a bid protest decision.
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