Author Archives: Nicole Pottroff

MyGovWatch YouTube Video Available Now!

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Join our attorneys, Nicole Pottroff and John Holtz, on the latest edition of MyGovWatch, now on YouTube. This podcast, hosted by Nick Bernardo, covered a wide variety of current government contracting topics and answered all the right questions. From the migration of the Veteran Small Business Program from the VA to the SBA (and the first appeal reviewing SBA’s SDVOSB “grace period”)–to the most-recently updated size standards and the assignment of (the often incorrect) NAICS codes to federal contracts–all the way to SBA’s 8(a) Program and the effects of the recent federal court decision in Ultima –and everything in between.

You can watch this informative video here.

1 Day Virtual Event! The Essentials for Small Business Government Contracting, February 29, 2024

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Whether you are a small, medium or even a large contractor seeking to team with small businesses, this course will discuss the different regulations you must follow, the different small business programs set up by the SBA, the advantages and disadvantages of the JV & Mentor Protégé programs, plus other topics of interest. This live virtual event will be hosted by Larry Allen and Nicole Pottroff and Stephanie Ellis will be joining Larry for the afternoon session. We hope you will consider attending this informative event! Register here.

OHA Sustains Status Protest: Self-Proclaimed SDVOSB Awardee Not Certified by VetCert, Not Eligible For SBA’s Grace Period, And Not Veteran Owned or Controlled

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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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Event! MyGovWatch Live: The B2G Rountable hosted by Nick Bernardo, February 21, 2024, 12:00pm CST

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Check out the full video from this event here. This edition of MyGovWatch Live: The B2G Roundtable, hosted by MyGovWatch President Nick Bernardo along with govcon legal experts Nicole Pottroff and John Holtz from Koprince McCall Potroff! In this session, we talked with an African American gentleman interested in learning about “Super 8(a)” firms and the history and development around the 8(a) program as it relates to Native American Organizations. We talked to a specialty contractor SDVOSB about which portions of the FAR apply when he is acting as a Federal subcontractor for products, services, or both on Federal construction jobs. Our cohosts gave an update on the transition of SDVOSB certification from the Veterans Administration to the Small Business Administration (SBA), and mentioned details on SBA size threshold limit changes for small businesses in different NAICS codes. We talked about various legal structures allowable for potential 8(a) firms owned by the same principal(s). There was an interesting discussion on using open records laws to learn about what a winning proposal looks like at the state and local level, and we covered best practices in proposal development.

If you’re interested in learning more about the federal government contracting business, please join John Holtz and I, who will be co-hosting with Nick Bernardo at this live podcast event. Sign up now to join this free opportunity to speak with experts, who have actually helped people succeed in govcon and who will be happy to answer your questions. Please register here. For more information on this and other upcoming events visit my MyGovWatch.com.

Why File: A VOSB or SDVOSB Status Protest

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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.

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Why File: A Size Protest

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We at SmallGovCon are excited to announce this first in a new line of blogs we call Why File. Our firm handles a wide variety of federal procurement and contract litigation matters–from SBA size and status protests to contract claims and appeals, and everything in between. One of the most common and important questions we get in that regard is, should I file? Of course, we can only directly answer that question for our current clients after reviewing the relevant facts giving rise to the potential filing. But through our new Why File series, we will cover some of the most common facts and circumstances that lead contractors to initiate litigation. So, without further adieu, here is the first blog in the series, covering some of the most common reasons contractors file size protests.

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SBA’s 2023 Update: Demonstrating 8(a) Social Disadvantage

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SBA recently issued new guidance on how to demonstrate social disadvantage–one of the elements an individual must meet to be eligible for SBA’s illustrious 8(a) Business Development Program. The guidance implements a streamlined social disadvantage narrative format–limiting the number of social disadvantage instances to two and asking only for direct answers to six questions for each instance. The “new” format really just hones in on the elements SBA has always asked for 8(a) social disadvantage narratives to demonstrate, substantively, not changing a thing. Nevertheless, SBA has been quite firm in requiring this new, short and sweet, structured format–so let’s dig into it a bit.

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