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 readingAuthor Archives: Stephanie Ellis
FY2024 Small Business Scorecard Shows Strong Small Business Federal Contracting Numbers
Once a year the SBA publishes its scorecard which rates how well federal agencies have met their small business contracting goals. The purpose? To provide a sense of how strong the federal government’s small business contracting initiatives are performing on an annual basis. And for 2024, the overall federal contracting dollars paid to small businesses looked good. However, the agency-specific numbers were not consistently as promising for small businesses.
Continue readingSmall Business Contracting Goals: Current State of Agency Goals
In recent years, the Small Business Administration’s small business contracting goals have been on an upswing, with the requirements growing beyond the statutorily required minimums in an effort to encourage federal agencies to increase awards to small businesses, especially disadvantaged businesses. That is, until now. With the current administration’s focus on “Ending Radical And Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing,” or Executive Order 14151, there has been a sharp decrease to the small disadvantaged business contracting goals set for federal agencies, but an increase to many of the agencies’ overall small business contracting goals. Read on to learn more about these changes, as well as some potential impacts of the new small business contracting goals.
Continue readingSBA’s OHA: A Joint Venture Agreement Can’t Step on the Managing Venturer’s Toes
Joint ventures created between a small business protégé and a large mentor are without a doubt a very alluring and popular aspect of the SBA’s Mentor-Protégé Program. It provides an incentive to potential mentors to share their connections, resources, experience, and industry knowledge with small businesses, many of whom are not only small, but participants in one of the various SBA programs such as the 8(a) Program and Woman-Owned Small Business Program, to name a couple. But, as appealing as mentor protégé joint ventures are, a recent decision demonstrates (yet again) there are a number of joint venture requirements that must be met if you want to experience their benefits. And failure to do so can result in some undesirable consequences.
Continue readingWhy File: A Once 8(a), Always 8(a) Protest
As our SmallGovCon readers might know, the SBA’s 8(a) Business Development Program is often thought of as the golden goose of federal government contracting, at least for small businesses. And it’s true, in some respects. While it is the most difficult of the SBA’s socioeconomic programs to gain admittance to, if admitted, you stand to reap large benefits such as access to competitive and sole-source contracts. And another SBA rule limits the ability to move contracts away from 8(a) Program set-asides. In that scenario, a contract that had been restricted to 8(a) Program Participants is recompeted as a set-aside for small businesses generally or a different socioeconomic category (SDVOSB, WOSB, HUBZone). Less frequently, it might not set aside for small businesses at all. If that happens, what should you do? Well, you should be familiar with what is commonly referred to as the “once 8(a), always 8(a)” rule as well as when to protest a violation of that rule.
Continue readingGovCon FAQs: Is There Still an Ostensible Subcontractor Rule?
We recently blogged about a decision that focused on the ostensible subcontractor rule and how the SBA’s Office of Hearings and Appeals (OHA) determines whether a subcontractor is an ostensible subcontractor or not. This and other similar cases have raised the question–how has SBA’s regulatory update affected the analysis of the ostensible subcontractor rule, and what remains of that rule. Below we will give a quick review of the decision from that case and look at a couple more principles of the ostensible subcontractor rule.
Continue readingOHA 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.
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