The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act created the Paycheck Protection Program as one tool to help small businesses. But it also provided for additional emergency funds under the SBA’s existing Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program. Congress appropriated $10 billion for the program. Here are some of the main details on this program.
Continue readingAuthor Archives: Shane McCall
SmallGovCon Week In Review: March 30 – April 3, 2020
This past week, SmallGovCon continued to provide important updates and insights related to how federal contractors can prepare and support their business during this unprecedented response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Because we’ve provided a lot of information, I’ve summarized what our authors discussed in the past week, as well as providing a roundup of other news in the government contracting arena.
Continue readingRaising the Roofs . . . and Floors: Acquisition Thresholds in the Time of Emergency
As many contractors have heard, the President declared a state of emergency under the Stafford Act. What will this mean for acquisitions conducted while the COVID-19 emergency continues? In this post, I’ll dig into some contractor-specific effects of that declaration: modifying the micro-purchase, simplified acquisition, and commercial purchase acquisition thresholds.
Continue readingSmallGovCon Week In Review: March 23 – March 27, 2020
This week, the attorney-authors at SmallGovCon have provided recommendations, tips, and updates on how contractors can deal with the effects of COVID-19 on their work. In this week in review, I’ve highlighted some of those updates in case readers might have missed them. But I’m also sharing some of the news from other sources about federal contracting in the age of COVID-19 and other updates.
Continue readingDealing with Contract Alterations and Modifications Due to COVID-19
There are many questions facing contractors during this time of upheaval from the coronavirus and the impact on the federal government’s role buying from federal contractors. We’ll try to address as many of them as we can through our COVID-19 Contractors’ Toolkit. One of the biggest questions is what can be done if the government modifies a contract, cancels work, or reschedules the performance of work. In that situation, it’s important to understand both the impacts on the prime contractor and any subcontractors.
Continue readingDOD: Sole-Source Contracts up to $100 Million Don’t Need Justification
Effective March 17, DOD contracting officers won’t have to issue a justification or obtain approval for award of a sole-source contract under the Small Business Administration’s 8(a) program for awards up to $100 million, up from the prior $22 million limit. This Department of Defense class deviation implements the higher dollar amount that Congress set in the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act. This change will likely matter most for 8(a) concerns owned by an Indian Tribe, Alaska Native Corporation (ANC) or Native Hawaiian Organization (NHO), as other 8(a) firms are limited to a smaller dollar amount for sole source awards unless only one 8(a) firm can perform the work.
Continue readingSmallGovCon Week In Review: March 16 – March 20, 2020
As the nation and world continue to take measures to respond to the COVID-19 threat, the federal government and federal contractors will have important roles to play, along with state and local governments, businesses, organizations, families, and individuals. As is clear from this week’s news, the federal government is ramping up its response to the crisis; federal contractors will be called on to step up in many areas.
Particularly noteworthy this week are stories about the challenges of doing classified work remotely, updates on CMMC cybersecurity standards and the impact of coronavirus on implementing the standards, as well as how the coronavirus is affecting the operations of different parts of the government.
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