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 readingThis 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 readingThere 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 readingEffective 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 readingAs 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.
Continue readingLike the rest of the nation and world, we at Koprince Law are closely watching and listening to the recommendations of our public health authorities on a local, regional, and national level. It’s times like these that remind us (not that we need it) of the importance of the government and government contractors in responding to crises. As Tom Hanks said, listen to what medical authorities recommend.
This week, there was plenty of news about the coronavirus and how it will impact federal contracting, as well as pieces about cyber insurance for government contractors, a timeline for cybersecurity auditors, and questions about GSA’s planned e-commerce initiative.
Continue readingUnder the VA’s Rule of Two, the VA is required to set aside solicitations for veteran-owned businesses if there is a reasonable expectation of receiving offers from two or more such businesses capable of performing the required work at a fair and reasonable price. But how reasonable does the VA’s expectation have to be in a given procurement?
GAO recently reviewed the reasonableness of VA’s efforts and found them lacking.
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