The draft 2020 National Defense Authorization Act includes a number of provisions that will affect government contractors, especially small business contractors, including the three provisions featured in this post.
Read on for how the 2020 draft NDAA impacts annual small business reporting by the SBA, cybersecurity training for small businesses, and evaluation of past performance to focus on workforce development.
Continue readingLately, my kids have been asking me to “do the honors” when they ask me to do something. At first, I thought this was a cute and very polite way to ask for something. Then I realized they were going to use it for everything. Will you do the honor of getting me some water? Will you do the honor of starting a show for us? It started to get kind of old and make me feel not so honorable. But their intention was good.
So, with that inspiration, will you do the honor of reading this week’s round-up of government contracting news? Interesting stories abound, including some about new cyber security guidance, the safety records of military construction contractors, and the use of “best-in-class” contracts.
Continue readingOn Monday, June 24, SBA will issue its long-awaited proposed rule implementing the Small Business Runway Extension Act. We intend to explore the proposed rule and the accompanying commentary more fully over the next few days (as we have been doing over the past few months), but we wanted to provide a quick update to our readers on the main changes in the proposed rule.
The key takeaway is that, once the rule is in place, SBA size standards will be based on a 5-year average. SBA “proposes to change its regulations on the calculation of annual average receipts for all receipts-based SBA size standards and other agencies’ proposed size standards for service-industry firms from a 3-year averaging period to a 5-year averaging period.”
Continue readingAs government contracts attorneys, we find even the mundane aspects of federal contracting law (for example, CAGE codes) pretty interesting and important. But a recent FBI warning detailed in one of the stories from this weeks reminds us all that government contractors are crucial to the safety and well-being of the nation.
As reported in the story, the FBI has warned contractors “about foreign intelligence services using social media accounts to target and recruit employees with US government clearance.” The FBI warns that “US adversary intelligence officers are using popular US-based social media platforms to identify, recruit, and conduct operations against USG clearance holders, to include private sector employees or contractors supporting the USG.” This is a good reminder of the high stakes involved in working for the government.
Read on for this story and other interesting government contracting news, such as updates on a bill for back pay for contractors during the government shutdown, making cyber security an allowable cost, and a hack that exposed thousands of license plate numbers.
Continue readingRecently, a member of the Senate Committee on Small Business & Entrepreneurship called for increased small business participation in federal contracts during a hearing on the SBA’s contracting programs. Senator Ben Cardin based his concern on a recent report showing that the number of small businesses with federal contracts was at a 10-year low.
Continue readingWelcome to another addition of SmallGovCon’s week in review. While you might be on vacation (and feel free to wait to read this until you get back), the world of government contracting spins on.
In this week’s edition, there are some interesting updates including paying back wages to federal government contractors who were not paid during the government shutdown, merging OPM with the General Services Administration and the latest in space contracting.
Have a great weekend!
Continue readingNow that it’s summer, it means means hot weather, farmer’s markets, baseball, barbecues and all the other things on the summer bucket list. We hope you’re enjoying your summer!
This week, we share some interesting federal government contracting stories with you including new contracting initiatives at the Departments of Energy and Health and Human Services, a few bad behaving contractors getting sentenced for fraud and bribery and where to find several June contracting conferences.
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