On August 17, 2018, the Civilian Board of Contract Appeals (CBCA) issued new procedural rules which go into effect Monday, September 17, 2018. The substantial overhaul of the former rules intends to bring the CBCA into the 21st century by emphasizing, adding, and clarifying rules about electronic filing.
Author Archives: SmallGovConContributor
SmallGovCon Week in Review: September 10-14, 2018
Another week has flown by, which means that it’s time for the SmallGovCon Week in Review. In this week’s edition, we’ll take a look at Uncle Sam’s “cloud spending splurge,” a new GSA bid on a vendor verification system, frustrations with the VA’s verification process, the looming year-end spending binge, and more.
Have a great weekend!
SBA OIG Recommends Improved Oversight of 8(a) Continuing Eligibility
Last year, we wrote about the SBA’s Office of Inspector General’s concerns with the SBA’s review of potential 8(a) participants’ eligibility. In this report, the OIG made three recommendations aimed at improving to verify applicants’ eligibility.
Just last week, the OIG released a new report analyzing the 8(a) Program. This report picks up where the earlier report left off—it addressed several issues in the SBA’s evaluation of participants’ continuing eligibility.
The results of this report are rather alarming: based on its review, the OIG identified almost $127 million in 8(a) set-aside awards to ineligible firms.
Don’t Overlook the Seemingly Perfunctory in Your Proposal: CAGE Codes
As our readers well know, a good proposal for a federal government procurement is an exercise in persuasive writing. You muster your creative powers to convince the source selection authority that you offer the best product or service, that your price is competitive, and that your past performance is stellar. So you invest heavily in your proposal writers; you review your proposal repeatedly to polish and ensure that it compels; you agonize.
But while the artistic portion of your proposal is, without dispute, extraordinarily important, don’t neglect the seemingly mundane–like CAGE codes. Get that wrong, and GAO just might sustain your competitor’s protest.
SmallGovCon Week in Review: September 3-7, 2018
Happy Friday, everybody!
As always, we wanted to bring you a roundup of government contracting news. In this week’s edition of the SmallGovCon Week in Review, we’ll take a look at some potential updates to GSA contracts, reminders of the trouble that comes along with defrauding the government, and more.
Have a great weekend!
GAO: Protest Sustained Where Agency Improperly Applied Adjectival Ratings
Recently, GAO sustained a bid protest where the ratings assigned to the unsuccessful offeror’s proposal did not conform to the definitions identified within the Solicitation.
For those of you frequent the blog, you may recall earlier this year when we blogged on GAO’s decision in Immersion Consulting, LLC, B-415155 et al. (Dec. 4, 2017) where the Source Selection Authority had unilaterally revised the Source Selection Evaluation Board’s evaluation prior to making an award decision. GAO sustained the protest and instructed the agency to reevaluate proposals. This same procurement was subject to another round of protests following the agency’s reevaluation.
5 Things You Should Know: Size Protests and Appeals
See our updated post on this topic here.
Koprince Law recently gave a presentation on small business size and affiliation issues the Contract Opportunities Center. This presentation got us thinking: “Wouldn’t our loyal SmallGovCon readers want to know 5 Things about size protests and appeals?”
“Of course they would!” we immediately answered our own internal monologue. “After all, who wouldn’t?”
Here are 5 Things You Should Know about size protests and appeals: