NAICS Code Appeals: Discussions With Agency Don’t Extend Deadline

NAICS code appeals can be powerful, and while they’re infrequent, they often succeed.  But NAICS code appeals are subject to a strict, 10-day deadline–and that deadline isn’t extended by deliberations with the Contracting Officer.

In a recent NAICS code appeal decision, the SBA Office of Hearings and Appeals reiterated that the 10-day deadline isn’t affected by discussions with the procuring agency.

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No Protest of CIO-SP3 SB Order Below $10 Million, Says GAO

A CIO-SP3 SB contract holder could not protest the award of a task order to a competitor because the order was valued at less than $10 million.

In a recent bid protest decision, the GAO confirmed that civilian task order awards–including those under CIO-SP3 SB–generally cannot be protested unless the value of the order exceeds $10 million.

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Small Business Status: Ongoing Fiscal Year Usually Isn’t Included

Under the SBA’s size regulations, when a size standard calls for a company’s size to be determined by its average annual receipts, the company’s ongoing fiscal year usually isn’t included.

In a recent size appeal decision, the SBA Office of Hearings and Appeals rejected an argument that the SBA’s evaluation of a company’s size should have included receipts from the company’s current fiscal year.

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SmallGovCon Week In Review: March 12-16, 2018

This is a month my office (which represents several different teams) gets excited for. The first week of March Madness is here, which means you may have found yourself being less productive than usual–don’t worry, that’s expected! But even during a time as captivating as the NCAA tournament, the world of government contracting doesn’t slow down.

In this week’s edition of the SmallGovCon Week in Review, a communications company has agreed to pay over $12 million to settle civil False Claims Act allegations, antitrust critics fear that a winner-take-all contract for the Defense Department’s cloud computing could help tech giant Amazon corner the government contract market, a construction company lost $40 million in four years in a scheme to illegitimately gain government contracts, and much more.

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WOSB Status & Task Orders: Underlying Contract Usually Governs

Under a multiple award contract, the underlying contract ordinarily governs whether a contractor qualifies as a woman-owned small business for purposes of task or delivery orders.

As demonstrated in a recent SBA Office of Hearings and Appeals decision, if a company qualifies as a WOSB or EDWOSB at the time of its initial offer on the underlying multiple-award contract, it will also qualify as a WOSB or EDWOSB for each order issued against the contract, unless the contracting officer requests recertification in connection with a particular order.

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GAO: Past Performance Evaluation Not Required In LPTA Set-Aside Competition

An agency was not required to evaluate past performance under an SDVOSB set-aside solicitation that contemplated making award to the lowest-price, technically-acceptable offeror.

According to a recent GAO bid protest decision, a past performance evaluation in the context of an LPTA set-aside is essentially duplicative of the agency’s evaluation of responsibility, meaning that a separate past performance evaluation isn’t necessary.

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SmallGovCon Week In Review: March 5 – 9, 2018

I am back in Kansas after spending some time in sunny Florida for the APTAC Spring 2018 Training Conference in Jacksonville. Next week, I hit the road again, this time to not-so-sunny (but still awesome) Washington State, where I’ll be giving a session at the 2018 Alliance Northwest Conference in Puyallup, WA.  If you are attending the event, please be sure to connect.

Now it’s time for the latest and greatest in government contracting.  In today’s edition of the SmallGovCon Week in Review, the Pentagon has reportedly slashed a contract worth almost $1 billion that was awarded last month, a former contractor has been convicted of retaining classified information, the DOJ launches a national FOIA portal, and much more.

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