Author Archives: Steven Koprince

SBIR Program: Agencies Have Broad Discretion Over Phase III Awards, GAO Confirms

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A federal agency has broad discretion to make a sole source award under Phase III of the Small Business Innovation Research program.

In a recent bid protest decision, the GAO confirmed that an agency may make a Phase III award when the contract “derives from, extends, or completes efforts made under prior funding agreements under the SBIR program.” What’s more, an agency has “relatively limited requirements to justify a phase III award,” and considerable discretion when it comes to determining whether a new contract fits this definition.

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Congress Lengthens Employee-Based Size Standard Period

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If you’re a regular SmallGovCon reader (and we hope you are!), you probably are familiar with the Small Business Runway Extension Act. Under the Runway Extension Act, Congress lengthened the period used to determine small business status under receipts-based size standards, from three to five years. Congress’s laudable goal was to allow businesses to “stay small” longer, but the Runway Extension Act can backfire when a business has been shrinking instead of growing.

Now, Congress has done it again. In the Conference Report to the 2021 NDAA, Congress has extended the period used to measure employee-based size standards, from 12 to 24 months–and whether this is good news may depend on if a business has been growing or shrinking.

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Congress Approves Government-wide SDVOSB Certification Requirement; Transfers CVE to SBA

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The House and Senate have agreed to eliminate service-disabled veteran-owned small business self-certification and adopt a government-wide SDVOSB certification requirement, while transferring control of the certification process from the VA to the SBA.

The Conference Report on the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act would require government-wide SDVOSB certification (eventually) and transfer control of the the Center for Verification and Evaluation from the VA to the SBA. Assuming the President signs the bill into law (which, unlike the typical NDAA, remains to seen), SDVOSB self-certification–which is still the law for non-VA contracts–is on its way out.

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Event: Proactive COVID-19 Response for Federal Government Contractors

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With COVID-19 cases on the rise, all of us are doing our best to stay safe and healthy. But for federal contractors, the COVID spike also brings increased risks of delays and other problems under active government contracts.

On Thursday, December 3, please join me for “COVID-19: Best Practices for Government Contractors,” a virtual session hosted by the UTSA SBDC Center for Government Contracting/COVID Business Recovery Accelerator. I’ll provide you with a step-by-step proactive approach for handling the potential for COVID-related interruptions and delays to your contracts–and help you ensure that you get paid.

To register, follow this link. I hope to see you there!

VA CVE Applications: Average Processing Time is 34 Days

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In some circles, the VA CVE application process for SDVOSB/VOSB certification has a reputation as being very cumbersome and time-consuming. But while applying for verification isn’t exactly fun, it doesn’t take an extraordinarily long time for most new applicants to be verified. In fact, according to the VA’s Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization, the average processing time is a mere 34 days.

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Event: SAM Profiles with Carroll Bernard of Govology

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Raise your hand if you love completing your SAM profile! Um, anyone? Anyone?

Love it or hate it, SAM is a fact of life for government contractors, and it’s very important to get it right. Mistakes on your SAM profile (including those seemingly never-ending “reps and certs”) can come back to haunt you.

On December 1, please join me and Carroll Bernard, the co-founder of Govology, as we discuss how to set up your SAM profile–properly! Just click here to register. Hope to see you then!

Event: Steven Koprince on The Govcast with Jack Siney

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Sure, you could spend the day before Thanksgiving feverishly researching how to deep fry a turkey without burning down the neighborhood, but if you’re a government contracting wonk like me, I bet what you’re really hungering for is some good, fun talk about federal procurement.

Well, you’re in luck! On Wednesday, November 25, join me at 12:00 Eastern on The Govcast with host Jack Siney. Jack and I will discuss the latest and greatest in government contracting, so bring your questions (but leave the deep fryer unplugged). I hope to see you then!