A recent appeal before the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Office of Hearings and Appeals (OHA) upheld SBA’s denial of an application for a veteran-owned small business because its operating agreement gave too much control to a non-veteran owner and failed to identify a veteran as the highest officer. The decision in Facekay LLC demonstrates the importance of strict adherence to the control requirements laid out by the various SBA programs.
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Government Claim Appeals Nuggets from the ASBCA and CBCA 2023 Annual Reports
Everyone has New Year traditions. Some do resolutions, some take vacations, some simply buy a fun new calendar. Here at SmallGovCon we like reading the different federal contracting annual reports. These annual reports function as almost yearbooks or like a friend’s yearly holiday card that discusses all the highlights of the past year. These annual reports are a great resource for contractors to catch up on what a specific agency or tribunal has been up to, and plan for the year ahead. In this quick review of the CBCA and ASBCA’s annual reports, we will cover some of those takeaways. Who knows, maybe in reading this post, you can find something that gives you your own federal contracting new year’s resolution.
Continue readingTechnically Unacceptable Offeror Cannot Protest Awardee’s Size, Says OHA
In a recent size determination appeal, OHA confirmed that an offeror found technically unacceptable does not have standing to protest an awardee’s size under SBA’s regulations. As such, OHA denied the appeal and affirmed the Area Office’s size determination dismissing the size protest on such grounds.
Continue readingSBA: NAICS Code Must Match the Work Sought, not the Offeror’s Work
We here at SmallGovCon like to spend our free time pondering the intricacies around how and why certain NAICS codes are assigned to the myriad of contracting opportunities posted every day. But we realize others may not have the same appetite for the intricacies of Federal Contracting as us. Luckily, the SBA’s Office of Hearings and Appeals (OHA) recently issued a great roadmap for understanding NAICS code assignments in a NAICS code appeal decision, which serves as a great refresher for how NAICS codes are applied to a procurement.
Continue readingGAO Sustains Protest to Best Value Trade Off Where Agency Only Considers “Outstanding” Proposals, Without Weighing Price/Non-Price Factors
The federal government contracting solicitation, proposal, and selection processes are something that all federal government contractors should strive to know. These methods, found in FAR parts 14 and 15, respectively, can be boiled down to two methods: sealed bidding and contracting by negotiation. Contracting by negotiation can occur either through a competitive award or a sole source award. When used effectively, the parts of the FAR clue contractors into the methods that agencies use to evaluate proposals and can help contractors tailor their proposals to better target agencies’ needs, thereby increasing chances of award. Of particular importance is the method an agency will use to evaluate proposals, and the weight given to technical components of the proposal against the weight given to price. In KPMG LLP, B-420949 (Nov. 7, 2022), GAO takes a look at how agencies evaluate technical proposals and price, and how those evaluations work together in a best-value tradeoff decision.
Continue readingCBCA Cannot Waive Its Own Filing Deadlines
4 C.F.R. 21.2(b) states that, for GAO protests, GAO has the option to dismiss or not dismiss a protest that is filed late if there is good cause or it is an important issue. In other words, if there’s a good reason, GAO can accept an untimely protest. (Please note that this is not suggesting the filing deadline does not matter, GAO treats it very strictly most of the time and you should treat it as a “drop-dead” deadline).
For this reason, some think this same discretion applies in other protests and appeals regarding government contracts. For the Civilian Board of Contract Appeals (CBCA), it very much does not.
Continue readingSBA OHA: Ownership and Control are Not the Same in the WOSB Program
A company learned the hard way that just because their business is majority owned by a woman, it doesn’t mean they are a Women-Owned Small Business (WOSB) in the eyes of the SBA. The question is one of both ownership and control.
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