Strategies for Dealing with a Government Shutdown

Shuttering of the government (or parts of the government) following appropriations lapses has become an increasingly common phenomenon in recent times. Continuing resolutions have become a recurring stopgap measure. Funding lapses interrupt the usual predictability of government operations, which harms both agencies and federal contractors that are left in limbo with stop work orders.

Unfortunately, unlike many other topics, the FAR has little say when it comes to procedures for contractors to follow during or following a government shutdown. It seems that the FAR’s authors didn’t really envision the government shutting down as a normal occurrence. Recovering expenses incurred as a consequence of government shutdowns can be challenging.

Here are some pointers.

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SmallGovCon Week in Review: December 16-20, 2024

Hello, blog readers! Well, everyone is on pins and needles to see if the federal government will face a shut down. As you may have heard, the House rejected the proposed government funding, so now we wait to see if the third proposal will be agreed upon today to keep things going. Stay tuned! In other news, our office is very excited about the Bluey movie–can’t wait for 2027!

And now, more on that and other news from the federal government, including cybersecurity updates, AI, and updates to subcontracting rules.

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SmallGovCon Week in Review: December 9-13, 2024

Hello and happy Friday! We’ve been getting some chilly temperatures here in the Midwest and it’s beginning to feel a lot like Christmas. The lights are up downtown and the city is looking very festive! We hope you are enjoying the holiday season in your neck of the woods. We also finished up our last webinar of the season, the 2024 Government Contracting Year-End Review with Govology. Check it out to learn all the updates from 2024 to get ready for 2025.

This week in federal government contracting news saw updates on big picture contracting goals for DoD and software rules for federal contractors.

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SBA Issues Final Rule to Streamline WOSB Program Rules

In June, we reported on a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that applied to the SBA’s Woman-Owned Small Business/Economically Disadvantaged Woman-Owned Small Business (WOSB) regulations. These proposed rules were intended to take the WOSB regulations and make them more consistent with the other types of set-aside programs offered by the SBA. Now, following the required period for comments from the general public, the SBA has published its Final Rule which will be effective January 3, 2025. Read ahead to find out more!

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SmallGovCon Week in Review: December 2-6, 2024

Happy December! How’s the holiday shopping going so far? It seems the shopping time is even shorter than ever with Thanksgiving being so late this year. Oh boy! And the calendar is busy with so many events happening in December, it’s difficult to choose. This Saturday is the 24th annual Old-Fashioned Christmas Parade here in Lawrence, Kansas, featuring horse drawn buggies. We also hope you have some fun holiday plans this weekend and try not to stress about that shopping list.

But the federal contracting world was busy as well and has not quite settled down for its slumber. This week in federal government contracting news saw new WOSB rules, claim appeal stats from the CBCA annual report, and updates from the new administration.

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Govology Webinar: December 12, 2024 – The 2024 Government Contracting Year-End Review

Please join Nicole Pottroff and me for this informative webinar, where we will discuss important new small business rules and updates, changes to 8(a) Program certification, joint venture modifications, HUBZone certification updates (including the new extensive HUBZone proposed rule), key provisions of the most recent National Defense Authorization Act, recent cases relevant to federal contractors, and more.

This is always a great way to end the calendar year in federal contracting. Register here. Hope to see you there!

We are Thankful for You, SmallGovCon Readers!

On behalf of our attorney-authors and administrators at SmallGovCon, we wanted to take this opportunity to express our gratitude for all of our loyal blog readers. We love that SmallGovCon is such a widespread resource for contractors, federal agencies and employees, counselors, and others in the federal contracting space. We appreciate all of you for making this platform possible–and for offering us invaluable insight into the questions industry is really asking. Much of our content is driven by you all, our readers. So, keep sending us your inquiries and your feedback. And we will keep working to make SmallGovCon a useful tool for those in the government contracting world for many years to come.

We hope you have a wonderful holiday, and of course, extra long weekend, enjoying valuable time with family and friends. And if it applies, safe travels! Thank you so much!