Many federal contractors know of and participate in the SBA’s Mentor-Protégé Program. However, there are many agency specific Mentor-Protégé Programs, including the oldest continuous program, the Department of Defense’s Mentor-Protégé Program. The DoD’s program has been operating since around the First Gulf War, and like any good machine that is a few decades old, regularly needs some updates. Just in the past week, the DoD released the newest proposed changes to its program.
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UPDATE: SBA Reopens its Certify Site for all 8(a) Program Applicants
It’s the moment many have been waiting for–SBA has reopened its Certify portal to new applicants seeking admission into the 8(a) Business Development Program. SBA closed the portal to all new 8(a) Program applicants in early August 2023, following a decision from the Federal District Court of the Eastern District of Tennessee that took away applicant’s presumption of social disadvantage for certain designated groups. This resulted in all 8(a) participants being required to submit a social disadvantage narrative. To address this issue, SBA opened Certify bit by bit to current participants who had not previously submitted a social disadvantage narrative, prioritizing current 8(a) participants with pending awards followed by current 8(a) participants without pending awards. Now, SBA has opened Certify to new applicants that wish to apply for participation in the 8(a) Program who now must demonstrate their social disadvantage.
Continue readingWatching the Watchman – New FAR Rule Opens Door to Further Feedback on Acquisition Process
In Fiscal Year 2022, 1,595 bid protests were filed with GAO. While that seems like a large number, it pales in comparison to the number of federal contracts the federal government awards in a given year. On average, the government awards over 11 million contracts per year. That’s a lot of acquisitions that are not subject to any feedback from outside the agency. But things might change now with the new rule that the FAR Council enacted. Today, we’ll take a look at what this entails.
Continue readingDavis-Bacon Act Resurrects Old Prevailing Wage Methodology
There is a saying that sometimes to go forward, you have to go back first. In August, the Department of Labor (“DOL”) published a final rule that will update the Davis-Bacon Act, with some methodologies previously abandoned. Unsurprisingly, this final rule focused on enforcement of labor standards, and was quite lengthy (numbering in the hundreds of pages). Despite it’s voluminous size, there was one major change that federal contractors will find of interest, a change to the method of determining prevailing wage. That is the focus of this post.
Continue readingSBA Releases New Small Business Award Data Hub
While some federal contractors have (understandably) been focused on the court decision that found the 8(a) Program’s rebuttable presumption of social disadvantage for members of certain racial minorities unconstitutional, the SBA doesn’t just operate the 8(a) Program. It has to look out for all small businesses in America as well. In connection with this obligation, the agency recently released a new web application that allows visitors to discover a great deal about federal small business awards and socio-economic set aside awards. Called the “Small Business Data HUB,” this free program provides some interesting insights on how the government awards contracts. In this post, we’re going to explore this datahub a little and see what’s going on.
Continue readingDoD FAR Deviation Addresses 8(a) Social Disadvantage Changes
It’s no secret that the 8(a) federal government contracting world has been in a bit of an upheaval this summer. When the Eastern District of Tennessee published its decision for the Ultima Services Corporation case, small business federal contractors everywhere began scrambling to keep up to date on how various agencies would react. We here at SmallGovCon have been keeping up to date on the developments as they happen. This time, we have more information on how the Ultima Services Corporation case will affect procurements with the Department of Defense, thanks to a new class deviation effective August 24, 2023.
Continue readingSBA Webinar Clarifies New Expectations for 8(a) Social Disadvantage Narrative
As you likely know if you have been anywhere around federal government contracting lately, the SBA’s 8(a) Program is in a little bit of an upheaval. Due to a court case we have blogged on, SBA is subject to a court order with how it administers certain aspects of the 8(a) Program and has temporarily suspended new 8(a) Program applications. However, there are many contractors already in the 8(a) Program that SBA is now asking to complete social disadvantage narratives to allow for continued eligibility. SBA held a webinar on August 24, 2023 to discuss what they expect from social disadvantage narratives submitted by these current 8(a) Program participants. What SBA expressed represents a change to how SBA has reviewed social disadvantage in the past. But we are here to walk you through some of these changes.
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