Category Archives: Federal Government Contracting

Webinar Announcement: Regulatory Updates in Government Contracting, Nov. 18, 2025

Posted on by

In this webinar, hosted by the El Paso Texas APEX Accelerators, government contracting attorneys and authors Shane McCall and John Holtz will discuss the most important legal developments for federal contractors in 2025. Specifically, they will discuss the many FAR changes, important new small business rules and processing for various SBA certifications, recent cases pertinent to federal contractors, and more. This presentation will help federal contractors stay up to date on current federal regulatory and legal changes. We hope you will join us!

Please register: Here

SmallGovCon Week in Review: October 27-31, 2025

Posted on by

Happy Halloween! We hope you have the candy purchased and are ready for the trick or treaters.

And speaking of scary things, another week of the government shutdown which is creating a lot of uncertainty about when agreement can be reached. One data point: all shut downs in the past have ended. But these stories illustrate how it has created a ripple effect for federal contractors and government personnel.

Our very own SmallGovCon contributor, Nicole Pottroff, was interviewed about the SBA’s 8(a) Program’s internal review and the importance of compliance. You can read that article in full below. Have a great weekend and enjoy the spooky visitors this evening.

Continue reading →

Overview of Recent Updates to Cybersecurity Requirements Under the CMMC Program (Part 1)

Posted on by

On September 10, 2025, the Department of Defense (As all the documents we address use the Department of Defense naming, we will go by that to prevent confusion.) (DoD) implemented the acquisition rules for the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification program at DFARS subpart 204.75. This follows the federal government’s institution of the CMMC program last year (We explored this a bit with a review of the proposed rules some time before that and noted that initial rules have been in place since 2020.) These rules are present at 32 C.F.R. Part 170. Despite these rules having now been in place for a little while, the scope and complexity of the CMMC program can nonetheless be daunting for contractors to deal with. In this first in a series of posts, we will explore the basics of the CMMC program and what it means for you.

Continue reading →

SmallGovCon Week in Review: October 20-24, 2025

Posted on by

October and November always seem to be a popular conference season in the federal contracting world. Last week attorney-author Greg Weber was in Oklahoma. This week saw Nicole Pottroff visit the GovCon Kansas City 2025 to present on the topic of the Top 21 Legal Mistakes in Federal Government Contracting. It was a great event with a lot of enthusiastic attendees and interesting questions. Thanks to the organizers including the Missouri APEX Accelerator for inviting us to present!

While news of the shutdown is high on the list of articles this week, there were also updates on CMMC, federal hiring and workforce, and a spotlight on the 8(a) Program.

Continue reading →

DOT Ditching DBE Program’s Presumed Social Disadvantage

Posted on by

The Department of Transportation (“DOT”) has administered aspects of the Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (“DBE”) program for decades for work to be performed for state and local transportation agencies. The DBE program’s eligibility requirements are quite similar to those under the Small Business Administration’s (“SBA”) 8(a) Program. As is well known, over the past few years the 8(a) Program has undergone many changes and legal challenges, altering its application and eligibility processes, especially with respect to presumed social disadvantage. Now the DOT DBE program seems to be undergoing very similar changes regarding disadvantage requirements.

Continue reading →

SmallGovCon Week in Review: October 13-17, 2025

Posted on by

Hello, SmallGovCon readers! It’s Friday, which means it’s time for another Week in Review.

SmallGovCon attorney-author Gregory Weber recently traveled to Oklahoma City this week to attend the ICBS Conference Accelerating Success in Contracting, where he gave a presentation on one of our most requested topics—Legal Updates. A big thank you to the Oklahoma APEX for hosting this event and to everyone who stopped by to connect with Greg!

In other news, SmallGovCon contributor and attorney Annie Birney was recently quoted in a Washington Technology article (see list below) discussing the risks of using AI to draft bid protests—and why that’s not the best route. As always, if you’re facing a bid protest or need legal assistance on a federal government contracting matter, our team is here to help.

Below, we’ve rounded up some insightful articles on the government shutdown and other key issues in federal contracting. Have a great weekend!

Continue reading →

GovCon KC 2025 Conference Announcement: October 22, hosted by Missouri APEX Accelerators

Posted on by

The GovCon Kansas City 2025 event is to foster connections and advancing knowledge in the government contracting community and business basics. This event brings together a wide array of industry leaders, government officials, and business professionals for a unique opportunity to network, share insights, and explore the latest developments in the field. This event is intended for government agencies, prime contractors and major firms to meet with small businesses to explore potential partnerships for future contract opportunities.

Please say hello and plan to attend the presentation on the Top 21 Legal Mistakes in Federal Government Contracting by our very own Nicole Pottroff. Nicole will be speaking at 1:00pm CDT.

For more information and registration use the link here.