2021 was a big year for many reasons, among them the continued COVID-19 pandemic and the government’s responses to the pandemic, including the various vaccine mandates and lawsuits challenging those mandates. But there were also lower-profile changes and updates to the federal contracting world. Below, I’ll explore the posts that were most popular in 2021, along with the posts first published in 2021 that were popular this year.
Continue readingCategory Archives: Federal Government Contracting
SmallGovCon Week in Review: December 20-31, 2021
Happy Holidays, Readers! We hope you have been enjoying this holiday season with friends and family while staying safe and healthy. Since many of you (and folks in our office) are taking some time off this holiday season, we’re bringing you two weeks in review for the end the year. Thank you so much for your support of SmallGovCon and stay tuned for more informative blogs in 2022.
The world of federal government contracting is continuing to be very active as we approach the end of 2021. Here are a few articles from the past two weeks with some notable news and announcements, including some roundups of what contractors faced this year and how the pandemic affected the industrial base.
Enjoy and have a very happy new year!
Continue readingKeep Registrations in SAM Current to Avoid Loss of SDVOSB Verification
The decision in Bravo Federal Consulting, LLC, SBA No. CVE-213 (Dec. 1, 2021) is both an important reminder of the importance of keeping all database information up to date and a cautionary tale of the unfortunate consequences that can happen when you don’t. In that decision, SBA’s Office of Hearings and Appeals (OHA) denied an appeal by Bravo Federal Consulting, LLC (Bravo). Bravo submitted a request to change its name, setting off a chain of events that ended in Bravo losing its verified status as a service-disabled veteran-owned small business (SDVOSB).
Continue readingBreaking: Judge Imposes Nationwide Injunction on Vaccine Mandate
A federal judge in Georgia has recently imposed a nationwide injunction on the federal contractor vaccine mandate. This will likely be appealed, but for now, here are the key points from the decision.
Continue readingFive Things I’ve Learned as a Government Contracts Lawyer
As many readers know, I am retiring from private legal practice to focus on teaching, writing, and other interests. The wonderful team of government contracts professionals here at Koprince McCall Pottroff will continue assisting contractors with their legal needs. I couldn’t be prouder of our wonderful team of attorneys and staff!
For my last SmallGovCon blog post, in the tradition of our “Five Things You Should Know” series, here are five big-picture things I’ve learned in my years as a government contracts attorney. Oh, and whether this is the first post of mine you’ve read or the 1,200th (yes, I’ve written that many here on SmallGovCon), thank you!
Continue readingThe SBA Proposes New Rules to Help Small Businesses in Obtaining Past Performance
The SBA proposes to amend its regulations to implement new provisions of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for fiscal year 2021 that provides small business contractors with new tools to establish past performance when bidding on prime contracts for Government procurements. The proposed rules would add two new methods for small businesses to obtain qualifying past performance. One proposed rule would allow a small business with no relevant past performance of its own to use the past performance of a joint venture in which it took part. The second proposed rule would require prime contractors to provide, to small businesses that served as a first-tier subcontractor, a record of the business’s past performance for use by the small business in future proposals.
The proposed rules are here.
Continue readingData Rights and the Government Contractor: Limited Data Rights
In our last post on intellectual property and government contracts, we went over a basic discussion about data rights and then addressed the matter of unlimited data rights for the government. As discussed, unlimited data rights basically give the government free rein to do as they wish with the data. More importantly, the FAR provides that such unlimited data rights are the government’s default rights. But there is a way to limit the government’s rights: limited data rights.
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