Category Archives: Federal Government Contracting

SmallGovCon Week in Review: December 20-31, 2021

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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!

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Keep Registrations in SAM Current to Avoid Loss of SDVOSB Verification

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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). 

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Five Things I’ve Learned as a Government Contracts Lawyer

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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!

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The SBA Proposes New Rules to Help Small Businesses in Obtaining Past Performance

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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.

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Data Rights and the Government Contractor: Limited Data Rights

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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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Department of the Interior Proposes Rules to Remove Barriers in Buy Indian Act Contracting Opportunities

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The Department of the Interior (DOI) proposes to revise regulations implementing the Buy Indian Act, which provides the Department with authority to set aside procurement contracts for Indian-owned and controlled businesses. The proposed rule is to revise current procurement regulations that have created barriers to Indian Economic Enterprises (IEEs) from full participation in the DOI’s procurement process. The proposed rule is here.

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