SmallGovCon Week in Review: September 1-5, 2025

Happy Friday and happy September! We hope you had a great Labor Day weekend. It’s that time of year when everything starts to shift. The chill in the air and the marketing of pumpkin spice fills your social media feeds. My kids are back in school and football is back in session as well. Hope you had a great first week of September.

Speaking of shifting, federal government contracting news included a fall target for FAR updates, potential changes to SBIR rules, as well as the unwanted specter of a government shutdown.

Continue reading

SmallGovCon Week in Review: August 25-29, 2025

Happy Friday and happy Labor Day weekend! Labor Day was established to honor the hard work and achievements of American workers. It originated in the late 19th century during a time of growing labor movements advocating for fair wages, safe working conditions, and reasonable hours. Today, it not only pays tribute to those efforts but also marks the unofficial end of summer and the beginning of the fall season. We hope you enjoy a day of rest, barbecues, and time with family!

This week in federal government contracting, take a look at stories highlighting the FAR overhaul, reduced peer review for Army procurements, and increasing use of AI.

Continue reading

Govology Webinar: Avoiding Common Bid Protest Mistakes, September 11, 2025

Bid protests are an unavoidable part of federal contracting—and they seem to be happening more often as competition grows. What many contractors don’t realize is that the outcome of a protest is often determined before it’s even filed. Understanding the rules, timelines, and procedures is critical to protecting your company’s chances.

In this focused course, federal government contracting attorneys John Holtz and Gregory Weber will break down the most common mistakes contractors make during the protest process—and how to avoid them.

Key topics include:

  • The difference between bid protests and size/status protests
  • What pre-bid protests are and why they matter
  • Critical deadlines and how debriefs affect them
  • How to get the most from a debrief
  • Frequent pitfalls that can hurt the protest success

Please join us for this informative Govology webinar by registering here.

SmallGovCon Week in Review: August 18-22, 2025

Happy Friday! It’s beginning to look like the Fall season is upon us, with the kids going back to school and football season starting. Our college town is buzzing with activities as the students arrive to start the semester. We hope you have a wonderful weekend and can catch a game or two.

This week in federal government contracting, take a look at articles showing potential GSA acquisitions for an AI procurement system, increased use of best in class contracts, and new cybersecurity requirements.

Continue reading

TAA Can Apply to Small Business Set-Aside: COC Clarifies Trade Agreements Act and Buy American Act Applicability

The Trade Agreements Act (TAA) and Buy American Act (BAA) are among the most complex regulatory systems in federal contracting. There’s been a lot of confusion from both contractors and agencies on when they apply to a procurement and how. We have written on the BAA and TAA in the past. Recently, the Court of Federal Claims issued a decision discussing how the two laws interact, and showed that how they apply depends significantly on the circumstances of the procurement, providing some clarification on a past GAO decision we wrote on as well (which held that the TAA is inapplicable to small business set-asides). We will explore that here. 

Continue reading

SmallGovCon Week in Review: August 11-15, 2025

Happy Friday to our SmallGovCon readers. I just got back from a lovely trip through upstate New York and Canada to visit Niagara Falls. Here is the view of Horseshoe Falls, the largest of the waterfalls in Niagara Falls. The view of the falls is majestic and the cooler weather in that area was a welcome relief. We also visited Saratoga Battlefield and got to learn how the first battle against the British was won by the US military. Hope you are having a great end to the summer. Here are some key updates from federal contracting, including some potential legislation on procurement reform and updates to the FAR.

Continue reading

GovCon FAQs: Can I Ask the Government to Participate in ADR?

Why yes, yes you can! In fact, there is a little known provision of the Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) that speaks directly to a contractor’s right to request government participation in Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) for any contracting “issue in controversy.” And as long as the four essential elements of ADR stated therein are met, a contracting officer must either agree to such ADR or provide a written explanation with cited statutory or legal authority for rejecting the request.

Continue reading