The SBA’s FY2019 Small Business Procurement Scorecard came out recently and revealed some interesting trends in the dollars and cents of small business contracting. While there are a lot of positives for small businesses, not all the numbers are great. Read on for the details!
Continue readingCategory Archives: Reports
Room for Improvement: GAO Reviews Agency Oversight of Small Business Subcontracting Plans
Recently, GAO published a report on small business subcontracting plan compliance, concluding that agency oversight of these plans need improvement.
Continue readingDoD SDVOSB Contracts: OIG Reports Major Problems
The Department of Defense Office of Inspector General (OIG) recently released an audit report about Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business Contract Awards at DoD . The report noted major concerns with how DoD is confirming eligibility for SDVOSB contract awards as well as monitoring subcontracting limitations.
These concerns could lead to increased monitoring and enforcement, so SDVOSB contractors should be keen to see what the report unearthed.
Continue readingComplicated Business Structures Contribute to Set-Aside Fraud, GAO Finds
Fraud is an ever pressing concern in federal contracts, and the federal government goes to great lengths to minimize the risks to introduce fraud into the procurement system.
Unfortunately, a recent GAO report highlighted how complex ownership structures can be leveraged to obscure fraudulent contracting activities. Worse still, complex ownership structures are most frequently leveraged to perpetrate small business set-aside fraud.
Continue readingGAO Recommends Improvements For Comments on Proposed Federal Agency Rules
Have you ever felt like you were screaming into the void when submitting your comments to a proposed rule in the Federal Register? That your well thought out comments were being drowned out by a mass of other comments on a proposed rule or attributed to someone else? Have you wondered what agencies do with all that information you send them when you submit a comment on a proposed rule?
Well, GAO seems to have the same questions and concerns regarding the proposed rule comments process and has taken time these past few months to examine how agencies wade through comments on proposed rules, publish them, and clearly attribute identities to them.
Continue readingGAO’s Annual Bid Protest Report Reflects Steady Effectiveness Rate
Just a few days ago, GAO issued its annual bid protest report for fiscal year 2019. Overall, while the volume of bid protests was down from previous years, the effectiveness rate of bid protests remained steady at close to 50%.
Continue readingHow Not to Make a Terminator, by the Defense Innovation Board
You know the story. The government creates artificial intelligence—badda bing badda boom—you’re fighting Arnold Schwarzenegger in a post-apocalyptic battle for the planet. It’s a tale as old as 1984 (and still being told).
But it doesn’t have to be that way. The Department of Defense asked the Defense Innovation Board to prepare a report called “AI Principles: Recommendations on the Ethical Use of Artificial Intelligence by the Department of Defense” or as I call it a Terminator avoidance plan.
Continue reading