An SBA size protest on a negotiated procurement must be submitted within five business days “after the contracting officer has notified the protester of the identity of the prospective awardee.” But what happens if the contracting officer’s notice arrives after normal working hours? Does the clock start ticking anyway?
Category Archives: SBA Size Protests
No Sick Notes at the SBA: Illness Doesn’t Extend SBA Filing Deadlines
Like many others who went to school in the 1980s, Ferris Bueller was one of my personal heroes. Ferris took the idea of faking sick from school and turned it into an art form, complete with a moving mannequin in the bed, canned messages playing when the doorbell rang, and even a before-its-time hacking of the school computers to change his attendance records. And of course, Ferris spent his day off tooling around in a Ferrari, attending a Chicago Cubs game (nice taste, Ferris!), and bringing The Beatles back into style. What kid wouldn’t want to skip school for that?
Sick days–whether real or not–are a time-honored part of school. Unfortunately, as one contractor learned the hard way, sick notes may not work at the SBA.
SBA OHA: Ostensible Subcontractor Rule Shouldn’t “Close the Door” to New Businesses
A small business’s relative inexperience should not be the primary basis for a determination that the small business is affiliated with its subcontractor under the “ostensible subcontractor” rule, according to the SBA’s Office of Hearings and Appeals. SBA OHA’s decision in Size Appeal of Fischer Business Solutions, LLC, SBA No. SIZ-5075 (2009), held that the SBA’s Area Office improperly relied upon a small business’s lack of experience in a particular field to find it affiliated with its subcontractor.