Category Archives: SBA Size Protests

GSA Schedule BPA Awards: Size Status Ordinarily Is Based On Underlying GSA Schedule Contract

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When a small business submits an offer for a Blanket Purchase Agreement issued against a GSA Schedule contract, the offeror does not automatically recertify its size.  Rather, a new regulation effective December 31, 2013 provides that an offeror’s size status for a BPA issued against a GSA Schedule ordinarily is determined by looking to the offeror’s self-certification for the underlying GSA Schedule contract.

In a recent size appeal decision, the SBA Office of Hearings and Appeals relied, in part, on the new regulation to find that an offeror had not recertified its small business status by submitting a quotation for a BPA to be issued against the offeror’s GSA Schedule contract.

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SBA OHA: No Automatic Size Recertifications For GSA Schedule Task Orders

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Submitting a proposal for a GSA Schedule task order does not result in an automatic recertification of the offeror’s size.

In a recent size appeal decision, the SBA Office of Hearings and Appeals rejected the argument that an offeror recertifies its size merely by submitting a proposal for a GSA task order.  Instead, a firm’s size for purposes of a GSA Schedule task order competition is determined based on the underlying GSA Schedule contract, unless the procuring agency requires recertification for the task order.

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SBA Size Protests: COs Not Required To Assist Protesters

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Contracting Officers are not required to assist potential protesters by furnishing them with information to use in SBA size protests.

According to a recent size appeal decision of the SBA Office of Hearings and Appeals, the SBA properly dismissed a size protest for lack of support, notwithstanding the protester’s allegation that the Contracting Officer had failed to provide information needed to support the size protest.

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SBA OHA: Small Business Size Not Measured By Profits

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A firm’s small business size status for federal procurements is measured by the firm’s revenues, not by its profits.

As the SBA Office of Hearings and Appeals explained in a recent size determination, measuring small business status by reference to profits would allow some very large companies to qualify as “small.”

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SBA Size Protests: Expressing “Concerns” Is Not Enough

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An unsuccessful offeror’s email to the Contracting Officer, in which the offeror expressed “concerns” about the awardee’s small business size status, was too vague to constitute an SBA size protest.

According to a recent decision of the SBA Office of Hearings and Appeals, a viable size protest must be explicit enough to alert the Contracting Officer that the offeror is protesting the awardee’s size.

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SBA Size Protests: “Bare Allegations” Are Insufficient

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A SBA size protest must contain some basis for the belief that the company being protested is not an eligible small business.

As demonstrated in a recent decision of the SBA Office of Hearings and Appeals, a protester’s “bare allegation” that the protested firm does not qualify is insufficient, and will cause the SBA to dismiss the size protest.

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SBA OHA: Favorable SBA Size Determinations Not Binding In Future Cases

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A SBA size determination issued in 2007 was not binding on the question of whether the same company was still small in 2013.

According to a recent decision of the SBA Office of Hearings and Appeals, there is no rule providing that an SBA Area Office must follow its own prior size determination.  Rather, an SBA Area Office is free to issue a size determination contradicting its own prior ruling.

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