Category Archives: SBA OHA Decisions

Includes decisions of the SBA Office of Hearings and Appeals, including size appeal decisions, service-disabled veteran-owned small business appeal decisions, NAICS code appeal decisions, and women-owned small business appeal decisions.

SBA OHA Size Appeals: Request To Reopen Does Not Extend Filing Deadline

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A company on the losing end of a SBA size protest can ask the SBA Area Office that issued the decision to consider reopening the size determination case.  However, the 15-day window in which to file a size appeal with the SBA Office of Hearings and Appeals is not extended by virtue of a request to reopen.

In a recent decision, SBA OHA dismissed a size appeal as untimely, holding that the 15-day appeals window begins upon the receipt of the size determination–not upon the SBA Area Office’s refusal to reopen the size determination.

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8(a) Task Orders: No Automatic Size Recertifications

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Submitting a proposal for a task order under an 8(a) Government Wide Acquisition Contract does not result in automatic recertification of the offeror’s small business size status.

In a recent decision, the SBA Office of Hearings and Appeals held that unless the Contracting Officer expressly requires recertification, an offeror’s size for an 8(a) set-aside task order is governed by that offeror’s size status for the underlying GWAC.

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SBA Affiliation Rules: Contractor Affiliated With Puerto Rico, Says SBA

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Now here’s one you don’t see every day.  In a recent size appeal decision, the SBA Office of Hearings and Appeals upheld the SBA’s determination that the contractor was affiliated with the government of Puerto Rico.

In Size Appeal of Industria Lechera de Puerto Rico, Inc., SBA No. SIZ-5533 (2014), SBA OHA held that the contractor’s relationship with the Puerto Rican government rendered the contractor, in essence, a quasi-governmental entity, not an independent small business.

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SBA OHA Lacks Jurisdiction Over Set-Aside Decisions

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The SBA Office of Hearings and Appeals does not have jurisdiction to review a contracting officer’s decision not to set aside a procurement for small business.

In a recent decision, SBA OHA dismissed a contractor’s contention that the procuring agency should have set aside a procurement for small business–and rejected the contractor’s underlying legal argument, as well.

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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 OHA: Prime Contractor Not Economically Dependent On Subcontractor

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A prime contractor was not economically dependent on its subcontractor for purposes of the SBA affiliation rules because a prime contractor “has the power to choose whatever subcontractor it desires.”

In a recent size appeal decision, the SBA Office of Hearings and Appeals stopped short of holding that a prime contractor could never be economically dependent on a subcontractor, but SBA OHA’s decision indicates that if such dependence ever existed, it would be in an unusual case.

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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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