If you got an aggressive email from the SBA earlier this month requesting an awful lot of documentation and information in relation to your 8(a) Program participation—you are far from alone. SBA actually sent this December 5th email to about 4300 current and past 8(a) Program participants. And if you too found yourself reading and rereading SBA’s specific requests trying to determine exactly what the SBA is looking for—but to no avail—you are again far from alone. Now, we at SmallGovCon don’t have all the answers or any insider knowledge. But we offer you these five tips for surviving the 8(a) audit—based on our vast experience with the fundamentals of legal language interpretation and our expertise with the 8(a) Program regulations and standard operating procedures.
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FAR 2.0 Update: Part 15 – Contracting By Negotiation
As most federal contractors have heard, the Federal Acquisition Regulation is undergoing a major overhaul. FAR 2.0, commonly referred to as the Revolutionary FAR Overhaul (or just the “RFO”), is the responsibility of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP) and the Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council (FAR Council). Initiated by Executive Order 14275, the new FAR 2.0 process has been going quickly, with lots of proposed revisions.
Our earlier posts regarding the RFO can be found here: Executive Order, Overview of FAR 2.0, FAR Part 6, FAR Part 19, FAR Part 12.
Work continues over at the OFPP and FAR Council, and today we’re covering some of their most substantial changes yet: Part 15 – Contracting by Negotiation.
Continue readingGovCon FAQs: How Can I Maximize My Teammates’ Participation in Performing Larger Government Contracts?
Most federal contractors are well-aware of the potential benefits of using one of the FAR-prescribed teaming options to perform government contracts. But one question we get a lot from small business federal contractors is how to most effectively utilize those teaming options (i.e., how to maximize team participation) on larger government contracts within the bounds and limitations of the law. And luckily, we’ve got a formula for that.
Continue reading2026 NDAA: DoD CPARS Changes Coming
Both the Senate and House, as part of the draft 2026 National Defense Authorization Acts (NDAA), have proposed nearly identical ideas on overhauling the Department of Defense’s Contractor Performance Assessment Report System (CPARS) processes. While both NDAAs have passed, and therefore require reconciliation in a committee, their ideas are extremely similar and signal a coming change in CPARS processes for defense contractors. One big change is to focus on specific negative performance events using “a standardized scoring mechanism” and to remove reporting on “positive or neutral performance assessments.”
Continue readingOverview of Recent Updates to Cybersecurity Requirements Under the CMMC Program (Part 2)
Not long ago, we discussed the basics of the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) Program at DFARS subpart 204.75. Of course, with such a large new system as the CMMC Program, there is more to it than what we reviewed there. In this second set of posts, we will dive deeper into the requirements and procedures of the CMMC Program implemented by DoD back in September 2025, among other items. We will explore what the general rules on what systems are covered by the CMMC Program, when the contractor must be in compliance with the CMMC Program, and what levels will apply for contracts.
Continue readingWebinar Announcement: Regulatory Updates in Government Contracting, Nov. 18, 2025
In this webinar, hosted by the El Paso Texas APEX Accelerators, government contracting attorneys and authors Shane McCall and John Holtz will discuss the most important legal developments for federal contractors in 2025. Specifically, they will discuss the many FAR changes, important new small business rules and processing for various SBA certifications, recent cases pertinent to federal contractors, and more. This presentation will help federal contractors stay up to date on current federal regulatory and legal changes. We hope you will join us!
Please register: Here
Overview of Recent Updates to Cybersecurity Requirements Under the CMMC Program (Part 1)
On September 10, 2025, the Department of Defense (As all the documents we address use the Department of Defense naming, we will go by that to prevent confusion.) (DoD) implemented the acquisition rules for the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification program at DFARS subpart 204.75. This follows the federal government’s institution of the CMMC program last year (We explored this a bit with a review of the proposed rules some time before that and noted that initial rules have been in place since 2020.) These rules are present at 32 C.F.R. Part 170. Despite these rules having now been in place for a little while, the scope and complexity of the CMMC program can nonetheless be daunting for contractors to deal with. In this first in a series of posts, we will explore the basics of the CMMC program and what it means for you.
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