Just last week during a Govology webinar on Women-Owned Small Businesses, one of the attendees asked an insightful question about the different standards for giving sole source awards to participants in various government programs. She wanted to know the difference between how contracting officers go about offering an 8(a) sole source award and a WOSB sole source award.
So, let’s take a look, shall we?
Continue readingFollowing up on its proposed waiver of the nonmanufacturer rule for laptops in December (which we covered here), the SBA is now proposing waivers for exercise equipment, sophisticated walkie-talkies, and more.
Continue readingThe U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear a case Monday that could have upended the Rule of Two’s priority over the AbilityOne program for U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’ procurements.
Continue readingThe SBA recently issued a final rule concerning numerous aspects of small business contracting. In previous posts, we wrote about a few parts of the rule, including changes to the limitations on subcontracting.
The new rule also clarifies some important facets of the rules governing subcontracting plans.
Continue readingAs we reflect on the end of 2019 and look forward to what 2020 will bring, it’s interesting to see what was noteworthy to our readers in 2019. To that end, I’ve compiled a list of some of our most popular posts from 2019.
2020 will certainly bring many more changes in the federal contracting world and SmallGovCon will be here to provide insight on all of them.
Continue readingWhen the SBA issued its final rule implementing the Runway Extension Act’s 5-year receipts calculation period earlier this month, it allowed for a two-year transition: until January 6, 2022, the SBA will allow businesses to choose either a 3-year or a 5-year receipts calculation period.
This transition phase is helpful, the SBA noted, to small businesses that might be adversely affected by an abrupt change to the receipts calculation period—namely, businesses with declining revenues over the preceding five years that are nonetheless close to the applicable size standard cap.
SBA’s accommodation of these companies is, by any measure, a commonsense solution to prevent inadvertent harm caused by the Runway Extension Act. But notwithstanding this laudable policy objective, is the new transition period legal?
Continue readingThe SBA said recently that it intends to issue a class waiver of the Nonmanufacturer Rule for laptop and tablet computers, freeing up small businesses to resell these products in bulk to the federal government.
The SBA recently announced its intent in the Federal Register, giving the public the opportunity to comment early in the New Year.
Continue reading