No Protests of SBA Mentor-Protégé Agreements, Says OHA

Posted on February 16, 2021 by Steven Koprince

The SBA’s mentor-protégé program offers powerful benefits. To help ensure that only legitimate small businesses take advantage of the program, the SBA asks applicants a series of questions about potential affiliation between the prospective mentor and protégé.

But once the SBA signs off on a mentor-protégé agreement, that’s that. As the SBA Office of Hearings and Appeals recently confirmed, competitors cannot use the size protest process to challenge whether an SBA mentor-protégé agreement should have been approved in the first place.

SmallGovCon Week in Review: Feb. 8 – Feb. 12, 2021

Posted on February 12, 2021 by Shane McCall

Hello SmallGovCon readers. Here at HQ, we’ve been hit with both a Super Bowl loss from the Chiefs, as well as temperatures topping out in the single digits this week. We’re really looking forward to spring! But in the meantime, enjoy some of these hot federal contracting updates to warm you up.

This week saw stories including myths about CMMC, increase in federal AI spending, and bias affecting growth in the 8(a) program.

Buy American Act Domestic Component Threshold Gets A Raise

Posted on February 11, 2021 by SmallGovConContributor

A new FAR final rule recently went into effect that has increased the percentage for the domestic component requirement under the Buy American Act, a percentage that had been in place for nearly 70 years before this recent change.

CPARS Challenges: No Appeals Without Contracting Officer Claim

Posted on February 10, 2021 by Steven Koprince

Ask many government contractors, and they’ll tell you that even a single negative report in the Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting System can have a powerful adverse impact on winning future prime contracts.

Given the importance of these performance reports, it’s little wonder that a contractor on the receiving end of a negative CPAR may want to ask a judge to review the matter. But as one recent case demonstrates, a contractor cannot challenge a CPAR with a judge until the contractor has followed the FAR’s claims process.

GAO: Small Business Rule of Two Doesn’t Require Set-Aside for Task Order

Posted on February 9, 2021 by Shane McCall

Generally, the small business Rule of Two requires an agency to set aside contracts for small business, assuming that there are at least two small businesses with competitive prices who will bid on the contract. But does the small business Rule of Two apply to orders under a multiple award contract? In a recent decision, GAO affirmed the answer is no–application of the small business Rule of Two for orders under a multiple-award contract is discretionary.

Event: SBA Training Webinar on 8(a) Joint Ventures

Posted on February 5, 2021 by Nicole Pottroff

8(a) joint ventures are a powerful tool–both for non-8(a)s to participate in 8(a) contract opportunities and for 8(a) companies to gain valuable experience in their industries. But it is crucial that 8(a) joint ventures follow all of SBA’s requirements if they want to get (and keep) 8(a) awards.

Some of those requirements underwent significant revisions this past year. Join Shane McCall and me on February 9 for the SBA Training Webinar: 8(a) Joint Ventures, where we will discuss the ins and outs of 8(a) joint ventures and keep you up-to-date on all of SBA’s requirements.

Please register here. Hope to see you there!

SmallGovCon Week in Review: Feb. 1 – Feb. 5, 2021

Posted on February 5, 2021 by Shane McCall

We here at SmallGovCon have something on our minds this week, and it’s not only a roundup of the most important federal contracting news. A little game called the Super Bowl features our hometown Kansas City Chiefs, hoping to repeat as champions! This Chiefs-themed anthem has been my pump-up jam for the last several weeks.

Some of the key alerts for this week include an updated timeline for CIO-SP4, increased OTA use at Pentagon, and the CMMC rollout progresses.