There is a substantial change for 8(a) Program Participants in the NDAA that was recently approved by Congress. The House and Senate have agreed to extend the term of 8(a) Participants from 9 years to 10 years for any company that was admitted to 8(a) Program by September 9 of this year. This will be a major benefit to 8(a) companies, assuming the President signs the NDAA.
Continue reading…HUBZone Appeals at OHA Are One Step Closer to Reality
The House of Representatives passed H.R. 8229, the “Parity for HUBZone Appeals Act,” by voice vote on December 3, 2020. It would allow appeal of HUBZone protest decisions to the SBA Office of Hearings and Appeals.
Continue reading…Congress Approves Government-wide SDVOSB Certification Requirement; Transfers CVE to SBA
The House and Senate have agreed to eliminate service-disabled veteran-owned small business self-certification and adopt a government-wide SDVOSB certification requirement, while transferring control of the certification process from the VA to the SBA.
The Conference Report on the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act would require government-wide SDVOSB certification (eventually) and transfer control of the the Center for Verification and Evaluation from the VA to the SBA. Assuming the President signs the bill into law (which, unlike the typical NDAA, remains to seen), SDVOSB self-certification–which is still the law for non-VA contracts–is on its way out.
Continue reading…SmallGovCon Week in Review: Nov. 23 – Dec. 4, 2020
Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and is staying safe and healthy! This week, we’ve got an extra helping of news for our roundup of federal contracting updates.
Important updates from the past two weeks included the final CMMC acquisition rule, an update about category management, and some reminders that the Department of Labor is enforcing wage rules for federal contractors.
Continue reading…GAO Dismisses Challenge to Brief Explanation of Award
Depending on the type of procurement, an agency will often provide either a brief explanation or debriefing after an award is made. But those explanations are difficult to challenge, as a recent GAO decision confirmed.
In the decision, GAO dismissed a protester’s challenge to the sufficiency of a two-paragraph explanation. Protester failed to show competitive prejudice or regulatory deficiency in the explanation. Since the protester could not demonstrate either of these conditions resulted from the explanation, GAO dismissed these allegations.
When protesting to GAO after receiving a brief explanation, what do you need to know in order to get your foot in the door? Let’s take a look.
OHA: CVE Appeals Go Directly to Us, Not CVE
OHA recently confirmed it lacked jurisdiction over a CVE appeal mistakenly filed with CVE, not OHA, by the deadline. You might be thinking: “Oh come on, the CVE appeal was filed with CVE on time!” But OHA’s strict timeliness rules make no exception for any such mistakes in the CVE appeal process. In fact, OHA disclaims the authority to even consider a late appeal, regardless of whether or not it was timely (but improperly) filed with CVE itself.
Continue reading…Event: Proactive COVID-19 Response for Federal Government Contractors
With COVID-19 cases on the rise, all of us are doing our best to stay safe and healthy. But for federal contractors, the COVID spike also brings increased risks of delays and other problems under active government contracts.
On Thursday, December 3, please join me for “COVID-19: Best Practices for Government Contractors,” a virtual session hosted by the UTSA SBDC Center for Government Contracting/COVID Business Recovery Accelerator. I’ll provide you with a step-by-step proactive approach for handling the potential for COVID-related interruptions and delays to your contracts–and help you ensure that you get paid.
To register, follow this link. I hope to see you there!