In a recent decision, GAO dismissed a protest challenging the USDA’s issuance of a lease contract as untimely where the protester’s communications with the agency did not constitute an agency-level protest, and the protest was filed more than 10 days after the notice that formed the basis of its protest was received by the protester.
Continue reading…Congress Lengthens Employee-Based Size Standard Period
If you’re a regular SmallGovCon reader (and we hope you are!), you probably are familiar with the Small Business Runway Extension Act. Under the Runway Extension Act, Congress lengthened the period used to determine small business status under receipts-based size standards, from three to five years. Congress’s laudable goal was to allow businesses to “stay small” longer, but the Runway Extension Act can backfire when a business has been shrinking instead of growing.
Now, Congress has done it again. In the Conference Report to the 2021 NDAA, Congress has extended the period used to measure employee-based size standards, from 12 to 24 months–and whether this is good news may depend on if a business has been growing or shrinking.
Continue reading…Congress to Extend 8(a) Terms by One Year
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.