Ownership of a Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Business has to be unconditional. As the owner of an SDVOSB recently found out, unconditional ownership generally means there can be no restrictions on the service-disabled veteran owner’s ability to sell the ownership interest. Let’s explore the details.
Continue reading…Timing Issues: Challenges to Brand Name Salient Characteristics Due Before Proposal Submission, Says GAO
Time. It’s a great Pink Floyd song. It’s also something that frequently trips up contractors filing protests before GAO. As one contractor recently discovered, a challenge to the salient characteristics of a brand name product is equivalent to challenging the terms of a solicitation, which carries a different protest deadline than evaluation challenges.
Unfortunately for the protester, its argument did not fair nearly as well as one of David Gilmour’s solos.
Continue reading…Whose Jurisdiction is it Anyways? GAO Dismisses Size Challenge
GAO recently dismissed a protest to an awardee’s eligibility under the applicable size standard. The protester argued that the agency should have known that the awardee exceeded the nonmanufacturer rule’s 500-employee maximum. After extensive briefing from both parties and from the SBA itself, GAO found that the awardee’s proposal didn’t raise any issues and that it was really up to the SBA to decide the size issues anyway.
Continue reading…SmallGovCon Week In Review: August 3 – August 7, 2020
Happy Friday to all our SmallGovCon readers and hope you have a great weekend!
This week saw some interesting federal contracting developments, such as projections for this year’s federal spending to be the highest ever, changes to the CMMC Advisory Board, and an executive order that may affect how contractors employ foreign workers.
Continue reading…FAR Council Implements Interim FAR Rule Prohibiting Contractor Use of Chinese Telecom Products
The FAR Council recently moved forward with implementing provisions of Section 889(a)(1)(B) of the 2019 NDAA through an interim rule. This rule, effective August 13, 2020, furthers the work begun previously of separating the federal government and its contractors from certain Chinese telecom and video surveillance companies.
Continue reading…SBA Inspector General Warns of ‘Widespread’ Fraud in COVID-19 Loan Program
According to the U.S. Small Business Administration Office of the Inspector General, potential fraudsters have obtained $250 million in federal funds intended to help businesses survive the impact of COVID-19.
The Inspector General also identified $45.6 million in potentially duplicate payments and warned that with well over $220 billion left to give out, rapid changes were needed.
Continue reading…SmallGovCon Week In Review: July 27 – July 31, 2020
Next week on August 5 you’ll have the opportunity to join me for a special event. At 2 pm central, I’ll be exploring the newest “Koprince Law LLC GovCon Handbook: Procedures and Pitfalls of Size Protests and Appeals” in a Koprince Law LLC Webinar.
This past week had some important federal contracting news, including a call for more time to reimburse government contractors for costs related to COVID-19, the Pentagon planning for the next 25 years of cybersecurity, and new issues with the CMMC rollout.
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