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.

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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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GAO Denies Challenge to Solicitation Terms: Use of “Tactical” Was Imprecise, but Allowable

In the world of federal contracting, precision matters. In fact, precision is often essential when developing a winning proposal. When it comes to subjective evaluation considerations, however, it can be challenging to articulate relevant evaluation criteria with a high level of precision. Indeed, as one prospective offeror recently discovered, some evaluation terms are good enough for government work, despite being imprecise.

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OHA: Second Job Leads to 8(a) Program Termination

When it comes to the 8(a) program, you might want to quit your day job.

The 8(a) Business Development Program, similar to other SBA socioeconomic programs such as the service-disabled veteran-owned small business program, requires the disadvantaged individual owner to work full-time at the business during normal business hours of similar firms. If an owner has a second job outside the main company, that can create problems, as it did in a recent OHA decision.

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SmallGovCon Week In Review: July 20 – July 24, 2020

Last week, I tried to see the Comet NEOWISE, but I couldn’t locate it. Guess that’s why I’m a lawyer and not an astronomer! Maybe some of you had better luck. As we move through the dog days of summer, I hope all our readers are staying cool and healthy.

This week saw a number of interesting federal contracting stories. Among them were tallying up record federal spending during the pandemic, cyber hygiene as part of CMMC, and potential waivers for the Huawei ban.

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