Webinar Event! Top 21 Legal Mistakes in Federal Government Contracting, April 9, 2025, 11:00-12:00pm CDT

Posted on March 26, 2025 by Shane McCall

Federal contracting rules and laws are complicated, and the rules aren’t always intuitive. Many contractors make legal mistakes routinely, involving everything from completing SAM profiles to calculating small business size to communicating with government contracting officers. Federal government contracts attorneys, Shane McCall & Annie Birney of Koprince McCall Pottroff, will discuss the top 21 most common legal mistakes that contractors make time and time again. You will learn what these common mistakes are and how to avoid them. Please join us for this free webinar hosted by our friends at The Catalyst Center for Business & Entrepreneurship. Please Register here.

SmallGovCon Week in Review: March 17-21, 2025

Posted on March 24, 2025 by Shane McCall

Happy Spring! It’s been a long, cold winter here in the Midwest. But we are starting to see many signs of spring this week. I just got back from a spring break trip to Gulf Shores and Fort Morgan, Alabama and this picture was taken on the beach there. It was a great time to recharge the batteries so I could get back to staying up to date on federal contracting news.

This week in federal government contracting news saw stories including consolidating a number of multiple award contracts under GSA and cutting spending at both DoD and SBA.

A Look at the Duty of Good Faith and Fair Dealing (Part 1)

Posted on March 19, 2025 by John Holtz

The duty of good faith and fair dealing in contract law is, admittedly, a bit poorly named. It does not require that a party act in bad faith to breach it. You do not need to act nefariously to run afoul of it. But then the question arises: What is it? How does one breach it? This was (among other things) a question explored in a recent Court of Federal Claims decision regarding an Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) contract. We will look at that decision’s review of the duty of good faith and fair dealing here in a 2-part series.

Dealing with Contract Alterations and Modifications Due to Changes in the Administration

Posted on March 18, 2025 by Shane McCall

There are many questions facing contractors during this time of change and disruption based on new initiatives from the Trump Administration and the impact on the federal government’s role buying from federal contractors.

One of the biggest questions is what can be done if the government modifies a contract, cancels work, or reschedules the performance of work. In that situation, it’s important to understand both the impacts on the prime contractor and any subcontractors.

Here are some steps to take to deal with this type of situation. Depending on the facts at hand, it might make sense to perform these steps in the order listed. In other situations, it may be helpful to reach out first, get the temperature of the government and subcontractors, and then review the prime contract and subcontract. Changes to how contracts are managed is something that contractors have dealt with in other situations, and we’ve had recommendations on these types of issues in the context of government shutdowns and COVID-19 over the years.

SmallGovCon Week in Review: March 10-14, 2025

Posted on March 14, 2025 by Shane McCall

Happy Friday. Hope everyone had a great week. We wanted to share an announcement this week that WIFCON.com is back. Posted from the website: “Wifcon.com was created by Robert (Bob) Antonio 26 years ago. Operated and maintained solely by him and at his own expense, the website has provided a free, reliable, and invaluable source of information and means of communication and commentary to the acquisition community, both public and private for 26 years. Sadly, Bob died on November 24, 2024, after a brief illness, leaving no operational successor.” Now, “a small group of volunteers, has purchased the site from his heirs and will continue to provide the same free service under the same name, Wifcon.com.”

We truly appreciated Bob’s commitment to the GovCon community. He created a great resource for us here at SmallGovCon and provided very helpful information that we used weekly in our Week in Review blogs. Thank you, Bob, for your dedicated service, and for the new operators of this very helpful site. Please visit the website at WIFCON.com.

And now this week in federal government contracting news, check out stories about new changes to contracting at various agencies including possibly having GSA do more of the contracting for other agencies, as well as changes to DoD workforce and regulations.

NAICS Code Appeal Still a Powerful Tool

Posted on March 13, 2025 by Gregory Weber

When contractors think of protests or litigation related to federal contracting, likely their thoughts go to a bid protest or a size protest. Additionally, when thinking of protesting prior to bids being due, the focus generally is on the wording and provisions of a solicitation. However, contractors should not forget how powerful a tool a NAICS code appeal could be for small business procurements. A recent brief decision in a NAICS code appeal serves as reminder of how useful a simple NAICS code appeal can be for contractors.

Spell it Out for Me: OHA Finds Joint Venture Agreement Compliant When Reviewed with Operating Agreement

Posted on March 12, 2025 by Annie Birney

When an SBA approved mentor and protégé create a joint venture to pursue contracts set-aside for small businesses, SBA requires the mentor-protégé joint venture agreement to contain the requirements found in 13 C.F.R. § 125.8(b)(2). But how closely does the joint venture agreement have to match the language of these required provisions in order to be found complaint?

In DecisionPoint-Agile Defense JV, LLC, OHA considered whether the language in a joint venture’s operating agreement (OA) can be considered alongside the joint venture agreement (JVA) when determining if a JVA meets all the regulatory requirements.