Joint Venture Facility Security Clearances: SBA Wants Feedback

Posted on November 19, 2019 by SmallGovConContributor

Forming a joint venture is an important tool to help small businesses increase their competitiveness under federal acquisitions. But for all the benefits, some headaches remain.

One common issue arises when a solicitation requires the prime contractor to hold a facility security clearance. Because a joint venture is an unpopulated legal entity formed for the purpose of bidding on a specific opportunity, the joint venture itself (as the prime contractor) often lacks the needed clearance—even though the joint venture’s members might both hold it. In these situations, a form-over-substance evaluation may leave the joint venture ineligible for award.

Fortunately, the SBA has recognized the silliness of such an exclusion and has invited feedback on a potential solution.

GSA Releases IT Security and Authentication Solutions for Federal Agencies

Posted on November 18, 2019 by Nicole Pottroff

GSA released a Draft Identity, Credentialing, and Access Management (ICAM) Solutions Catalog in response to an Executive Order and a new Office of Management and Budget (OMB) policy. These ICAM Solutions will assist federal agencies in managing and monitoring user access to information systems in order to ensure secure operations and could change security and authentication procedures for federal contractors.

From the President on down, cybersecurity, including authentication, is a pressing concern for all federal contractors.

SBA Proposes Changes to Nonmanufacturer Rule and Limitations on Subcontracting

Posted on November 18, 2019 by SmallGovConContributor

The SBA recently proposed regulatory changes for a number of small business rules. While my colleagues have addressed some of the other big changes, I’ll focus on changes to the nonmanufacturer rule and limitations on subcontracting. The SBA noted that these changes are meant to eliminate confusion and streamline both processes.

Keep reading to see if you agree.

SmallGovCon Week In Review: November 11 – 15, 2019

Posted on November 15, 2019 by Shane McCall

This week, I wanted to send a special thank you our nation’s veterans. Your service is vital to our country and a big part of the work that many federal contractors perform.

With that in mind, here are some of the interesting federal contracting updates from the past week. This week we have stories about a potential government shutdown, the annual suspension and debarment report, and new tools coming to protect the supply chain from potential malicious actors.

SBA Proposes Changes to 8(a) Contract Procurement Process

Posted on November 15, 2019 by SmallGovConContributor

Last week, SBA proposed big changes for some of its small business regulations, particularly those in the 8(a) Program. This blog post is Part 2 in our coverage of the proposed amendments (see Part 1 here) and will cover SBA’s potential changes to the procurement process for 8(a) contracts.

Subcontractor Experience Irrelevant Where Subcontractor Won’t Perform Similar Tasks, Says GAO

Posted on November 14, 2019 by SmallGovConContributor

Prime and subcontractor teaming is a common way for contractors to leverage the experience of the team’s anticipated subcontractors to make proposals more attractive to federal clients, particularly when past performance is a substantial evaluation consideration.

This approach, however, recently ran into a snag when the proposed subcontractor was not going to perform the discrete work areas that its past performance experience supported, which lowered the past performance score of the bid. In the resulting protest, GAO concluded the agency got the evaluation right, and was not required to credit all of the subcontractor’s experience.

Beta.SAM.gov Has Arrived

Posted on November 12, 2019 by Shane McCall

Kind of like Disney+ for the federal contracting set, the FedBizOpps replacement went live today, November 12. But the parallels don’t stop there. Similar to the new streaming service’s technical issues, beta.SAM.gov has also experienced technical problems, based on our own experience sampling the site.