SmallGovCon Week In Review: September 2 – September 6, 2019

Posted on September 6, 2019 by Shane McCall

College football is back. In Lawrence, that means we got to see what the Mad Hatter could do his first time on the field coaching at KU. As one writer put it, having a new coach makes “people pay at least temporary attention to Kansas football.” I hope the attention lasts a while.

For those needing a break from football, or who always take a break from football, there are some interesting stories from the government contracting gridiron the past week. These include a former U.S. Army colonel sentenced to five years in federal prison for accepting bribes from a a business fraudulently claiming small business status, the ever-growing demand for federal cloud services, and a contractor owning up to overbilling the government for $2.6 million.

FedBizOpps is Almost Gone

Posted on September 5, 2019 by SmallGovCon Contributor

There’s a scene in 2016’s War Dogs where the Jonah Hill character explains to his employees that they are going to spend all day every day digging through one website. In the background, extras are seen staring in to the blue and yellow glow of FedBizOpps.gov.

“Oh my,” I exclaimed from my couch to no one in particular. “I use that website every day—it’s terrible.”

The 8(a) Program: Our New Handbook is Available

Posted on September 5, 2019 by Steven Koprince

The 8(a) program can be a powerful accelerator for those small businesses eligible to participate; however, these benefits come with substantial strings attached.

The latest volume of the Koprince Law LLC GovCon Handbooks series discusses this unique and heavily-regulated program.

GAO: We’re Not Wrong, But Our Original Recommendation Was Not Right

Posted on September 4, 2019 by SmallGovConContributor

Whenever GAO issues a bid protest decision, some parties are happier than others. In limited circumstances, however, an unhappy party may petition GAO to reconsider its decision if the outcome was based on errors of either fact or law. It is extremely rare for GAO to reverse itself during a reconsideration request.

That may explain why in a recent reconsideration decision, GAO maintains that its decision was correct based on the facts presented to it, but GAO nevertheless modified its recommendations substantially in the face of new facts.

Plan Ahead to Prevent Proposal Submission Issues, Says GAO

Posted on September 3, 2019 by Gregory Weber

When submitting bids, contractors should always double check their proposal submission methods, whether it be a designated portal, email, or any other method, and do so well before the deadline.

GAO recently had the opportunity to examine proposal submission issues related to a US Navy procurement, and did not show sympathy for the contractor who experienced proposal submission issues right at the deadline.

SmallGovCon Week In Review: August 26 – August 30, 2019

Posted on August 30, 2019 by Shane McCall

Here in the Midwest, it seems we’re all looking for the first signs of fall even as summer continues (be that leaves changing color or pumpkin spice sightings).

As we finish up the summer and look towards fall, please enjoy some interesting tidbits from the government contracting world. This week, the FAR is updating rules about electronic transmission of task orders, the Alliant 2 small business contract continues to generate headlines, and agencies are releasing a flurry of solicitations.

GAO to Agency: Offerors are More than Just a CPARS-Generated Rating Percentage

Posted on August 28, 2019 by Nicole Pottroff

GAO recently sustained protest to an agency’s FAR Part 13 procurement that relied exclusively on CPARS-generated assessment chart rating percentages to evaluate vendors’ past performance. The agency’s goal was to “maximize competition” by considering all past work, rather than just relevant work.

While there is no FAR Part 13 regulatory prohibition on doing so, GAO found the CPARS charts incomplete and misleading and the evaluation inconsistent with the terms of the solicitation.