When a Contracting Officer determines that subcontracting possibilities will exist under a qualifying unrestricted contract, subcontracting plans are required from all offerors other than small businesses–including entities that do not intend to issue any subcontracts. In a recent bid protest decision, the GAO rejected a protester’s argument that the subcontracting plan requirement is to be […]
A discrepancy in a business’s subcontracting plan may have cost the offeror its shot at a position on the enterprise acquisition gateway for leading-edge solutions II IDIQ contract. As demonstrated in a recent GAO bid protest, the business was downgraded on the small business participation factor because of a discrepancy in its proposal regarding subcontracting […]
An Ohio-based construction company has paid $500,000 to settle federal False Claims Act allegations related to the Department of Transportation’s Disadvantaged Business Enterprise program, according to a statement published by the U.S. Department of Justice. This case is particularly interesting because the allegations made by the government sound an awful lot like circumstances that, I […]
If your small business competes on an unrestricted (aka “full and open”) solicitation, you probably don’t submit a small business subcontracting plan. After all, small businesses are typically exempt from the subcontracting plan requirement, so why do the extra paperwork (and potentially foreclose subcontracting opportunities with large businesses?) However, even on unrestricted procurements, you must […]
Many contractors, large and small, will tell you that the government is taking its small business obligations seriously these days. The renewed emphasis on small business can be seen not only at the prime contracting level, where we are finally getting close to the 23% government-wide goal, but also at the subcontracting level. Contracting agencies […]
Just as agencies have established goals to award a certain percentage of their procurements to small businesses and businesses participating in socio-economic programs like the 8(a) Program, large business contractors must establish goals to include small business subcontractors in their pool of subcontractors for unrestricted awards over the applicable threshold in FAR 19.702 ($750,000 for […]
Subcontracting is a hot topic in the federal government contracting world. Large businesses placing bids on federal procurements are often required to have a small business subcontracting plan, while small businesses are limited to exactly how much work they can subcontract out. The FAR and SBA rules contain the details relevant to small businesses’ limitations […]