Let’s wrap up the week as we always do, with the Week In Review. In this edition, we’ll look at GAO’s recommendations for DOD’s planned IT upgrades, additional uncertainty for federal contractor back-pay, and more contractors behaving badly.
Have a great weekend!
Continue reading…The Small Business Runway Extension Act continues to be a hot topic of conversation among small businesses. For good reason: it revised the receipts calculation period for revenue-based size standards from three years to five.
In late 2018, the SBA opined that the Runway Extension Act wasn’t applicable because the SBA had not yet updated its regulations. Following industry pushback, the SBA’s position seems to have evolved. During a panel discussion at this year’s National 8(a) Conference, the SBA said that the Runway Extension Act applies to every agency that might adopt its own size standards . . . just not the SBA itself.
This new justification is a bit of a head-scratcher. And I still don’t think the SBA has it right.
Let’s work through the SBA’s position together.
Continue reading…Contractor responsibility is to be considered before every federal contract award, but what about task orders issued under an FSS contract? Are contractors still subject to responsibility inquiries when competing for orders?
According to GAO, the answer is, “yes.”
Continue reading…The limitations on subcontracting are undergoing some major changes in 2019, including a newly-effective DoD class deviation and the FAR Council’s long-awaited proposal for a comprehensive overhaul.
Recently, I joined host Michael LeJeune of RSM Federal on the Game Changers podcast to discuss these important changes. Click here to listen to my podcast, and be sure to check out the other great Game Changers podcasts featuring voices from across the government contracting landscape.
An offeror provided a procuring agency with only the first pages of its teaming agreements with proposed subcontractors–and received a “Marginal” score on the small business participation factor as a result.
In a recent decision, the Court of Federal Claims held that the agency reasonably downgraded the offeror for failing to provide its entire teaming agreements, saying that the agency correctly determined that it was unable to determine what work would be performed by the subcontractors.
Continue reading…After a lovely weekend, temperatures have again dropped here in Lawrence. A quick Google search, however, tells me that a certain groundhog didn’t see his shadow last week, so here’s hoping we all get warmer temperatures soon . . . .
In the meantime, let’s warm our hearts with the latest government contracting news. Today we look at how the Pentagon plans to use the cloud and protect itself while doing so, how several companies survived the shutdown as they look toward another, and the millions it costs to settle a procurement fraud investigation.
Have a great weekend!
Continue reading…In all competitive procurements, agencies must identify and analyze, as soon as possible, whether a potential contractor has an actual or potential organizational conflict of interest. (OCIs come in three general varieties: unequal access to information, biased ground rules, and impaired objectivity.) If the agency finds one, it must avoid, neutralize, or mitigate the potential OCI to ensure fairness.
As one recent GAO decision illustrates, an agency’s failure to reasonably investigate a potential OCI can lead to a sustained protest.
Continue reading…