The holiday season is upon us, time for cherished traditions. If you’re anything like us at Koprince Law, one of these traditions is reviewing the GAO’s annual bid protest report.
The overall picture I got from the report, while perhaps not the best clickbait, is that GAO bid protest figures have remained remarkably steady over the past few years. As it has been for the last few years, close to 50% of protests succeed. This stability is a story worth repeating.
I’ve long predicted that Congress would eventually adopt a formal, Government-wide SDVOSB certification program (or “verification” program, if you prefer). Maybe my crystal ball is finally right. As we wrote last week, a new bill introduced in the House of Representatives would do just that.
The full text of the bill has now been published. Here are some of the key details of the Government-wide SDVOSB certification proposal.
Many people skip the footnotes when they read. Why not? There’s rarely anything important in them, right?
Not necessarily. In recent NAICS appeal Advanced Concepts Enterprises, Inc., SBA No. NAICS-5968 (Oct. 24, 2018), a single footnote made all the difference.
Thanksgiving has come and gone, so that means holiday season is upon us! It was a balmy 62 degrees here in Kansas on Turkey Day, and 48 hours later we were in the middle of a blizzard. Gotta love Kansas weather!
Stuffed full of turkey and snowed in, we had some time to catch up on what’s been happening in the government contracting world. In this two-week edition of SmallGovCon, we’ll look at GSA’s proposed consolidation to its schedule contracts, a DOL hiring discrimination dispute, Amazon’s role in the federal marketplace, and more.
Have a great weekend!
Let’s suppose that you, a small business, were previously awarded a long-term contract set aside for small businesses. But over the past few years, business has been good and you’ve outgrown the size standard assigned to the contract. Can you still be awarded a task order under the contract? Yes–if the contracting officer doesn’t require you to recertify your size in connection with the task order request, and no contract-specific terms–like mandatory off-ramps–say otherwise.
This important principle recently played out in DNT Solutions, LLC et al., SBA No. SIZ-5962 (2018).
SmallGovCon readers know that the federal government currently operates two SDVOSB socio-economic designations: a VA-specific program (that requires the business to be verified by the VA’s Center for Verification and Evaluation), and a program through the SBA (that allows the business to self-certify).
These dual programs have been the source of confusion among SDVOSBs. Thankfully, relief might be on the way, as the House Small Business Committee has introduced legislation to consolidate SDVOSB verification under the SBA.
Following a size determination, any person adversely affected by that determination may file an appeal with the SBA’s Office of Hearings and Appeals. To be timely, the appeal has to be filed within 15 calendar days from the date the person receives the determination. If not timely-filed, the appeal will be dismissed.
This 15-day deadline is strict. The OHA doesn’t have the power to extend it, even if good reason exists to do so. In fact, the OHA’s recent decision in Sentient Digital, Inc. dba Entrust Government Solutions, SBA No. SIZ-5963 (2018) makes clear that this deadline applies even when an agency changes its decision to terminate a contract following an adverse size determination.