A recent appeal before the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Office of Hearings and Appeals (OHA) upheld SBA’s denial of an application for a veteran-owned small business because its operating agreement gave too much control to a non-veteran owner and failed to identify a veteran as the highest officer. The decision in Facekay LLC demonstrates the importance of strict adherence to the control requirements laid out by the various SBA programs.
Continue reading…SmallGovCon Week in Review: October 28-November 1, 2024
Hello, Blog Readers and happy November! We hope you have had a productive month and are looking forward to finishing strong this year. It’s that time of year for looking at fall colors and going to the pumpkin patch, and handing out candy to trick or treaters. We hope you have a wonderful weekend and can get out a enjoy the fall weather in your neck of the woods.
This week in federal government contracting NASA has announced a $1.8 billion COSMOS contract and tech giants are pushing for legislation to streamline federal cloud procurement, aligning with the GSA’s advocacy for simpler cloud purchasing and value-based contracting. You can read more about these topics in the articles below, as well as other federal contracting news. Enjoy!
Continue reading…Thank You, COFC Judicial Conference
I recently returned from the 35th Annual Judicial Conference for the Court of Federal Claims. I wanted to send a hearty thanks to all of the organizers of the conference, especially Judge Tapp! It was a great opportunity presenting on the topic of Private Conflicts: How the New Private Sector OCI Rules Could Impact Federal Procurement. I also thoroughly enjoyed the other presentations at the conference.
For those looking for more information on this topic, here are some resources for you:
- Original blog post: New OCI Law Focuses on Private Sector Contracts, More Examples, More Procedures
- Contracting While Impaired: Court Rejects Overbroad Finding of OCI Based on Impaired Objectivity
- Apparent Conflict: Appearance of Impropriety Enough to Exclude a Contractor from Federal Contract
- 2024 Blog Post: Predictions: Upcoming Rules on Conflicts of Interest
GAO Sustain: Offeror’s Failure to Follow Solicitation’s Document Preparation Instructions was Unstated Evaluation Criteria
A recent GAO decision considered whether an agency could reject an offeror’s proposal based on the offeror’s failure to follow document preparation instructions that were not explicitly stated in the solicitation.
In Hometown Veterans Medical, LLC B-422751 (Oct. 11, 2024), the Department of Veterans Affairs (“VA”) issued a request for proposals (“RFP”) from service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses for home oxygen services for patients at the VA’s Birmingham Veterans Medical Center. The RFP stated that offerors would be evaluated on experience and price.
Continue reading…SmallGovCon Week in Review: October 21-25, 2024
Happy Friday! I just got back from presenting at the 35th Judicial Conference for the United States Court of Federal Claims. It was a great experience and I got to learn from some very smart folks. But the wheel of federal contracting keeps turning, and this week was no different. Important stories included updates from a recent OIG SBA report, a bill to modernize federal cloud procurement, and the Army seeks to cut contract award times to six months. Have a great weekend.
Continue reading…OHA: Show me the Management, or Fail SDVOSB Certification
A recent OHA decision reminds us that it’s important to show and tell the SBA how a company seeking certification is meeting the SBA’s requirements for control of a socioeconomic company. Like many of these decisions involving SBA’s programs, it comes out of the Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) VetCert program. That’s because the SDVOSB program allows appeals of denials of certifications. The other programs don’t allow such broad reasons for appeals from certifications (or at least have restrictions on them).
Continue reading…Event Announcement: NAPEX Fall Conference 2024
We are excited to announce that Nicole Pottroff will be attending the Fall NAPEX conference in Washington DC and will be presenting on legal updates on October 30. The conference gives agencies and primes the opportunity to promote supplier diversity programs and learn how the APEX Accelerators can partner and assist in meeting contracting goals.
The Association of Procurement Technical Assistance Centers (APTAC) is the professional organization of and for the DoD APEX Accelerators nationwide. APTAC supports the APEX Accelerators by providing important information, professional networking, comprehensive training and a voice in national government contracting assistance. They are a great resource for obtaining helpful information for federal government contractors. We certainly enjoy the opportunity to present throughout the year for this beneficial organization.
If you are attending, please stop by our table to say hello. Hope to see you there!