Release of Claims Can’t Be Undone by Refusing Government Payment

Posted on September 28, 2017 by Shane McCall

I recall sitting in a mediation one day when the mediator, a judge, told me and my client that we all have lightning in our fingers. He went on to explain that this means, once you sign a contract, it’s like magic in the sense that you can’t get out of the contract and are bound by it, absent certain exceptional circumstances.

I was reminded of this concept while reading a recent opinion from the Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals that dealt with the effect of a contractor signing a release with the government and then trying to back out of that release by refusing payment from the government.

Thank You, Nebraska!

Posted on September 26, 2017 by Steven Koprince

I am back in Lawrence after a great trip late last week to Omaha, where I gave a half-day seminar on joint venturing, teaming and subcontracting for federal government small business contracts.

Thank you very much to Veronica Doga and her team at the Nebraska PTAC for organizing the event and making sure everything ran smoothly. Thanks also to the other sponsors for contributing their time, expertise and meals (like many things in life, in-depth seminars on government contracts always go over better on a full stomach). And of course, thank you to all of the attendees who spent a sunny Friday morning talking about mentor-protege agreements, teaming agreements, and similar topics. It was great to meet so many new people.

I’ll be sticking around for the next couple weeks before catching a flight to Salt Lake City for the 2017 Utah PTAC Procurement Symposium on October 11. If you’ll be at the Symposium, please stop by the Koprince Law LLC booth to say hello. Hope to see you there!

In Memoriam: APTAC’s Becky Peterson

Posted on September 25, 2017 by Steven Koprince

Small government contractors lost an important ally last week–and many of us lost a great friend.

Becky Peterson, the longtime Interim Executive Director of the Association of Procurement Technical Centers, passed away on Thursday. Her legacy lives on in the amazing network of PTACs across the country.

SmallGovCon Week In Review: September 18-22, 2017

Posted on September 22, 2017 by Steven Koprince

Greetings from Omaha, where I’ve just wrapped up a great half-day training session sponsored by the Nebraska PTAC. If you haven’t been to Omaha, you’re missing out: I’m enjoying exploring the Old Market District, and keep wondering when I’ll run into Warren Buffett.

Of course, I’m not about to let a little road trip get in the way of our weekly roundup of government contracts news. In this edition of the SmallGovCon Week In Review, we have an update on an SDVOSB fraud case that we have been following for awhile, a push to close loopholes in the Buy American Act, some promising changes for the SBA Surety Bond Guarantee program, and more.

5 Things You Should Know: All Small Mentor-Protege Program

Posted on September 20, 2017 by SmallGovCon Contributor

Editor’s note: For more information, check out our updated post on SBA’s Mentor-Protégé Program.

In late 2016, the SBA rolled out a fantastic tool to help small business grow in the marketplace.

Here are five things you should know about the SBA All Small Mentor-Protégé Program:

Is A Lease A CDA “Contract?” Federal Circuit Says Yes

Posted on September 19, 2017 by SmallGovCon Contributor

Although a lease may be a “contract” in common parlance, does a lease qualify as a contract under the Contract Disputes Act?

The answer is important, because the Contract Disputes Act provides jurisdiction for the Court of Federal Claims and Board of Contract Appeals to decide challenges to contracting officers’ final decisions. If a lease isn’t a contract under the Contract Disputes Act, government lessors could be in a bind.

The United States Court of Federal Claims recently decided the issue–and came down on the side of lessors, at least under the facts at hand.

SBA OHA Confirms Strict SDVOSB “Unconditional Ownership” Requirements

Posted on September 19, 2017 by Steven Koprince

Provisions in a company’s Shareholders Agreement, requiring the service-disabled veteran to sell his shares back to the company in the event of the veteran’s death or incapacity, were contrary to the SBA’s SDVOSB regulations.

According to a recent SBA Office of Hearings and Appeals decision, these provisions prevented the veteran from having unconditional ownership over the company, because he could not dispose of his shares as he chose. In reaching its conclusion, SBA OHA wrote that Court of Federal Claims decisions allowing such provisions under the VA’s SDVOSB program didn’t apply to SBA–meaning that SDVOSBs verified by the VA might be ineligible for non-VA SDVOSB contracts.

What a mess.