The U.S. Small Business Administration’s Office of Inspector General isn’t mincing words–OIG thinks that SBA has strayed from Congressional intent with its expansive definition of who qualifies as a HUBZone employee for purposes of satisfying the HUBZone Program’s eligibility requirements. In a recent report, SBA OIG points out that SBA’s broad definition could result in a company becoming HUBZone-eligible even if none of the company’s employees currently live in HUBZones.
Continue reading…Event: Teaming Agreements & Subcontracts Workshop hosted by The Catalyst Center for Business & Entrepreneurship, November 16, 2023, 3:00-5:00pm CST
This workshop will focus on teaming agreements and subcontracts which can be essential to winning and successfully performing federal government contracts. Greg Weber and I will explain how to develop, negotiate and administer agreements that are both compliant and effective for both small and large contractors. The presentations will cover both the key rules (such as flow-downs and ostensible subcontractor affiliation) and best practices for agreements that go beyond the bare minimum legal requirements. Please join us! Register here.
SmallGovCon Week in Review, November 6-10, 2023, A Salute to Our Veterans!
Tomorrow is Veterans Day and SmallGovCon would like to thank our veterans for their service.
Here are some interesting historical facts about Veterans Day. It was on November 11, 1921, an unidentified American soldier killed in the war was buried at Arlington National Cemetery. The US Department of Veterans Affairs holds a ceremony each year in Arlington National cemetery, to honor and thank all who served in the US Armed Forces. The first celebration using the term Veterans Day occurred in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1947. You can read more about the history of Veterans Day here.
If you are not a veteran, please reach out and take a moment to thank those veterans in your life. We hope you will consider attending a Veterans Day event in your area to thank them for their service and honor their sacrifice.
And now, this week in federal government contracting news included a new contracting initative, increased use of AI, and cyber security updates.
Continue reading…Event: Encountering Innovation Conference hosted by Kansas APEX Accelerators, Nov. 13-17, 2023, Johnson County Community College
Encountering Innovation has quickly become one of the top US Pitch Events for Innovators/Inventors to present and showcase their technology to US Government Tech Scouts for special funding. Tech Scouts from the Department of Defense, Service Labs, Academia, and most US government agencies prioritize attending this week-long event to listen to pitches, examine poster board displays, discuss government needs, and chat with innovators from 8+ states during lunches and evening networking events.
Our very own, Nicole Pottroff, will be presenting at this conference on teaming agreements, November 14. Please join her for this informative presentation.
Also, DoD Tech Scouts and Prime Contractors will be looking for innovation and manufacturing capability solutions through intentional matched private pitch sessions. Register and find out more about this conference here.
SBA OIG Report Shows Improvements in 8(a) and Woman-Owned Small Business Programs
The Small Business Administration Office of the Inspector General (OIG) recently released its report discussing the top management and performance challenges facing the SBA in 2024. The report highlights a number of issues currently plaguing the SBA and its various programs, including abuse of economic relief programs, disaster assistance programs, and loan programs, cyber security shortcomings within the agency, and oversight of grant management. The report also notes concerns with the HUBZone and small disadvantaged business programs. However, today I want to focus on the issues identified in two programs that we at Koprince McCall Pottroff work with day in and day out: the Woman-Owned Small Business Program and the 8(a) Business Development Program.
Continue reading…2023 Bid Protest Report, Success Rate Up, Total Protests Up a Little Bit
One of our favorite fall traditions is back. No, not gorging on stuffing after a turkey trot. Rather, it’s time for GAO’s annual bid protest report. This report is GAO’s summary of bid protests for the previous fiscal year. It contains some key insights for how the protest numbers have changed from prior years.
Here are some key points from this year: (1) the key effectiveness metric, showing numbers of sustains and corrective actions at GAO, was up even higher to 57% for the 2023 fiscal year and (2) total bid protest numbers are up slightly, reversing a downward trend in total protest numbers from the last few years.
Continue reading…SmallGovCon Week in Review: Oct. 30-Nov. 3, 2023
Happy Friday and welcome to November!
In honor of National Veterans’ Small Business Week, Administrator Isabel Guzman, head of the SBA, hosted a roundtable with the Veteran Institute for Procurement (VIP) to discuss the Veteran Small Business Certification (VetCert) Program. The SBA has certified over 8,300 new veteran- and service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses through VetCert so far. Also, in federal government contracting news, there was an executive order released on how the government can address AI in government. You can read more about these, as well as other newsworthy articles below. Have a great weekend!
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