2023 Bid Protest Report, Success Rate Up, Total Protests Up a Little Bit

Posted on November 3, 2023 by Shane McCall

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.

SmallGovCon Week in Review: Oct. 30-Nov. 3, 2023

Posted on November 3, 2023 by Shane McCall

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!

DoD Proposes Updates to its Mentor-Protégé Program

Posted on October 31, 2023 by Gregory Weber

Many federal contractors know of and participate in the SBA’s Mentor-Protégé Program. However, there are many agency specific Mentor-Protégé Programs, including the oldest continuous program, the Department of Defense’s Mentor-Protégé Program. The DoD’s program has been operating since around the First Gulf War, and like any good machine that is a few decades old, regularly needs some updates. Just in the past week, the DoD released the newest proposed changes to its program.

Event Announcement: APTAC’s 2023 Fall Training Conference

Posted on October 27, 2023 by Shane McCall

Nicole Pottroff and I are excited to attend the Fall APTAC conference in Washington DC and will be presenting on legal updates on November 6. 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!

SmallGovCon Week in Review: October 23-27, 2023

Posted on October 27, 2023 by Shane McCall

Happy Friday and happy Halloween! Nicole Pottroff enjoyed presenting at the recent ICBSSHOW this week and enjoyed talking to many of our readers. But it’s also the last weekend to prepare and to stock up on candy for those trick or treaters. Hope the federal contracting stories from this week aren’t too scary.

This week in federal government contracting news, the Office of Management and Budget is setting a goal of awarding 13% of federal contract spending to “small, disadvantaged businesses” for fiscal 2024 and the SBA kicks off National Veterans Small Business Week, October 30-November 3, with lots of events taking place across the country. You can read more about these announcements and more in the articles below. Have a great weekend and have fun carving those pumpkins!

FAR Updates: Size Protests for Orders, Rules for 8(a) Follow-On Contracts

Posted on October 25, 2023 by Shane McCall

The FAR Council has released updates that will impact a couple aspects of small business contracting. One is that contractors can now file size and socioeconomic status protests for certain types of orders, under strict timelines. Second is that agencies must notify SBA when they seek to remove certain contracts from the 8(a) Program. While these rules were present in some form in SBA rules, they are now firmly ensconced in the Federal Acquisition Regulation as well. Below, I discuss the highlights of these rules as well as any differences from the SBA rules.

OHA: JV Violates Two-Year Rule, Loses Award

Posted on October 23, 2023 by Shane McCall

The joint venture two-year rule always generates a lot of questions. But it’s an important one for small business joint venture members to understand and comply with. A recent decision from the Small Business Administration Office of Hearings and Appeals (OHA) shows why. In the case, a joint venture lost an award because it violated the two-year rule.