SBA Publishes List Of Active All Small Mentor-Protege Agreements

Posted on April 10, 2017 by Steven Koprince

The SBA has published a list of active All Small mentor-protege agreements. The list, which is available on the SBA’s website, is dated April 5, 2017. It’s not clear how often the SBA intends to update the list.

The April 5 list reveals that there are approximately 90 active All Small mentor-protege agreements, covering a wide variety of primary industry classifications. All major socioeconomic categories (small business, 8(a), SDVOSB, HUBZone, EDWOSB and WOSB) are represented.

There’s no reason why mentor-protege pairings should be a secret. Kudos to the SBA for publishing the list, which will be useful to contracting officers and industry alike (as well as those of us who are simply curious by nature).

“Government Control” Didn’t Affect Electronic Proposal Timeliness, Says GAO

Posted on April 7, 2017 by SmallGovCon Contributor

One might think that when an electronic proposal is received by a government server before the solicitation’s deadline, the proposal isn’t late. A government server is under government control, so the proposal is timely, right?

Not necessarily, at least the way the GAO sees it. As one contractor recently learned, waiting until the last minute to submit a proposal electronically carries significant risk that the proposal will not be considered timely, even if the proposal reaches the government server in time.

SmallGovCon Week In Review: April 3-7, 2017

Posted on April 7, 2017 by Steven Koprince

It’s been a rainy spring here in Lawrence, but the sun is finally out today. And speaking of sunshine, I’ll be in sunny San Diego on Monday to speak at the APTAC Spring 2017 Training Conference. I am looking forward to catching up with many of my favorite “PTACers” next week.

Before I head to the West Coast, it’s time for our weekly rundown of government contracting news and commentary. In this week’s SmallGovCon Week In Review, a contractor has agreed to pay nearly $20 million to resolve accusations of overcharging the VA, the GSA is considering removing a mandate requiring industry partners to participate in the new Transactional Data Reporting pilot, the GAO concludes that DoD’s buying power is on the rise, and much more.

Joint Venture Past Performance: Agency Properly Considered JV Members’ “Percentage Of Effort”

Posted on April 5, 2017 by Steven Koprince

In evaluating a WOSB joint venture’s past performance, the procuring agency considered each joint venture member’s contemplated percentage of effort for the solicitation’s scope of work, and assigned the joint venture past performance ratings based on which member was responsible for particular past performance.

The GAO held that the agency had the discretion to evaluate joint venture past performance in this manner–although it is unclear whether a relatively new SBA regulation (which apparently didn’t apply to the solicitation) would have affected the outcome.

Missing JV Agreement Sinks Offeror’s Proposal

Posted on April 4, 2017 by Steven Koprince

A small business joint venture’s proposal was excluded from the competition because the joint venture failed to submit a signed copy of its joint venture agreement, as required by the solicitation.

In a recent bid protest decision, the GAO held that the procuring agency acted properly in excluding the joint venture’s proposal, even though the joint venture’s price was more than $300,000 lower than the lowest-priced awardee’s.

SmallGovCon Week In Review: March 27-31, 2017

Posted on March 31, 2017 by Steven Koprince

Here at Koprince Law LLC, we just celebrated our second anniversary (which we affectionately call our “firmaversary”). Thank you very much to our wonderful lawyers, staff and clients for a fantastic first two years.

It’s time for our weekly dose of the latest and greatest in federal government contracting news–the SmallGovCon Week In Review. In this week’s edition, the Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces rule is gone, contractors weigh in on the President’s “skinny budget” proposal, a new bill would expand the USASpending.gov website, and much more.

GAO Report Highlights Recent Trends In Government Contracting

Posted on March 30, 2017 by SmallGovCon Contributor

Earlier this month, the GAO released a comprehensive report detailing the trends in government contracting over a five-year period (from fiscal year 2011 through 2015). The entire report is available here. If you have a few hours to spare, it’s worth a read; if not, this post will summarize a few of its most eye-catching nuggets.