SmallGovCon Week In Review: Oct. 28 – Nov. 1, 2013

Posted on November 1, 2013 by Steven Koprince

I hope you and yours enjoyed a wonderful Halloween. My kids enjoyed a brief round of trick-or treating but on the home front, we ran out of candy rather early (due, in part, to a rather disturbing trend on the part of some costumed kids to blatantly grab entire fistfuls of candy from the dish).

With Halloween festivities over, what better way to spend a Friday afternoon than catching up on government contracting news? In this week’s SmallGovCon Week In Review, a small business subcontractor sues a prime for breach of a teaming agreement, the DoD announces plans to audit Buy American Act compliance, the Army pushes WOSB acquisitions, and much more.

SBA OHA: Favorable SBA Size Determinations Not Binding In Future Cases

Posted on October 31, 2013 by Steven Koprince

A SBA size determination issued in 2007 was not binding on the question of whether the same company was still small in 2013.

According to a recent decision of the SBA Office of Hearings and Appeals, there is no rule providing that an SBA Area Office must follow its own prior size determination. Rather, an SBA Area Office is free to issue a size determination contradicting its own prior ruling.

Agency Pays 72.6% Price Premium; GAO Upholds Award

Posted on October 28, 2013 by Steven Koprince

I often caution would-be bid protesters that when it comes to “best value” procurements, the GAO gives agencies wide discretion to pay a price premium for a proposal evaluated as superior.

Case in point: a recent bid protest decision in which the GAO upheld the procuring agency’s decision to pay a whopping 72.6% price premium.

SmallGovCon Week In Review: Oct. 21-25, 2013

Posted on October 25, 2013 by Steven Koprince

Halloween is almost here and government contracting is (mostly) returning to normal following the shutdown.

In this week’s SmallGovCon Week in Review, the Washington Post discusses three major small business IDIQs on tap for early 2014, Set-Aside Alert examines the possibility of a second shutdown, Federal News Radio has a piece on the prevalence of “low price” acquisitions, and much more.

GAO: SDVOSB Improperly Downgraded For Not Identifying Its Subcontractors

Posted on October 24, 2013 by Steven Koprince

A SDVOSB was improperly downgraded for not identifying its subcontractors in its proposal, according to a recent GAO bid protest decision.

In Coburn Contractors, LLC, B-408279.2 (Sept. 30, 2013), the GAO held that the VA improperly applied an unstated evaluation criterion by requiring that the protester identify its subcontractors, because according to the solicitation, a subcontractor list was only required at the task order level.

Past Performance: Agency Properly Considered Project Size

Posted on October 21, 2013 by Steven Koprince

A procuring agency appropriately considered the size of offerors’ past performance projects in evaluating proposals, even though project size was not expressly stated as an evaluation factor.

According to a recent GAO bid protest decision, contractors should assume that project size may be considered whenever past performance is evaluated, because size bears on the relevancy of a past performance project.

SmallGovCon Week In Review: October 14-18, 2013

Posted on October 18, 2013 by Steven Koprince

The shutdown is finally over, and government contractors are getting back to work.

In this week’s SmallGovCon Week In Review, there are no “shutdown is over” stories, because you already know about that. Instead, the Review offers some news and commentary that may have slipped under your radar screen, including post-shutdown contracting, the next step in the strategic sourcing initiative, a preview of some key federal opportunities on the horizon for 2014, and an interesting look at how government contracting data has spawned its own niche businesses.