Two brothers fraudulently misrepresented themselves to be service-disabled veterans and received $13 million in VA SDVOSB set-aside awards, according to a U.S. Department of Justice press release.
The brothers, Raymond Testa and Gerald Testa, both of New York, were recently arrested and charged with major wire fraud. If convicted, they face penalties of up to 10 years in prison and/or a fine of up to $1 million.
Did your company file a request for reconsideration of a VA CVE SDVOSB verification denial? If so, be prepared to wait awhile–approximately 128 days, according to a recent VA CVE email.
The email, which was sent to a number of SDVOSBs and VOSBs (and kindly shared with me) indicates that the VA CVE is currently processing approximately 300 requests for reconsideration. As a result, the VA CVE says, the time frame to process a request for reconsideration is now more than double the regulatory goal of 60 days.
Join me in Oklahoma City March 26-28 as the Mid-America Government Industry Coalition hosts a town hall event on federal mentor-protege programs.
In the wake of major mentor-protege changes enacted in the National Defense Authorization Act, this event couldn’t be more timely. The program features a diverse panel of subject matter experts from government and industry and will offer plenty of time for questions and networking.
All participants will receive a complimentary copy of my book, The Small Business Guide to Government Contracts. Best of all, tickets to the March 27 NBA showdown between the Washington Wizards and Oklahoma City Thunder are available.
Please check out the event’s website and contact MAGIC with any questions. I look forward to seeing you there!
The GAO has held that the deadline for offerors to submit proposals need not be extended when an agency issues an amendment to the solicitation, unless the failure to extend adversely affects competition or was a deliberate attempt to exclude an offeror.
In a recent GAO bid protest decision, the GAO rejected the protester’s contention that the agency should have extended the proposal deadline to allow offerors more time to respond to two amendments–which were issued three days and one day, respectively, before the proposal due date.
After prevailing in its SBA OHA 8(a) appeal, a St. Louis-based communications and electrical construction contractor has been certified as a participant in the SBA’s 8(a) program.
The SBA’s decision to certify Innovet, Inc. shows the importance of pursuing an appeal of an unreasonable SBA 8(a) denial–and offers hope that the SBA is learning from its recent string of defeats at SBA OHA.
For the fourth time since December, and second time involving a woman-owned business, the SBA Office of Hearings and Appeals has held that the SBA misevaluated an 8(a) applicant on the “social disadvantage” requirement.
In the most recent case, Black Horse Group, LLC, SBA No. BDPE-468 (2013), SBA OHA again found that the SBA committed multiple errors in its 8(a) evaluation, including holding the applicant to an impermissible high standard of proof, failing to consider all evidence in the record, and drawing erroneous conclusions from the evidence it did consider.
Following on the heels of recent SBA OHA 8(a) appeal decisions involving a disabled veteran, a physically disabled man, and a woman business owner, it is fair to ask: is the SBA’s 8(a) social disadvantage evaluation process fundamentally flawed?
A New York government contractor has agreed to pay $5.65 million to resolve claims that it violated the False Claims Act by failing to comply with the Price Reduction Clause in its GSA Schedule contract.
The hefty settlement is a strong reminder that the GSA takes the Price Reduction Clause very seriously, and that failing to abide by the Price Reduction Clause can lead to significant repercussions.