A couple of weeks ago, I explored the Court of Federal Claims case of SH Synergy, LLC v. United States. In that blog, linked below, I looked at the first question raised in the protest that centered on the question of whether a mentor with two approved mentor protégé joint ventures with two different protégés under the SBA’s Mentor-Protégé Program is restricted from placing competing offers for a solicitation, in this case GSA’s Polaris solicitation. The answer to that was yes, they are restricted pursuant to 13 C.F.R. § 125.9. Because this decision was chocked full of useful information, and as promised, I’m back to look at the second issue tackled in this mammoth COFC opinion: did the solicitation’s terms, which required mentor-protégé joint ventures, woman-owned small business joint ventures, and service-disabled veteran owned small business joint ventures to be evaluated in the same manner as offerors, generally, violate procurement regulations? As you will see, the answer to that question is also yes, and it appears that this decision has already had an impact on other procurements.
Continue reading…SmallGovCon Week in Review: May 22-26, 2023
Happy Friday and we hope you are looking forward to a nice, long weekend. Monday, May 29 is Memorial Day and an official federal holiday, but do you know when and why it was established? If not, here’s a brief history lesson.
After the Civil war, in late 1860s, Americans in various towns and cities had begun holding springtime tributes to countless fallen soldiers. In 1966 the federal government declared Waterloo, New York as the official birthplace of Memorial Day because it hosted an annual, community-wide event, during which businesses closed and residents decorated the graves of soldiers with flowers and flags. In 1968, Congress passed the Uniform Monday Holiday Act, which established Memorial Day as the last Monday in May and declared Memorial Day a federal holiday. So, now you have the background story of how this day was established. We hope you all have a wonderful weekend and here are some recent articles, including ones on a pending default, VA contracts, and small disadvantaged businsses.
Continue reading…OASIS+ Small Business: A Preview
GSA has produced a number of successful contract vehicles over the years, one of which was the One Acquisition Solution for Integrated Solution or “OASIS.” This vehicle, used to acquire professional services (not including information technology) for the government, was so successful that GSA is in the process of preparing its sequel, OASIS+. On March 6, 2023, the agency issued its second draft RFP, and the final RFP is expected soon. In light of this, we’re going to go through some of the planned provisions for OASIS+ for small businesses, with special attention to the provisions on teaming arrangements and joint ventures.
Continue reading…OHA: Ill-Defined Joint Venture Agreement and State Law Requirements Means JV was Invalid
As readers of SmallGovCon know, SBA interprets its small business joint venture rules very strictly. A small business joint venture must follow all of SBA’s requirements down to the letter, or risk being found noncompliant. In a recent case, SBA’s Office of Hearings and Appeals (OHA) examined how a joint venture was managed under the state law of Michigan and found that the joint venture was noncompliant with small business rules.
Continue reading…SmallGovCon Week in Review: May 15-19, 2023
It’s Friday, once again, and time for another week in review. We hope you had a great week. This week in federal government contracting news there were several articles on the VA electronic health records contract, the debt talks, as well as plenty of examples of why one should never try to pull one over on the federal government without facing the consequences. Enjoy your weekend!
Continue reading…COFC Confirms: Mentor-Protege JVs from the Same Mentor Can’t Bid Against Each Other
Those who work within the federal government contracting world are likely to have noticed that, lately, many large indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contracting vehicles are soliciting offers. However, with large contracting vehicles, which are often worth billions of dollars and promise many awards, there are often many protests. And Polaris, Transformation Twenty-One Total Technology Next Generation 2 (T4NG2), and Chief Information Officer – Solutions and Partners 4 (CIO-SP4), to name just a few of such solicitations, are no exception. Although many bid protests are filed with the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the Court of Federal Claims (COFC) also has jurisdiction over such matters, and COFC decisions are usually more indepth and the review of information from the agency more robust than at GAO.. This post will discuss the first of three main issues SH Synergy, LLC v. United States, and, because there is so much useful information packed into the decision’s 75 pages, we’ll plan a separate post for other issues.
Continue reading…Back to Basics: Calculating Small Business Size
Most contractors, when starting their journey into the world of federal contracting eventually run into the same question: What size is my business? In the world of federal contracting, the size of your business can determine whether you can bid on certain procurements, participate in certain programs, and more. Miscalculating or misrepresenting your business size could open you up to size protests, and other severe repercussions. So, knowing the accurate size of your business could be critical to the success or failure of your federal contacting business. But don’t fear, in this edition of our Back to Basics series, we will discuss some of the basics around calculating the size of your business and why it all matters.
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