GAO: Agencies Cannot Ignore SBA OHA’s NAICS Code Designations

Posted on March 25, 2012 by Steven Koprince

My daughter isn’t even eight months old yet, but she has developed a case of selective hearing. If she’s doing something she shouldn’t (like tugging on the blinds), and I tell her to stop, she often pretends not to hear and keeps right on going. By the time she’s two, she’ll probably be sticking her fingers in her ears and chanting, “la la la, I can’t hear you,” when she doesn’t want to acknowledge me.

Selective hearing isn’t limited to children. In one case, the Department of Veterans Affairs ignored the SBA’s designation of a new NAICS code for the solicitation. But, like my daughter, the VA didn’t get away with it for long.

It Takes Two: GAO Sustains Set-Aside Protest

Posted on March 22, 2012 by Steven Koprince

It Takes Two is the name of a 1995 film starring Kirstie Alley, Steve Guttenberg, and the Olsen twins. With such a star-studded cast, I’m at a loss for why the film merits only a 5.1 rating from the harsh critics at IMDb. I am far too busy to investigate this apparent injustice by screening the film myself. However, “it takes two” is worth keeping in mind, because it sums up one of the most important rules for small government contractors.

Under the FAR, agencies are typically required to set-aside procurements exceeding $150,000 for small businesses if there is a reasonable expectation that at least two responsible small businesses will submit offers at fair market prices. When an agency fails to conduct adequate market research to determine whether the “rule of two” can be met, the GAO will sustain a bid protest, as was the case in DNO Inc., B-406256, B-406256.2 (Mar. 22, 2012).

SDVOSBs: Beware of Loans From Minority Owners

Posted on March 16, 2012 by Steven Koprince

When I was in fifth grade, I had to go door-to-door selling candy bars to raise money for a class field trip. I worked up the courage to peddle assorted chocolates to most of the neighbors, but avoided houses with those ominous “BEWARE OF DOG” signs. I was selling snacks; I didn’t want to become a snack myself for some large canine.

For service-disabled veteran-owned small business owners, the SBA Office of Hearings and Appeals has recently hung up its own ominous sign: “BEWARE OF LOANS,” at least when they come from non-service-disabled minority owners. In SDVOSB Appeal of Rush-Link One Joint Venture, SBA No. VET-228 (2012), the SBA Office of Hearings and Appeals found that loan arrangements between a service-disabled veteran and the company’s minority owners abrogated the service-disabled veteran owner’s control over the company.

SDVOSB Joint Ventures: JV Agreement Must Name Program Manager

Posted on March 16, 2012 by Steven Koprince

In Romeo and Juliet, the heroine famously muses “What’s in a name?” Juliet’s point, as your junior high English teacher probably emphasized, is that the young lovers’ family names should not define them. If Juliet had her way, names would be meaningless.

Tell that to the SBA’s Office of Hearings and Appeals. (How’s that for a segue?) SBA OHA has held that when it comes to service-disabled veteran-owned small business joint ventures, the parties must include the specific name of the SDVOSB employee who will serve as the project manager. Without a name, the SDVOSB joint venture is invalid.

Supermajority Voting and SDVOSBs: Another One Bites the Dust

Posted on March 16, 2012 by Steven Koprince

Unanimity and supermajority voting requirements are one of the most common ways for a service-disabled veteran-owned small business to find itself on the wrong end of an eligibility protest (or, in the case of the VA, a CVE verification denial). Case in point: the decision of the SBA Office of Hearings and Appeals in SDVOSB Appeal of Rush-Link One Joint Venture, SBA No. VET-228 (2012).

NAICS Code Appeals: A Quick Timeliness Reminder

Posted on March 14, 2012 by Steven Koprince

If you Google the simple phrase “10 days,” the top result is the IMDb page for the movie How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days. I haven’t seen this 2003 Matthew McConaughey/Kate Hudson romantic comedy, and Lord willing, never will (though I recall that my 80-something grandmother thoroughly enjoyed it).

Even though NAICS code appeals didn’t pop up first on the Google rankings, actors with a penchant for the Texas Longhorns aren’t the only thing that can be lost in 10 days. If you want to file a NAICS code appeal with the SBA Office of Hearings and Appeals, act quickly. Under the SBA OHA regulations, NAICS code appeals must be filed and served within 10 days after the issuance of the solicitation. Any later, and you will lose your right to appeal, as one would-be appellant recently learned.

R U Compliant? FAR Bans Texting While Driving

Posted on March 12, 2012 by Steven Koprince

Working on a government contract? Put down that cell phone, at least when you are in the car. In case you didn’t realize it, the FAR essentially bans texting while driving (although what penalties you might face for violating this policy, if any, are unclear).

Under FAR 23.1105 and FAR 52.223-18, which is to be included in every contract, a government contractor “should” adopt and enforce a policy banning texting whenever an employee is: (1) driving a vehicle owned or rented by the company; (2) driving a vehicle owned by the government; or (3) driving a privately owned vehicle when performing any work on behalf of the government.