Govology Webinar Announcement! Small Business Size Standards and Affiliation: Lessons for Every Federal Contractor, May 15, 2025, 1:00pm EDT

For small business set-aside contracts, including socioeconomic set-asides like the 8(a) program, a federal contractor must meet the SBA’s size standards. These size standards vary by industry and solicitation and are based on either average annual receipts or the number of employees. But size alone doesn’t tell the whole story. Many small businesses are surprised to learn that they could be deemed affiliated with other entities based on factors such as ownership, management, family relationships, or subcontracting. If the SBA finds companies affiliated, it will combine the receipts or employees of the various companies, which can disqualify a company from small business programs.

In this training, you will learn:

  • How the SBA determines business size using receipts or employee counts
  • When and how size standards apply in federal contracting
  • Common size determination pitfalls small businesses face
  • The SBA’s concept of affiliation and why it matters (and doesn’t always match up with common sense)
  • The various SBA rules governing affiliation, and what does not trigger affiliation
  • How sharing resources, including subcontracts, in certain contexts could trigger affiliation
  • Examples of affiliation inspired by actual situations
  • Tips for avoiding unintended affiliation and staying compliant
  • What happens if you’re found “other than small”—and how to respond

Whether you’re new to federal contracting or looking to grow your small business through set-aside opportunities or partnering with small businesses, this session will give you the tools to know about small business size standards, affiliation, and positioning your company to play by these rules. 

Hope you can join us! Register here.

SmallGovCon Week in Review: April 28-May 2, 2025

Happy May, SmallGovCon readers! Welcome to the Week in Review. We are entering the end of the school year for those with kiddos, a time when we all start dreaming of those summer vacations, right on the horizon. But in federal contracting, there were a number of interesting updates. These included a request from OMB for patience as it rolls out changes, and a GSA launch of its “OneGov” strategy to streamline how goods and services are procured. Have a great weekend!

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GovCon FAQs: Is There Still an Ostensible Subcontractor Rule?

We recently blogged about a decision that focused on the ostensible subcontractor rule and how the SBA’s Office of Hearings and Appeals (OHA) determines whether a subcontractor is an ostensible subcontractor or not. This and other similar cases have raised the question–how has SBA’s regulatory update affected the analysis of the ostensible subcontractor rule, and what remains of that rule. Below we will give a quick review of the decision from that case and look at a couple more principles of the ostensible subcontractor rule.

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SmallGovCon Has 10,000 Subscribers!

We wanted to thank our loyal SmallGovCon readers for this milestone: we now have 10,000 subscribers to our newsletter! Our attorney-authors have always worked to make our posts helpful, timely, and easy to read. Our number of subscribers is a testament that we are doing something right. A special thanks to the tireless efforts of Rhonda Burgess to organize, improve, and keep the blog articles and newsletter on track!

If you haven’t signed up for our monthly newsletter and are interested in doing so, please click on the provided link to the right of this post or email us at info@koprince.com. Thank you!

SmallGovCon Week in Review: April 21-25, 2025

Happy Friday! April is almost over and it’s time to get out there and star mowing those lawns! We have had quite a bit of rain here in the Midwest so the grass is growing pretty fast right now. We hope you have a wonderful weekend and can get outside to enjoy the Spring weather.

This week in federal government contracting news included updates on staff reorganizations, rewriting of the procurement rules, and use of commercial solutions.

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A Look at the Duty of Good Faith and Fair Dealing (Part III)

For a few weeks now, we have looked at a recent Court of Federal Claims (COFC) decision in two parts regarding the duty of good faith and fair dealing. In the first part, we observed how insistence on the terms of a contract is not a breach of good faith and fair dealing. In the second part, we discussed several separate considerations ranging from a decision to not move a project forward to the next phase to rejection of a claim of a government cabal. Now, we will conclude our look at this decision with the court’s review of the SBIR/STTR policy directive and its impact on the case.

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Webinar Announcement! Shaping Opportunities in the New GovCon Climate, May 8, 2025, 11:00am CDT

Please join Greg Weber and me to discuss how recent executive orders are having an effect on the contracting landscape, and how they interact with important new small business rules and updates, joint venture changes and guidance, and recent cases. This discussion will focus on existing small business and evaluation rules and regulations, and how those fit in with recent orders and reorganization efforts.

Key issues include:

  • Strategic Capabilities to Capacity – Multiple Award Contracts, JV, 8(a) Program, Mentor-Protege, Teaming Arrangrements
  • Strategic Competencies – Past Performance Regulations and Solicitation Language
  • Current Contracts – Bid Protests, Selling SDVOSB, WOSB or other socioeconomic businesses and affect on contracts and proposals

Register here.