Agencies rely on the representations made by offerors in their proposals to determine how capable each offeror is. In many cases, key personnel are so vital to an offeror’s chance of success that any change to the key personnel must be approved by the agency prior to such a change taking place. Logic follows that the risk of losing a possible award outweighs any benefit that may be reaped from stretching the truth. Nonetheless, from time to time an offeror will decide to give it a try, hoping that any inaccuracies will be overlooked, or will simply unintentionally misrepresent a detail. But, as one offeror learned, the possibility of such inaccuracies being discovered is high, and the end result is far from ideal.
Continue reading…SmallGovCon Week in Review: January 2-6, 2023

Happy New Year! We hope you were able to enjoy the holidays with friends and family and are now ready to jump into 2023. A recent cold front has moved out of our area, and I think I speak for everyone here when I say we are grateful to get back to our normal temperatures.
There was a lot of activity in the federal government contracting arena this week. Below are some articles that we think are noteworthy. Enjoy your weekend.
Continue reading…SBA: NAICS Code Must Match the Work Sought, not the Offeror’s Work
We here at SmallGovCon like to spend our free time pondering the intricacies around how and why certain NAICS codes are assigned to the myriad of contracting opportunities posted every day. But we realize others may not have the same appetite for the intricacies of Federal Contracting as us. Luckily, the SBA’s Office of Hearings and Appeals (OHA) recently issued a great roadmap for understanding NAICS code assignments in a NAICS code appeal decision, which serves as a great refresher for how NAICS codes are applied to a procurement.
Continue reading…SmallGovCon Week in Review: December 26-30, 2022

Happy Friday Readers! It’s time to say goodbye to 2022 and make plans for the new year. We hope 2022 has been a good year for you. We are looking forward to providing valuable insights for federal contractors in 2023 and we appreciate your continued support of SmallGovCon. This week saw important updates regarding both the signing of the National Defense Authorization Act and government spending bill.
We wish you the best in 2023! Happy new year!
Continue reading…SBA to Small Businesses: Be Careful with Ostensible Subcontractors on SBIR Awards
In a recent decision, the Small Business Administration (SBA) Office of Hearings and Appeals (OHA) examined a company that received two Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant awards. The SBA Area Office had determined that the awardee was not an eligible small business due to ostensible subcontractor affiliation and other reasons. This decision is an important reminder for SBIR candidates on how they should structure subcontracting teams, as SBA will examine SBIR awardee eligibility.
Continue reading…Happy Holidays from Koprince McCall Pottroff LLC!

We’d like to take this opportunity to wish our readers a very happy holiday season! We appreciate you and we will keep striving, in 2023, to provide useful updates and information to the federal government contracting community. Season’s greetings!
Final FAR Amendment Encourages Procuring Agencies to Engage with Industry
DoD, GSA, and NASA are issuing a final rule that amends the Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR), effectively implementing a provision of the 2016 National Defense Authorization Act. The rule permits and encourages agency acquisition personnel to engage in responsible and constructive exchanges with the industry, provided that such exchanges remain consistent with the applicable law and refrain from promoting any unfair competitive advantages.
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