Happy Friday, Readers. We hope you had a great week. Shane McCall, our usual Week in Review contributor, is enjoying a much deserved vacation with this family and I have the delightful privilege of filling in for him. Can you believe it’s August already and school will soon be starting? The Summer is flying right by!
Continue reading…DFARS Data Rights Provisions in Action
Back in April 2022, we looked at how data rights are handled by the Department of Defense in the DFARS (Defense Acquisition Regulation Systems), and prior to that, we explored many of the regulations regarding data rights and similar intellectual property. This is all well and good, but many of you probably wonder what this might look like when it is applied in the real world. For this, we turn to a recent case in front of the Court of Federal Claims (COFC) involving Raytheon concerning what exactly is “technical data.”
Continue reading…SBA Issues 2021 Small Business Scorecard, Small Businesses Contracting Over $154 Billion!
The SBA recently released the Government Wide Small Business Procurement Scorecard for fiscal year 2021. This annual scorecard details information on the various categories of small businesses recognized by the SBA, including whether SBA met its goals related to small business federal contractors. Specifically, the scorecard is used to assess “how well federal agencies reach their small business and socio-economic prime contracting and subcontracting goals,” to “provide accurate and transparent contracting data,” and “report agency-specific progress.” SBA met or exceeded its goals in the majority of categories despite the fact that the overall number of small businesses decreased. Below, we take a look at the process, the numbers, and discuss which groups are, and which are not, receiving the greatest benefits.
Continue reading…SmallGovCon Week in Review: July 25-29, 2022
We’ve been enjoying summer out here in Lawrence and many of our SmallGovCon professionals are taking a little time to themselves for summer vacation. We hope our readers are able to do the same thing! Whether you’re getting back from a vacation or working regular hours, here’s our weekly roundup of news from the federal government contracting to keep you updated on what’s been happening lately.
This week in the federal government contracting world, there is some interesting news, including the small business procurement scorecard from the SBA, which exceeded its contracting goal and the White House announced initiatives to ensure equity in federal procurement.
Enjoy the weekend!
Continue reading…SBA Final Rule Eases Use of Small Business Joint Venture and Subcontractor Past Performance
SBA has issued a final rule that should help small businesses demonstrate their past performance more easily. Perhaps most importantly, the rule will allow for a small business to receive a written performance record, similar to CPARS, showing its performance as a subcontractor to a large business prime. The new rule will also allow a small business to better utilize its past performance that it carried out as a member of a joint venture.
Continue reading…Nonprofit Parent Companies do not Automatically Cause Affiliation for SBA Size Determinations
The Office of Hearings and Appeals, more commonly referred to as OHA, is tasked with deciding size determination appeals that arise under the Small Business Act of 1958, as well as 13 C.F.R. parts 121 and 134. When an unsuccessful offeror raises a question, via a size protest, regarding an Awardee’s size under the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code on any given solicitation, the SBA Area Office will review the protest and issue a size determination. Then, a losing party can appeal the size determination to OHA.
Affiliation is a common topic that OHA addresses. In a recent decision, OHA looked at the question of how nonprofits fit into the affiliation rules. Since a small business has to be a for-profit entity, can a small business be affiliated with a nonprofit parent company?
Continue reading…SmallGovCon Week in Review: July 18-22, 2022
Happy Friday, Readers! I hope you are all staying cool. It seems the whole country is under a heat advisory and we are not the exception here at SmallGovCon, with temperatures hovering around 100 degrees. Whew…who’s ready for Fall?
There was a lot of news in the federal government contracting world this week and we’ve included some articles that we hope you will find informative. Have a great weekend and enjoy the AC or a cool pool to lounge in.
Continue reading…