It’s hard to top last week’s government contracting news, which included the major SDVOSB Supreme Court victory in Kingdomware. But with the Fourth of July just a week and a half away, there is still plenty going on in the world of government contracts law.
In this week’s SmallGovCon Week in Review, an SDVOSB’s owner speaks out about his important GAO bid protest win, suspensions and debarments of government contractors dropped in 2015, major changes are coming to the GSA Schedule, HUBZone contract awards decline, and much more.
- After winning a legal battle with the VA, Spur Design’s owner talks about what his company’s victory means for veteran-owned businesses. [Flatland]
- The Office of Management and Budget has directed federal agencies to adopt practices that will simplify and streamline software acquisition. [E-Commerce Times]
- Agencies’ budgets for extramural research are wavering amid increasing requirements to set aside funding for small business tech and innovation programs. [fedscoop]
- A construction company executive has been found guilty of wrongfully winning $100 million in federal contracts that give preference to veteran-owned companies. [Boston Globe]
- Defense Department procurement officials have agreed to expand their use of the General Services Administration’s single contract for complex professional services known as OASIS. [Government Executive]
- Suspension and debarments of government contractors fell 3.7 percent in fiscal year 2015 over the previous year according to the annual report of the Interagency Suspension and Debarment Committee. [Government Executive]
- The Department of Homeland Security will begin accepting video proposals in addition to written ones as part of a procurement innovation initiative. [Federal Times]
- Vendors could save millions with the new General Services Administration reporting requirement that is being called the “most transformational change to GSA’s Federal Supply Schedules Program in more than two decades.” [Federal Times]
- Plans to file a lawsuit against the Army are in the works based on claims that the military service has shown bias against off-the-shelf products in its solicitation for a $206 million intelligence IT contract. [Federal News Radio]
- HUBZone contract awards have stalled again, after two years of modest increases, continuing a mostly downward trend that began six years ago. [Set-Aside Alert]
- The Labor Department is investigating whether workers on Donald Trump’s renovation of Washington, D.C.’s Old Post Office are being paid less than federal law requires. [Politico]
- Are Federal agencies overspending billions of dollars each year by allowing employees to make micropurchases on government charge cards instead of using the government’s buying power? [Government Executive]