There is a saying that sometimes to go forward, you have to go back first. In August, the Department of Labor (“DOL”) published a final rule that will update the Davis-Bacon Act, with some methodologies previously abandoned. Unsurprisingly, this final rule focused on enforcement of labor standards, and was quite lengthy (numbering in the hundreds of pages). Despite it’s voluminous size, there was one major change that federal contractors will find of interest, a change to the method of determining prevailing wage. That is the focus of this post.
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SmallGovCon Week in Review: August 7-11, 2023
Hello, Readers! Many small business contractors and agency personnel are paying close attention to the fallout from the recent court decision on the 8(a) Program, as shown in this week’s articles. For an explanation of the decision, see the post from John Holtz, while Nicole Pottroff has explained SBA’s pause on taking current 8(a) Program applications. Another big story was DOL’s new rules.
We hope you have a wonderful weekend and please refer to our most recent blog posts for additional information on federal government contracting matters.
Continue readingSmallGovCon Week in Review: June 12-16, 2023
Happy Friday! Monday is our newest federal holiday, Junteenth. Courtesy of History.com, Juneteenth (short for “June Nineteenth”) marks the day when federal troops arrived in Galveston, Texas in 1865 to take control of the state and ensure that all enslaved people be freed. The troops’ arrival came a full two and a half years after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation. Juneteenth honors the end to slavery in the United States and is considered the longest-running African American holiday. On June 17, 2021, it officially became a federal holiday.
I hope you will enjoy the activities in your community. In our town of Lawrence, Kansas, there is a parade, a free concert and lots of educational events this weekend. I’m really looking forward to it! GSA published a great press release on Junteenth, that we have included below. Lots of activity in the Federal government world this week. We have included some articles that we think are of interest. Have a great weekend!
Continue readingSmallGovCon Week in Review: May 29- June 2, 2023
Happy Friday! We hope you had a great week and can take time to enjoy your weekend. We’ve been receiving a lot of rain here in the Midwest lately. The rain gauge was completely full and topped out at 4 1/2″ in a 12 hour span of time, this past week. Everything outside is looking beautiful and I’m guessing there will be a lot of lawn mowing going on this weekend.
We’ve included several articles that hopefully provide some good information concerning federal government contracting this week. Enjoy your weekend!
Continue readingSmallGovCon Week in Review: May 15-19, 2023
It’s Friday, once again, and time for another week in review. We hope you had a great week. This week in federal government contracting news there were several articles on the VA electronic health records contract, the debt talks, as well as plenty of examples of why one should never try to pull one over on the federal government without facing the consequences. Enjoy your weekend!
Continue readingSmallGovCon Week in Review: February 20-24, 2023
Happy Friday, Readers! Can you believe that February is almost over? I guess that means we are one month closer to Spring. Stay safe if you are in the areas of the country getting pounded by more snowfall. In the middle of the country, the thermometer has been going up and down so much on a daily basis, we just never know what we will get. That’s Kansas for you.
We have included a few news articles on the federal government contracting issues this week. There is some good thoughts this week on how contractors can approach the debt ceiling standoff, as well as federal diversity and inclusivity goals. Enjoy and we hope you have a great weekend.
Continue readingSmallGovCon Week in Review: October 3-7, 2022
Happy Friday and happy October, Readers. There were a lot of announcements this week in Federal Government Contracting, including new guidance from the White House for federal agencies to increase the share of government contracting dollars to small, disadvantaged businesses (SDBs) in fiscal year 2023. It is part of the administration’s effort to steer $100 billion in new contracting opportunities to minority-owned businesses over the next five years. The SBA’s Administrator Isabella Casillas Guzman , announced the awarding of $300,000 to deliver existing training programs through the SBA’s Service-Disabled Veteran Entrepreneurship Training Program, as well as announcing over $5.4 million in funding through the Federal and State Technology (FAST) Partnership Program. FAST provides small businesses and startups, particularly those in underserved communities, with specialized training, mentoring, and technical assistance for research and development. Grant selectees can qualify for award amounts of up to $125,000 each. You can read more announcements and other federal government contracting news in the articles below. Have a great weekend.
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