WOSB sole source authority is now part of the FAR.
Effective December 31, 2015, the FAR Council has adopted an interim rule incorporating the WOSB sole source authority adopted in the 2013 National Defense Authorization Act and recently made part of the SBA’s regulations.
Under a new FAR provision effective in February 2016, the Government typically will not enter into a contract with any corporation that has an unpaid Federal tax liability that is not being contested or timely repaid. The same new FAR provision prohibits the Government, in most cases, from awarding a contract to a company recently convicted of a Federal felony.
The new FAR provision requires a corporate offeror to represent whether it has any unpaid tax liabilities or recent felony convictions. If the answer to either question is “yes,” the Government cannot award a contract unless it has first considered suspension or debarment of the offeror, and determined that suspension or debarment is unnecessary to protect the Government’s interests.
As we head into a summer weekend, it is time for our weekly roundup of government contracting news and commentary. This week brings news on size standards, procurement spending, proposed rules and missing guidelines.
Government contractors who have attempted to recently register or re-register in the SAM database have been confronted with new questions asking about an “immediate owner” and a “higher-level owner.” These new SAM questions have caused some confusion about what information, if any, a contractor must provide in SAM with respect to an “immediate owner” or “higher-level owner.”
The new questions originate in a recent amendment to the FAR, which requires all SAM registrants, if owned by another entity, to identify that entity by legal name, CAGE code, and type of ownership. This blog post breaks down the new rule and explains when this rule will come into play.
The Office of Management and Budget has extended a policy aimed at providing accelerated payments to small business subcontractors. Without an extension, the policy would have expired last week.
According to an OMB memorandum announcing the extension, the policy will remain in effect until December 31, 2016. In the meantime, the memo states, the FAR Council is “considering strategies that might be used over the longer term to help maintain effective cash flow and prompt payment to small business subcontractors.”