The Trade Agreements Act (TAA) (along with its cousin, the Buy American Act) is one of the more complex acts to deal with in federal government contracting. We have taken a look at the TAA before, noting that it does not apply to small business set-asides and discussing how it applies in its related FAR clause, FAR 52.225-5. One of the key requirements under the TAA, as shown in FAR 52.225-5, is that the product has been “substantially transformed…into a new and different article of commerce with a name, character, or use distinct from that of the article or articles from which it was transformed” in one of the qualifying countries: the United States, various “qualifying countries”, and “designated countries”. (These countries are ones that the US has a trade agreement with, hence the law’s name) Of course, when agencies receive offers, they generally can’t go visit the assembly sites. This raises the question: When can an agency rely on a contractor’s offer and when must it do a little more digging?
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SmallGovCon Week in Review: May 27-31, 2024
Happy Friday! Can you believe that tomorrow is already June? We are getting some rain here in the Midwest to kick off summer, so I’m sure those lawn mowers will be out in full force this weekend. My tomato plants are growing tall and it won’t be long before we have an abundance of summer produce. We hope you have a wonderful weekend and can get out and enjoy some sunshine.
This week in federal contracting news, there are new contracts coming out in the telecom and IT sectors, and DoD is looking to update how it deals with data management.
Continue readingSmallGovCon Week in Review: April 29-May 3, 2024
Happy Friday! And just like that, it’s May! Hope you had a wonderful week and have some fun plans this weekend. This week in federal government contracting news included updates about small business federal contracting dollars (see our blog here) as well as new contracting bills coming out of Congress.
Continue readingWhy File: A Rule of Two Protest
The Rule of Two is the federal contracting rule requiring agencies to set aside a solicitation for competition only between small businesses when there are at least two small businesses that could do the work for a fair price. But that rule does have some exceptions. These exceptions can make it difficult to know the situations that would justify filing a Rule of Two protest. Read on to find out.
Continue readingGAO: Don’t Slip Up on SAM Registration, Even for One Day
Editor’s Note: The rule this decision discusses has been updated in a FAR rule change discussed here. The new rule said that “the offeror must be registered at time of offer submission and at time of contract award, but would not be required to be registered at every moment in between those two points.”
If federal contracting had a proverbial town square, it would be SAM.gov. So much federal contracting activity flows through or starts there. A large portion of SAM is contractor information. Contractors are required to be on SAM and are expected to keep their profiles on SAM updated. A “hot off the presses” GAO ruling has confirmed that the timing of SAM registration can make or break a contractor’s winning bid.
Continue reading2023 Bid Protest Report, Success Rate Up, Total Protests Up a Little Bit
One of our favorite fall traditions is back. No, not gorging on stuffing after a turkey trot. Rather, it’s time for GAO’s annual bid protest report. This report is GAO’s summary of bid protests for the previous fiscal year. It contains some key insights for how the protest numbers have changed from prior years.
Here are some key points from this year: (1) the key effectiveness metric, showing numbers of sustains and corrective actions at GAO, was up even higher to 57% for the 2023 fiscal year and (2) total bid protest numbers are up slightly, reversing a downward trend in total protest numbers from the last few years.
Continue readingBuy American? Agencies Must Carefully Document Market Research for Domestic Preference Compliance, says GAO
A recent GAO case on protest costs looked at whether costs were reimbursable centered around whether a Buy American Act waiver was properly applied in the procurement process. As you likely know, the Buy American Act is something many contractors (especially supply and construction contractors) must deal with in their contracting process, and getting a waiver or an exception often may be critical to a proposal. This case arose from a protest seeking costs, but it is still a great opportunity for contractors to better understand the limits of a waiver or exception of the Buy American Act and GAO’s expectations surrounding such an action.
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