Thank You, Indian Country!

I am back from a great trip to Sooner Country (Norman, Oklahoma), where it was an honor to be part of the annual Indian Country Business Summit.  I gave two talks at ICBS: one on recent developments in government contracting, and another on crafting effective and compliant teaming agreements and subcontracts.

It was great to see so many familiar faces, including my longtime friend Guy Timberlake, who gave a fantastic presentation on competitive market intelligence.  A big thank you to the Tribal Government Institute and Oklahoma Bid Assistance Network for sponsoring this wonderful event, and Victoria Armstrong and everyone who worked with her to organize it.  And, of course, thank you to all of the clients, old friends, and new faces I met and spoke with at the conference.

I’ve been a road warrior recently, but will be sticking around town for the next few weeks.  Next up on my travel schedule: a half-day, in-depth session on teaming agreements, joint venturing, and mentor-protege programs, sponsored by the Nebraska PTAC.  Hope to see you in Omaha on September 22!

GovCon Voices: The Good, the Bad and the Just Plain Ugly Changes That Almost Were! (Part 2)

Having started my journey in the federal contracting community close to 30 years ago, I’ve seen quite a few changes in policy and process that have both improved and degraded the ability of small business concerns to participate as contractors and subcontractors. I’m not referring solely to changes where the language targeted small business, I’m also including those intending to change how business is done based on a specific commodity, contract cost type, procurement method, agency mission or government-wide initiative.

In this, my first contribution to GovCon Voices, I’m taking a look back at recent proposed changes that resulted in lots of conversations with my friend Steve Koprince, a slew of articles and blogs and way too many anxious moments awaiting the outcomes. This is the second of a three part series I’m calling ‘The Good, the Bad and the Just Plain Ugly Changes That Almost Were! 

Continue reading

SmallGovCon Week In Review: February 20-24, 2017

It’s hard to believe, but this is already the last SmallGovCon Week In Review of February 2017. The year seems to be flying by, and there’s never a shortage of government contracting news. This week is no exception.

In this edition of the SmallGovCon Week in Review, one commentator suggests that the Trump administration revive an old contracting practice, a Pennsylvania man faces up to 10 years in prison after admitting to paying bribes and kickbacks on federal construction projects, government contracting gurus Guy Timberlake and Mark Amtower offer some candid commentary on the industry, and much more.

Continue reading

GovCon Voices: The Good, the Bad and the Just Plain Ugly Changes That Almost Were!

Having been a part of the federal contracting community for close to 30 years, I’ve seen quite a few changes in policy and process that have both improved and degraded the ability of small business concerns to participate as contractors and subcontractors. I’m not referring solely to changes where the language targeted small business, I’m also including those intending to change how business is done based on a specific commodity, contract cost type, procurement method, agency mission or government-wide initiative.

Continue reading

Introducing GovCon Voices: A New SmallGovCon Feature

In the nearly five years (and almost 1,000 posts) since SmallGovCon began publishing, we’ve grown from a single-author blog written by yours truly, to a multi-author website featuring regular contributions from my colleagues here at Koprince Law LLC.

Growing our authorship base has allowed SmallGovCon to bring our readers expanded content that would have been very difficult for me to manage alone–like the 16 posts we wrote on the 2017 NDAA in little over a month. But as we continue to grow, I think it’s important that we also offer our readers expanded perspectives, as well.  After all, we lawyers aren’t the only ones with interesting things to say about government contracting law.  That’s why I’m excited to announce our new feature, GovCon Voices.

Continue reading

SmallGovCon Week In Review: January 23-27, 2017

It has been a busy week across the country as we get close to wrapping up the first month of 2017. Here in Lawrence, we’re gearing up for Saturday’s blue blood match-up between Kansas and Kentucky. Both teams are coming off losses and Kentucky is looking to avenge its loss to KU last year. It should be a great game.

Before we get to Saturday basketball, it’s time for our weekly Friday look at government contracting news. In this week’s SmallGovCon Week In Review, articles about what contractors can expect from the new Secretary of the Army and SBA Administrator, the number of new government contractors dropped sharply in 2016, the Washington Post wonders whether President Obama’s executive orders pertaining to contractor employees are on the new Administration’ s”chopping block,” and much more.

Continue reading

SmallGovCon Weeks In Review: December 26, 2016 – January 6, 2017

Happy New Year and welcome back to the SmallGovCon Week In Review. I hope that everyone had an enjoyable holiday season and is jumping full force into 2017. We bring you a double edition today, as we took a little time off from delivering you our weekly publication last week.

It may have been the holiday season, but it was still a busy two weeks of developments in the world of federal government contracting. In this week’s edition, the President has signed the 2017 National Defense Authorization Act (click here for SmallGovCon‘s complete 2017 NDAA coverage), alleged procurement fraud results in a whopping $4.5 million settlement, President-elect Trump’s administration may prioritize Buy American policies, Guy Timberlake takes a look at how FY 2016 contracting dollars were obligated, and much more.

Continue reading