Happy April! We hope everyone had a great week. Yet another beautiful spring Friday for us at SmallGovCon! And you guessed it, it’s time for your week in review.
We’ve included some fascinating articles on what’s happening in the federal government contracting world we think you will enjoy. These included how contractors may be impacted in an election year, as well as a bill to reduce red tape in procurement. Have a wonderful weekend!
Continue readingTuesday, March 29, Forbes.com published a fascinating article written by Dr. Gleb Tsipursky entitled, Prevent Costly Procurement Disasters: 6 Science-Backed Techniques For Bias-Free Decision Making. In the article, I weigh in on the subject of bias in the bid selection process for federal procurements. I discuss some of the ways the ever-developing science behind implicit bias could potentially be utilized in bid protests challenging source selection decisions as biased–which is currently one of the toughest protest challenges to win.
As you can read more about in the article, government officials are presumed to act in good faith and the standards for proving otherwise are difficult to meet (essentially, you need a “smoking gun” to win a protest on bias alone). This article thoroughly discusses the current protest landscape for challenging bias, the ways procurement officials can work to mitigate or eliminate bias in the procurement process, and the potential interplay of the science behind bias in both the procurement and protest processes.
A quick update on CIO-SP4. NITAAC has issued amendment number 11 to CIO-SP4. It moves the deadline to August 27, and takes out some confusing language about small business teams.
Specifically, it has removed the language saying: “The small business prime must demonstrate how they will comply with the LOS by including in their Small Business Teaming Agreement the specific level of effort and how each will ensure compliance with 52.219-14.”
That is now deleted.
That is the only change of note from Amendment 11. As it was a confusing provision and had been vexing many small business teams, it’s good that NITAAC took it out. But did they have to wait until the last possible moment?
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Amendment 10 clarifies obligated dollar values, how to have subcontracted federal work counted, restrictions to contractor participation in task areas, evaluation of contractor program manager(s), establishing a static date from which to calculate the three-year look-back for corporate experience relevance, and evaluation of labor rates.
Needless to say, there is a lot of things packed into Amendment 10, and here’s the kicker, proposals are still due August 20th! With little time to digest, let alone alter, proposals in line with Amendment 10, NITAAC has left little room for offerors to catch up with the changes.
Continue readingThe grounds for GAO protests are numerous, ranging from vague terms in a solicitation to showing that an awardee’s proposal lacked needed information. However, they are not unlimited. One protester argued that the terms of a solicitation were inconsistent with regulations concerning mortgage insurance. Unfortunately for them, that isn’t something GAO will consider.
Continue readingCIO-SP4 Amendment 7, we barely knew you. Less than a week after Amendment 7 went live, we have another amendment to dig into. What is new in this amendment? We have major changes to Other Than Small Business (OTSB) and Emerging Large Business (ELB) certifications. For small businesses, NIH is digging in its heels on consideration of CTA members.
While we are not sure how long this amendment will last, it puts small businesses behind the 8-ball.
Continue readingThe acronyms and terminology used in federal government contracting can be a labyrinth–one sadly devoid of David Bowie. In this post, we’ll clarify some of the common methods used for government procurements, the regulations defining them, and the terminology associated with them.
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