Tag Archives: SBA OHA jurisdiction

SBA OHA Size Appeals: Request To Reopen Does Not Extend Filing Deadline

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A company on the losing end of a SBA size protest can ask the SBA Area Office that issued the decision to consider reopening the size determination case.  However, the 15-day window in which to file a size appeal with the SBA Office of Hearings and Appeals is not extended by virtue of a request to reopen.

In a recent decision, SBA OHA dismissed a size appeal as untimely, holding that the 15-day appeals window begins upon the receipt of the size determination–not upon the SBA Area Office’s refusal to reopen the size determination.

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SBA OHA Lacks Jurisdiction Over Set-Aside Decisions

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The SBA Office of Hearings and Appeals does not have jurisdiction to review a contracting officer’s decision not to set aside a procurement for small business.

In a recent decision, SBA OHA dismissed a contractor’s contention that the procuring agency should have set aside a procurement for small business–and rejected the contractor’s underlying legal argument, as well.

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8(a) Joint Ventures Are Not 8(a) Program Participants, Says SBA OHA

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8(a) joint ventures are not 8(a) program participants, according to a recent (and commonsense) decision of the SBA Office of Hearings and Appeals.

In its decision, SBA rejected a joint venture’s argument that its 8(a) joint venture agreement was essentially an 8(a) program application, drawing a jurisdictional decision between 8(a) program certification and 8(a) joint venture agreement approval.

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Air Force Solicitation Requires SDVOSB VetBiz Verification

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VetBiz verification is only required for VA SDVOSB set-aside solicitations (and FAA SDVOSB set-asides), right?  Not in the eyes of one Air Force contracting officer, who apparently inserted a VetBiz verification requirement in a recent SDVOSB set-aside solicitation.

After being excluded from the competition, a contractor challenged the legality of the VetBiz requirement, and asked the SBA to declare it invalid.  Unfortunately for the protester, as the SBA Office of Hearings and Appeals held, the SBA lacks authority to rule on such a protest.

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SBA OHA Size Appeals: The Critical Difference Between “Filing” and “Serving”

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SBA size appeals must be filed with the SBA Office of Hearings and Appeals and a copy given to (or “served”) on another SBA Office, the Office of Government Contracting (known as SBA OGC).  Both steps must be taken, because as one small contractor recently discovered, serving a SBA size appeal on the SBA OGC is not the same as filing the size appeal with SBA OHA.

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SBA Size Protests Cannot Be Filed With The GAO

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SBA size protests must be filed with the contracting officer, who then forwards the size protest to the SBA Area Office for review.  The U.S. Government Accountability Office lacks jurisdiction to consider size protests, and filing a SBA size protest with the GAO will be ineffective, as one contractor recently discovered.

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SBA OHA: On SBA Size Rules, We’re The Boss

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“You’re not the boss of me now” is the chorus of “Boss of Me,” a catchy tune by They Might Be Giants.  But when it comes to the SBA size and affiliation rules, there is a boss: the SBA Office of Hearings and Appeals.

Under the SBA size regulations, SBA OHA has the final authority to determine whether a company is small or “other than small” for purposes of a particular procurement.  And,as one recent SBA OHA decision demonstrates, if a lower SBA office neglects to follow SBA OHA’s orders, SBA OHA will make sure that the lower office remembers who is the boss.

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