Year in Review: Top SmallGovCon Posts of 2023

Happy New Year to our SmallGovCon readers! While we have already posted some updates from 2024, it’s a good time to reflect on the important posts from 2023.

This post revisits those blog posts from 2023 that were the most popular. Below, we summarize the blogs written in 2023 that were the most popular as well as the perennial favorites from years past that were the most viewed in 2023. It’s a good chance to look back on the important articles from 2023, and those topics of continuing interest to federal contractors.

Here are the top 10 blog posts that were posted in 2023. As usual, our readers were interested in changes to SBA’s rules, including changes to the 8(a) Program and the social disadvantage requirement, as well as our Back to Basics series focusing on issues such as teaming agreements, debriefings, and SAM registration.

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8(a) Rule Update: Agencies Can’t Limit 8(a) Competition to Participants with Additional Certifications, SBA Clarifies Bona Fide Place of Business for Construction Contracts

A few months ago, we explored SBA’s new rule that made changes to the 8(a) program, the limitations on subcontracting rules, and the ostensible subcontractor rule. There was another aspect of that new rule that also makes some needed clarification on how contracting officers can limit 8(a) competitions, and we want to briefly explore that here.

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On Deck for SBA Regulations in 2023: Affiliation and WOSB Rule Changes

SBA, like other agencies, publishes a semiannual Regulatory Agenda to provide an update on the various rules it has coming up as well as a timeline for when they will be published or become final. While SBA doesn’t have to meet these timeframes, it’s always good to check in on what SBA has been working on when the final rules will come out. This agenda includes an update on increased size standards, along with some other important rules. Here is a summary of the upcoming rules and what we think could most impact federal contractors. Be sure to comment on these rules if you have an opinions on them.

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Law to Create One Stop Shop for Small Businesses Questions

In late 2022, Congress passed and the President signed a law that aims to make it easier for Small Business Contractors to track down small business compliance information for the wide range of agencies involved in government contracting, that are currently housed somewhere within each specific agency’s website. In this post, SmallGovCon reviews this law, and through it, can examine with our readers where you can currently find the many resources available for small business issues at federal agencies. While these small business offices may not be able to solve all your problems as a federal contractor, a free resource is always good to have.

Editor’s Note: the website is up and running here.

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Year in Review: Top SmallGovCon Posts of 2022

Happy New Year, Readers! Hope everyone is off to a great start in 2023. As we have done in the past, we want to take a step back and revisit those blog posts from 2022 that were the most popular. Below, we summarize the blogs written in 2022 that were the most popular as well as the perennial favorites from years past that were the most popular in 2022. It’s a good chance to look back on the important articles from 2022, and those topics of continuing interest to federal contractors.

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Friendly Inflation: SBA Adjusts Size Standards, Economic Disadvantage Limits, and 8(a) Sole Source Dollar Limits for Inflation

It probably doesn’t need to be said that all of us have been chafing under inflation lately, and federal contractors are certainly no exception. Rises in costs for goods and labor have exerted serious pressure on businesses and households worldwide. However, not all inflation is bad. SBA recently released a final rule taking into account the inflation of the past few years when it comes to the various receipts-based size-standards and economic disadvantage limits, as well as finally adjusting the 8(a) Business Development Program sole source limits. These changes are crucially important for those businesses that have just barely exceeded the applicable size standards, or that were getting close to the maximum. In this post, we’re going to explore this rule.

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Back to Basics: Limitations on Subcontracting

One of the common questions small business contractors ask themselves when planning performance of a contract is “how much of this work are we allowed to subcontract?” Trying to answer this question inevitably leads contractors to one of the most commonly used and frequently misunderstood rules in federal contracting, the Limitations on Subcontracting. In this post, we will break down some of the basics of this rule, and hopefully clear up any basic misunderstandings regarding it.

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