Tag Archives: SBA size appeals

SBA OHA: 42%-49% Of Revenues Did Not Create Economic Dependence Affiliation

Posted on by

A small business was not affiliated with its largest customer under the SBA’s economic dependence affiliation rule, even though the small business earned as much as 49% of its revenues from the alleged affiliate–and even though the small business’s SEC Annual Report stated that the small business was dependent on its customer.

SBA OHA’s decision indicates that receiving less than 70% of revenues from an alleged affiliate may not, absent other indicia of affiliation, establish affiliation under the economic dependence rule.

Continue reading →

The Nonmanufacturer Rule: Even “Rich Chicks” Must Supply Small Business End Items

Posted on by

Under the nonmanufacturer rule, qualifying as a nonmanfucturer requires a small business to provide the end products of a small business–and even “Rich Chicks” must comply.

In a recent decision, the SBA Office of Hearings and Appeals held that a company named “Rich Chicks, LLC” had not complied with the nonmanufacturer rule because Rich Chicks’ proposal did not offer the end products of a small business.

Continue reading →

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

Posted on by

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.

Continue reading →

SBA Affiliation Rules: Contractor Affiliated With Puerto Rico, Says SBA

Posted on by

Now here’s one you don’t see every day.  In a recent size appeal decision, the SBA Office of Hearings and Appeals upheld the SBA’s determination that the contractor was affiliated with the government of Puerto Rico.

In Size Appeal of Industria Lechera de Puerto Rico, Inc., SBA No. SIZ-5533 (2014), SBA OHA held that the contractor’s relationship with the Puerto Rican government rendered the contractor, in essence, a quasi-governmental entity, not an independent small business.

Continue reading →

SBA OHA: Prime Contractor Not Economically Dependent On Subcontractor

Posted on by

A prime contractor was not economically dependent on its subcontractor for purposes of the SBA affiliation rules because a prime contractor “has the power to choose whatever subcontractor it desires.”

In a recent size appeal decision, the SBA Office of Hearings and Appeals stopped short of holding that a prime contractor could never be economically dependent on a subcontractor, but SBA OHA’s decision indicates that if such dependence ever existed, it would be in an unusual case.

Continue reading →

SBA Size Protests: COs Not Required To Assist Protesters

Posted on by

Contracting Officers are not required to assist potential protesters by furnishing them with information to use in SBA size protests.

According to a recent size appeal decision of the SBA Office of Hearings and Appeals, the SBA properly dismissed a size protest for lack of support, notwithstanding the protester’s allegation that the Contracting Officer had failed to provide information needed to support the size protest.

Continue reading →

SBA OHA: Small Business Size Not Measured By Profits

Posted on by

A firm’s small business size status for federal procurements is measured by the firm’s revenues, not by its profits.

As the SBA Office of Hearings and Appeals explained in a recent size determination, measuring small business status by reference to profits would allow some very large companies to qualify as “small.”

Continue reading →