Tag Archives: SBA size appeals

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 →

SBA Size Protests: Expressing “Concerns” Is Not Enough

Posted on by

An unsuccessful offeror’s email to the Contracting Officer, in which the offeror expressed “concerns” about the awardee’s small business size status, was too vague to constitute an SBA size protest.

According to a recent decision of the SBA Office of Hearings and Appeals, a viable size protest must be explicit enough to alert the Contracting Officer that the offeror is protesting the awardee’s size.

Continue reading →

SBA Size Protests: “Bare Allegations” Are Insufficient

Posted on by

A SBA size protest must contain some basis for the belief that the company being protested is not an eligible small business.

As demonstrated in a recent decision of the SBA Office of Hearings and Appeals, a protester’s “bare allegation” that the protested firm does not qualify is insufficient, and will cause the SBA to dismiss the size protest.

Continue reading →