Free Webinar Event: Mastering Size Calculations for SBA Size Determinations hosted by LeftBrain, December 12, 2023, 1:00pm EST

If your small business status hangs in the balance, you can’t afford mistakes in your next SBA size determination. Join us for an in-depth look at key accounting strategies and lessons from recent SBA size appeal decisions involving affiliation issues, joint ventures, and receipts calculation. Learn how to properly account for inter-affiliate transactions, raise strong arguments, and avoid missteps that could lead to an adverse size determination. Register now to demystify SBA rules and gain the knowledge needed to respond to size protests and succeed in appeals.

If you are interested, please register here.

Event: Meet the Buyers Fall 2023 Conference | October 17-19 | Scottsbluff, Nebraska

Please join attorney John Holtz, as he heads back to his home state of Nebraska, to the Meet the Buyers Conference. This is Nebraska’s premier government contracting conference where businesses can advance their contracting knowledge, connect with other business owners, and network directly with agency representatives and buyers. John will be doing two presentations: joint ventures, as well as size and affiliation issues.

Don’t miss the chance to meet directly with Federal, State, and Local government agency reps, government contracting industry people, and resource providers and please stop by the Koprince McCall Pottroff table and say hi to John. More information and registration here.

Koprince McCall Pottroff’s GovCon Handbook, SBA Small Business Size and Affiliation Rules, is Now Available!

We are pleased to announce that the Second Edition of the GovCon Handbook, SBA Small Business Size and Affiliation Rules, is now available!  

Is your small business really small? When it comes to federal government contracts, the answer can be a lot more complex than it sounds.

In this GovCon Handbook, government contracts attorneys provide an in-depth look at the size and affiliation regulations for federal contractors. Written in plain English and packed with easy to understand examples, this GovCon Handbook demystifies the SBA’s rules regarding small business status for government contracts.

This updated handbook was co-authored by me and Nicole Pottroff as well as firm founder Steven Koprince. It is now available through Amazon at this link.

2022 NDAA Requires Prompt SAM Update If SBA Issues Adverse Size Determination

If, as the result of a size protest or appeal, the SBA makes a final determination that a company is not a small business, the company will be required to update SAM within two days to reflect that it is no longer small. And if the company doesn’t recertify within two days, the SBA will do the honors and update the company’s SAM profile.

This tough new requirement is part of the compromise version 2022 National Defense Authorization Act, which is likely to be signed into law in the coming weeks, although it is unclear when the SBA’s regulations will be revised to implement the change.

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Whose Jurisdiction is it Anyways? GAO Dismisses Size Challenge

GAO recently dismissed a protest to an awardee’s eligibility under the applicable size standard. The protester argued that the agency should have known that the awardee exceeded the nonmanufacturer rule’s 500-employee maximum. After extensive briefing from both parties and from the SBA itself, GAO found that the awardee’s proposal didn’t raise any issues and that it was really up to the SBA to decide the size issues anyway.

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OHA Remands Area Office’s Conflicting Decision in Concurrent Size and Status Protests

What happens when an SBA area office finds a joint venture compliant with SBA rules in a size protest, but SBA’s Office of Hearings and Appeals says the same agreement fails to meet requirements in a status protest? Let’s find out.

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Yes, Foreign-Owned Entities Can Be Small Businesses Under SBA Government Contracting Rules

Government contractors often assume that a foreign-owned company cannot qualify as a small business under the SBA’s government contracting size rules.

Not so.  As demonstrated by a recent SBA Office of Hearings and Appeals size appeal decision, a foreign-owned entity can qualify as a small business, provided that it has a physical location in the United States and contributes to the U.S. economy.

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