SmallGovCon Week in Review: August 14-18, 2023

Happy Friday! School started this week and I’m not sure who was more excited, the kids or the parents? Seems like the summer school break flew by. It’s really fun to see all those first day of school photos that the parents are posting.

Here in Lawrence, Kansas the university students are also back in town and the energy level is always palpable as the semester is starting. We hope you had a nice summer and were able to get out and enjoy a little family time, prior to the start of the school year. Enjoy the weekend!

And now, the news in federal government contracting, as the fiscal year comes to a close, there are updates on some big MACs, government IT and cybersecurity, and new DOL regulations.

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SmallGovCon Week in Review: August 7-11, 2023

Hello, Readers! Many small business contractors and agency personnel are paying close attention to the fallout from the recent court decision on the 8(a) Program, as shown in this week’s articles. For an explanation of the decision, see the post from John Holtz, while Nicole Pottroff has explained SBA’s pause on taking current 8(a) Program applications. Another big story was DOL’s new rules.

We hope you have a wonderful weekend and please refer to our most recent blog posts for additional information on federal government contracting matters.

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SmallGovCon Week in Review: July 31 – August 4, 2023

Happy Friday, Readers! As we move into a new month this week, big things are happening in the world of federal government contracting, from the impacts of recent federal court decisions on SBA’s 8(a) Program–to the ever-developing conversations about artificial intelligence and social media (and the benefits, limitations, and concerns surrounding each). But amidst many a changing landscape, some things certainly remain constant–the likelihood of facing severe consequences for dishonesty and fraud at the federal government level, for one. Read about all of these topics and many more in the articles below. And have a great weekend!

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SmallGovCon Week in Review: July 17-21, 2023

Hello and Happy Friday! We hope you had great week and are finishing the week strong today. The SBA and Whitehouse announced that the current administration exceeded its small business goal with a record breaking $163 Billion in federal procurement opportunities. That’s an $8.7 billion increase from the previous year, which is great news for small businesses. You can read more about this and other newsworthy articles below. Have a great weekend.

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Recent NAICS Code Appeal Demonstrates Contractor Strategy to Limit Competition

While every federal government contractor is likely familiar with bid protests, whether directly involved in one or not, it is far less likely that those same contractors are as familiar with NAICS code appeals. This is probably due to the infrequent nature of NAICS code appeals, with roughly 20 being filed each year. However, even if so few are filed annually, they tend to have a relatively high success rate, with appeals decided on the merits being decided in favor of the Appellant about 50% of the time. Below, I will take a look at a recent NAICS code appeal to help demonstrate what the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Office of Hearings and Appeals (OHA) takes into account when reviewing NAICS code appeals, and why you, as a contractor, should review a solicitation’s classification to potentially give you a leg up.

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SmallGovCon Week in Review: May 29- June 2, 2023

Happy Friday! We hope you had a great week and can take time to enjoy your weekend. We’ve been receiving a lot of rain here in the Midwest lately. The rain gauge was completely full and topped out at 4 1/2″ in a 12 hour span of time, this past week. Everything outside is looking beautiful and I’m guessing there will be a lot of lawn mowing going on this weekend.

We’ve included several articles that hopefully provide some good information concerning federal government contracting this week. Enjoy your weekend!

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SmallGovCon Week in Review: May 22-26, 2023

Happy Friday and we hope you are looking forward to a nice, long weekend. Monday, May 29 is Memorial Day and an official federal holiday, but do you know when and why it was established? If not, here’s a brief history lesson.

After the Civil war, in late 1860s, Americans in various towns and cities had begun holding springtime tributes to countless fallen soldiers. In 1966 the federal government declared Waterloo, New York as the official birthplace of Memorial Day because it hosted an annual, community-wide event, during which businesses closed and residents decorated the graves of soldiers with flowers and flags. In 1968, Congress passed the Uniform Monday Holiday Act, which established Memorial Day as the last Monday in May and declared Memorial Day a federal holiday. So, now you have the background story of how this day was established. We hope you all have a wonderful weekend and here are some recent articles, including ones on a pending default, VA contracts, and small disadvantaged businsses.

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