Every five years, the government is required by 41 U.S.C. § 1908 to adjust the statutory acquisition thresholds for inflation, such as the Micro-Purchase Threshold, Simplified Acquisition Threshold, and others. It just so happens that the last such adjustment occurred back in 2020. As such, the government is once again looking to increase these thresholds in light of the inflation that has occurred over the past five years. In this post, we will look at the proposed increases.
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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.
Continue readingBack to Basics: The Nonmanufacturer Rule
To qualify as a small business under most set-aside or sole-source contracts seeking manufactured products or supplies, SBA’s regulations require an offeror to be the item’s manufacturer or, alternatively, comply with the nonmanufacturer rule.
In this post, we’ll discuss qualifying under the nonmanufacturer rule.
Continue readingTop SmallGovCon Posts of 2021
2021 was a big year for many reasons, among them the continued COVID-19 pandemic and the government’s responses to the pandemic, including the various vaccine mandates and lawsuits challenging those mandates. But there were also lower-profile changes and updates to the federal contracting world. Below, I’ll explore the posts that were most popular in 2021, along with the posts first published in 2021 that were popular this year.
Continue readingFAR Final Rule: Increased Micro-Purchase and Simplified Acquisition Thresholds
The Federal Acquisition Regulation has officially been updated to increase the micro-purchase threshold and the simplified acquisition threshold, effective August 31, 2020. Various federal agencies had already increased the thresholds through deviations, but this rule makes it official across the board. A few additional thresholds will increase due to inflation.
Read on for the details on how this could impact federal procurement.
Continue readingRaising the Roofs . . . and Floors: Acquisition Thresholds in the Time of Emergency
As many contractors have heard, the President declared a state of emergency under the Stafford Act. What will this mean for acquisitions conducted while the COVID-19 emergency continues?
In this post, I’ll dig into some contractor-specific effects of that declaration: modifying the micro-purchase, simplified acquisition, and commercial purchase acquisition thresholds.
Continue readingGovCon Basics: Common Procurement Methods and Terminology
The acronyms and terminology used in federal government contracting can be a labyrinth–one sadly devoid of David Bowie. In this post, we’ll clarify some of the common methods used for government procurements, the regulations defining them, and the terminology associated with them.
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