Dealing with Contract Alterations and Modifications Due to Changes in the Administration

There are many questions facing contractors during this time of change and disruption based on new initiatives from the Trump Administration and the impact on the federal government’s role buying from federal contractors.

One of the biggest questions is what can be done if the government modifies a contract, cancels work, or reschedules the performance of work. In that situation, it’s important to understand both the impacts on the prime contractor and any subcontractors.

Here are some steps to take to deal with this type of situation. Depending on the facts at hand, it might make sense to perform these steps in the order listed. In other situations, it may be helpful to reach out first, get the temperature of the government and subcontractors, and then review the prime contract and subcontract. Changes to how contracts are managed is something that contractors have dealt with in other situations, and we’ve had recommendations on these types of issues in the context of government shutdowns and COVID-19 over the years.

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Webinar! Finding Federal Subcontracting Opportunities/Subcontracts, July 9, 2024, 9:00am CDT

Join federal government contracts attorney Greg Weber along with SBA representative, Sophia Chou, as they discuss the tips and pitfalls of subcontracting and teaming on this webinar hosted by the South Dakota APEX Accelerators. Topics covered will include:

  • Why Use a Teaming Agreement?
  • Principles and Best Practices of Subcontracts & Teaming Agreements
  • Understanding Small Business Categories
  • Meet SBA Government Contracting’s CMRs
  • Roles of a CMR
  • How to Locate Subcontracting Opportunities through Subcontracting Plan Requirements

Registration link here.

Room for Improvement: Statistics Suggest It is Unclear if Large Businesses are Meeting Small Business Subcontracting Goals.

Just as agencies have established goals to award a certain percentage of their procurements to small businesses and businesses participating in socio-economic programs like the 8(a) Program, large business contractors must establish goals to include small business subcontractors in their pool of subcontractors for unrestricted awards over the applicable threshold in FAR 19.702 ($750,000 for most contracts, $1.5 million for construction contracts). While the specific goal will vary with each contract (or in some cases may be on a company-wide basis), it is rare for a contracting officer to find a large business hasn’t met the given goal. However, an investigation by GAO indicates that large business contractors aren’t meeting their small business subcontracting goals as often as the government would hope. Let’s take a deeper look at these findings.

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Event: Encountering Innovation Conference hosted by Kansas APEX Accelerators, Nov. 13-17, 2023, Johnson County Community College

Encountering Innovation has quickly become one of the top US Pitch Events for Innovators/Inventors to present and showcase their technology to US Government Tech Scouts for special funding.  Tech Scouts from the Department of Defense, Service Labs, Academia, and most US government agencies prioritize attending this week-long event to listen to pitches, examine poster board displays, discuss government needs, and chat with innovators from 8+ states during lunches and evening networking events. 

Our very own, Nicole Pottroff, will be presenting at this conference on teaming agreements, November 14. Please join her for this informative presentation.

Also, DoD Tech Scouts and Prime Contractors will be looking for innovation and manufacturing capability solutions through intentional matched private pitch sessions. Register and find out more about this conference here.

Govology Webinar: Compliant and Effective Teaming Agreements, Joint Ventures & Subcontracts – 3-Part Series (2023 Update) July 11-13, 2023, 1:00pm EDT

For large and small contractors alike, teaming agreements, joint venture agreements, and subcontracts can be essential to winning and successfully performing federal government contracts. In this three-part series, government contracts attorneys Nicole Pottroff and John Holtz will explain how to develop, negotiate and administer agreements that are both compliant and effective. The presentations will cover both the key rules (such as flow-downs and ostensible subcontractor affiliation) and best practices for agreements that go beyond the bare minimum legal requirements. Hope you will join us! Register here.

Back to Basics: Teaming Agreements

Teaming agreements are a great tool for establishing the prime-subcontractor relationship to jointly pursue government contracts. They can protect the parties’ rights, set performance expectations, demonstrate regulatory compliance, and reduce the likelihood of disputes down the line. But no matter how common teaming agreements have become, many still find them to be a bit of a mystery. This is probably because teaming agreements are neither required nor defined by SBA’s regulations or the FAR; and they have no regulatory-required content. But that doesn’t stop procuring agencies from requiring submission of teaming agreements with proposed teaming partners (especially where the offeror requests consideration of its proposed subcontractor’s past performance, experience, and/or capabilities). So, it is beneficial to know some of the “basics” of teaming agreements: what they are, why you should have one, and what should be included.

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U.S. Department of Veteran’s Affairs Webinar Event: Tuesday, October 25 1:00pm EDT

Please join Jackie Lopez, President of Premier Enterprise Solutions, LLC, and me as we discuss both the operational and legal perspective of teaming strategies, the importance of teaming, limitations of subcontracting, why you should use a teaming agreement and much more in part 1 of this 2 part webinar series. We’re pleased to offer both

Event information and registration can be found at this link. I hope you will join us!