Recently, President Trump issued an executive order focused on federal contractors and DEI (meaning “Diversity Equity and Inclusion”) initiatives. Through this executive order, the President has quickly placed new requirements on federal contractors and agencies to include specific terms within their contracts and subcontracts. These terms add up to a somewhat lengthy contract clause, with the basic requirement that parties agree to not utilize DEI practices and agree to comply with any investigations of such practices by an agency. The executive order also provides some stark consequences for any failure to comply with its aims. Let’s dive in.
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Back to Basics: GSA CTAs
A “GSA CTA” is a special type of Contractor-Teaming Arrangement (CTA) used only for performing Government Services Administration (GSA) Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) contracts. As detailed in FAR subpart 8.4, Federal Supply Schedules (FSS), GSA CTAs provide a unique teaming opportunity solely for MAS contract-holders and a unique teaming structure somewhere in between FAR subpart 9.6‘s two standard federal contract teaming options: subcontracting and joint venturing. Let’s take a closer look.
Continue readingGovCon FAQs: How Can I Maximize My Teammates’ Participation in Performing Larger Government Contracts?
Most federal contractors are well-aware of the potential benefits of using one of the FAR-prescribed teaming options to perform government contracts. But one question we get a lot from small business federal contractors is how to most effectively utilize those teaming options (i.e., how to maximize team participation) on larger government contracts within the bounds and limitations of the law. And luckily, we’ve got a formula for that.
Continue readingCOFC: Ostensible Subcontractor Rule for General Construction Still Looks at all Circumstances
As frequent SmallGovCon readers know, the Small Business Administration’s ostensible subcontractor rule can be tricky to navigate. The rule requires contractors not to rely too heavily on a subcontractor in the performance of a contract set aside under an SBA socioeconomic program, but what constitutes relying too heavily can be confusing for small business contractors. Without a clear measure of how reliant is too reliant, businesses have to worry that they may be denied an award or even worse, lose one in a post-award protest. In a recent decision, Daniels Building Company, Inc. v. United States, 24-1787, 175 Fed. Cl. 767 (2025), the Court of Federal Claims (COFC) provided potentially helpful insight into what SBA’s Office of Hearings and Appeals (OHA) and the Court of Federal Claims will consider when determining whether a prime contractor is “unusually reliant” on its subcontractor.
Continue readingDealing 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.
Continue readingWebinar! 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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