A question often arises as to whether in service-disabled veteran owned business SDVOSB set aside contracts the federal government can restrict market research to a local geographic area. These are tough issues to address in bid protest litigation. The first thing that potential bidders must realize as a Veteran Owned… Read more »
Do you have a government contract Transition Plan checklist when you bid on federal contracts? Only about 64% of contractors include a vendor transition plan checklist at the proposal development stage. The remaining 36% fail to include a plan simply because the solicitation did not call for one. This is… Read more »
In December 2015, the Small Business Administration Office of Hearings and Appeals (SBA OHA) decided a case and ruled that it did not have jurisdiction to hear a size appeal of the SBA’ Area Office Size Determination. The procurement was a VA SDVOSB set aside but the protestor had no… Read more »
The SBA agency Certificate of Competency (COC) rules allow small business firms to challenge, generally in a bid protest, the agency’s source selection decision that is not technically responsible to perform the contract. What is a Certificate of Competency (COC)? The Government Certificate of Competency Program is in place in order for… Read more »
You Can Avoid Common Mistakes and Spending Unnecessary Legal Fees By Understanding the SBA and Government Certificate of Competency (COC) Process. The SBA’s COC Program is governed by the Small Business Act, 15 USC 37(b); 13 CFR 125.5 and FAR Part 19.6. A Government Certificate of Competency is a written document from… Read more »
In a recent GAO bid protest decision, HGS Engineering, Inc.; American Commercial Group, Inc. Challenging the government’s best value procurement decision, GAO agreed with the agency’s source selection decision. The protestors challenged the agency’s decision that the awardee’s proposal represented the best value to the government. These bid protest challenges,… Read more »
Qualifying under the Code of Federal Regulations 13 CFR 125.18 as an SDVOSB Joint Venture agreement means that you must first qualify as an SDVOSB. Getting the best guidance about the rules can put your company in a strong position even before you bid on a federal contract. Although this seems… Read more »
Federal contractors are being caught with submitting bids with a contractor letter of intent to hire that have no substance. Getting the proper guidance on this issue can make the difference between getting the contract or somehow getting to the point where there is a false representation. The latter can… Read more »
Does Your SBA Operating Agreement Comply With the Rules Under 13 CFR 121.103? If Not, You Can Lose Your Contract. When making size determinations and affiliation under the negative control definition for small businesses, the SBA not only looks at finding actual control over the protested business but also whether a non-disadvantaged… Read more »
Avoid Costly and Painful Mistakes that Other Government Contractors Make With Performance of Contract Ratings. As a federal government contractor, your contractor past performance evaluation is recorded by having CPAR ratings under FAR Part 42. The Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting System (CPARS) might allow for valid reasons why the agency may have given… Read more »