When submitting a bid for federal contractors, contractor representations and certifications (proposal’s reps and certs ) can become a serious issue. Bidders are sometimes sanctioned with false claims and potential suspension and debarment when submitting proposals to the federal government. Failure to perform due diligence with your company certs and… Read more »
Part of a bidder’s government proposal writing efforts is to make sure that it follows the bid submission directions in the solicitation. As obvious as this may sound, companies have been known to make mistakes and cause their proposals to be rejected by the contracting agency. In a recent case,… Read more »
Are you legally selling products to the federal government under FAR Part 25 from Buy American Act countries or permitted Trade Agreements Act (TAA) compliant countries? Looking to become BAA compliant or to Get a Buy American Certificate for your products or materials? Simply stating that your product comes from… Read more »
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 »