SBA Program Watson & Associates LLC

CPARS Ratings, FAPIIS Reporting Requirements, Past Performance, and Contractor Integrity Data: What Every Federal Government Contractor Needs to Know About CPARS.

By Cheryl E. Adams, Esq. The Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting System (CPARS Ratings) exists to provide government source selection officials (SSOs) with a variety of types of information that SSOs need to ensure that offerors have met the requirements needed to be selected for award of government contracts. What types… Read more »

Your U.S. Government Contract: The Small Business Set-Aside Prime, the Large Business Subcontractor, and the Deadly Ostensible Subcontractor Rule

Author: Cheryl Adams, Esq. How could this possibly go wrong? You cannot believe your good fortune: a large-business incumbent government contractor is not eligible for award of the agency’s follow-on procurement. The follow-on is a set-aside, the incumbent is too big to be eligible to compete for the contract. The… Read more »

Avoid Costly Mistakes When Filing SBA Size Appeals to SBA OHA 13 CFR 134.314

Your small business may at some point receive an adverse small business size determination from the SBA. Since so much is at stake, your immediate reaction would be to file a U.S. Small Business Administration – SBA size appeal to the Office of Hearings and Appeals ( SBA OHA). Your… Read more »

What is the Simplified Acquisition Threshold?

Does increased Micropurchase and Simplified Acquisition Thresholds Solve A Problem? On February 16, 2018, the Civilian Agency Acquisition Council (CAAC) rolled out CAAC Letter No. 2018-02 to Federal agencies which was tantamount to the slight deviation to the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) for implementing the newly increased micropurchase and simplified… Read more »

Compliance With SBA Rules for Populated and UnPopulated Joint Ventures

The SBA has made it clear that populated joint venture government contracts will no longer be allowed. This change came about when the SBA issued its final rule about the Mentor Protégé Program. The new unpopulated joint venture rule says that when a joint venture is formed as a separate… Read more »

OHA Small Business Size Standard Decision – Withdrawing from Competition Means There is a Lack of Standing to Bring an SBA Size Protest

In Size Appeal of AeroSage, LLC, SBA No. SIZ-5883 (2018) The SBA Office of Hearings and Appeals (OHA) ruled that the SBA Area Office correctly dismissed the small business size standard protest for lack of standing because, by refusing Contracting Officer’s request to extend offer acceptance period, the small business… Read more »

13 CFR 125.6 Understanding Rules of Prime Contractor’s Limitations on Subcontracting

Theodore P. Watson, Esq. Given the new SBA rule about small business set aside subcontracting rules, small businesses must pay special attention to the specific requirements of 13 CFR 125.6 and limitations on subcontracting requirements. The limitation on subcontracting clause suggests that by you submitting “an offer and execution of… Read more »

SBA OHA Affiliation Decision Defeats Contractor Argument that Subcontractor Was Similarly Situated

Given the new SBA regulations that address affiliation and whether the subcontractor was similarly situated, prime contractors can still find out the painful results if they do not adequately prepare their proposals and apply the legal standards. In the case of SIZE APPEAL OF The Frontline Group, SBA OHA made… Read more »

SBA Office of Hearings and Appeals Reverses Totality of the Circumstances Test & Affiliation Analysis

Small businesses that are bidding on government contracts must be aware of the risks of hiring management level employees from a competitor or a company where there have been previous relationships. Although the person has left the other company, the SBA’s investigation after a small business size protest is filed… Read more »

SBA Sets Record Straight On DOD Mentor Protege Programs 13 CFR 125.9 & 13 CFR 124.520

Federal government contractors interested in participating in the DOD Mentor Protege Programs may want to get acquainted the new rules. There some slight twists to the SBA’s new regulations that both mentors and proteges should be familiar with Under 13 CFR 125.9 and 13 CFR 124.520 Although simply put in the… Read more »