On September 7, 2018, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’ (“VA”) issued proposed rule , RIN 2900-AQ20—VA Acquisition Regulation: Contracting by Negotiation; Service Contracting. PilieroMazza submitted comments to the proposed rule on November 6, 2018.
Our firm represents small businesses operating across the government contracting spectrum, and many of these companies are service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses (“SDVOSBs”) verified to participate in VA’s “Veterans First Contracting Program.” In representing these firms and working with VA, we have received numerous comments from our clients and have become familiar with how VA and the VA Acquisition Regulation (“VAAR”) implement the “Vets First” mandate under the Veterans Benefits, Health Care, and Information Technology Act of 2006 (the “Vets Act”). We have also closely followed the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Kingdomware Techs., Inc. v. United States, 136 S. Ct. 1969, 195 L. Ed. 2d 334 (2016), VA’s subsequent steps to adhere to the Supreme Court’s ruling, and how the Federal Circuit and Court of Federal Claims have interpreted the Supreme Court’s ruling in recent bid protest decisions.