Victory in House of Representatives for Improvements to WOSB Federal Contract Program

By Barbara Kasoff, President of WIPP Dear WIPP Members & Friends: It is with great pleasure I write today, celebrating an enormous victory for women business owners. As many of you already know, earlier today the House of Representatives passed their annual defense bill, which included two changes that strengthen the Women-Owned Small Business (WOSB) procurement program. First, the bill allows sole-source contracts to be awarded through the program. Currently, contracting officers are unable to award sole-source contracts through the . . . Read More

Take Me Out to the Ballgame!

  Nationals Park in Washington, DC is home of the Washington Nationals and the venue for many great concerts and events. But did you know that government contractors across the country may be sharing in the costs for the park? Well it is true and it should be on the radar screen of any contractor generating receipts within the District. The revenues received by the District from the ballpark fee are deposited into the Ballpark Revenue Fund and used for . . . Read More

Right-Sized: How a Contractor and its Outside Counsel Adjusted a GSA Schedule BPA RFQ to the Appropriate Size Standard

Last summer, we helped a contractor with a case that had all of the plot twists of a Hollywood blockbuster.  The case involved an RFQ for a blanket purchase agreement (“BPA”) under a GSA Schedule Contract.  There were multiple Special Item Numbers (“SINs”) on the schedule, with different NAICS codes and size standards.  The procuring agency issued the RFQ as a total set-aside for small businesses, but the terms of the RFQ were unclear as to how size would be . . . Read More

Threat Assessment: Are You Ready for the Cybersecurity Boom?

The government buys a significant amount of information technology (IT) services from the private sector, and this will probably always be true. However, in recent years the government’s overall IT spending has stagnated. IT is still the place to be for many contractors, but understanding the direction of federal IT spending is critical to ensuring you are positioned where the government (and technology) is headed, rather than where it has already been. In fiscal year 2014, IT spending is expected . . . Read More

Right-Sized: How a Contractor and its Outside Counsel Adjusted a GSA Schedule BPA RFQ to the Appropriate Size Standard

An article by Jon Williams and Alex Levine’s published in February’s Contract Management Magazine. Last summer, we helped a contractor with a case that had all of the plot twists of a Hollywood blockbuster. The case involved an RFQ for a blanket purchase agreement (“BPA”) under a GSA Schedule Contract. There were multiple Special Item Numbers (“SINs”) on the schedule, with different NAICS codes and size standards. The procuring agency issued the RFQ as a total set-aside for small businesses, . . . Read More