Don’t Get Disqualified Because of Organizational Conflicts of Interest
A recent decision from the Government Accountability Office (“GAO”) reiterates two important principles concerning organizational conflicts of interest (“OCIs”). First, proactive measures may allow a contractor to effectively mitigate and avoid an OCI. Second, appearances, innuendo, and suspicion are insufficient to establish that a contractor has an OCI. Hard facts are required. In Archimedes Global, Inc. , B-415886.2 (June 1, 2018), the protester challenged the agency’s decision to exclude it from a competition because of an alleged OCI. By way of background, the . . . Read More
The Weekly Update for June 15, 2018
CAPITOL HILL Vets First? An Examination of VA’s Resources for Veteran-Owned Small Businesses On June 7, 2018, the House Committee on Small Business Subcommittee on Investigations, Oversight, and Regulations (“Subcommittee”) held a hearing to examine the resources of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (“VA”) for veteran-owned small businesses (“VOSB”), specifically the Veterans First Contracting Program (“Vets First”). The Subcommittee invited testimony from the National Veteran Small Business Coalition, the American Legion, and two service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses (“SDVOSB”). At . . . Read More
Doing Business Internationally? Litigation Just Became More Difficult!
Over the last twenty years, the expanding world market has made it easier for domestic companies to conduct business overseas and with foreign corporations. Large and small businesses alike are going global, receiving and providing products, services, and intellectual property internationally. But, along with new international opportunities comes an increase in the complexity of business-to-business transactions. And, when business deals between domestic and foreign businesses go south, the legal implications become more difficult to navigate. Each nation and each state . . . Read More
PilieroMazza’s Commitment to Advocating for All Small Businesses and Our Clients
A recent blog has come to our attention that discusses a nearly year old case involving an Alaska Native Corporation (ANC) entity. In that case, we appealed a size determination and argued that an ANC entity was too reliant on the experience of its two subcontractors, one of which was its sister company. This situation indicated that the prime contractor may have violated the ostensible subcontractor rule by its undue reliance on its subcontractors to qualify for the contract at . . . Read More
Pursuing a CTA Team Solution? Make Sure You’re on an Eligible Team!
Contractor Team Arrangements (CTA) formed to pursue GSA Schedule task order opportunities are unique animals in the government contracting universe. A mashup of elements taken from joint ventures and more traditional prime-sub relationships, CTAs allow two or more Schedule contract holders to combine their respective Schedule contract offerings in response to an ordering agency’s solicitation. GSA guidance is clear that for Schedule obligations—such as reporting sales and paying the Industrial Funding Fee (IFF)—each CTA Team Member is considered to be . . . Read More
Pre-Award Protests
Presented by Michelle Litteken and Tim Valley Click here to view the recorded session. Drafting a proposal in response to a federal solicitation can be a challenging task. This process becomes even more difficult when the terms of the solicitation are ambiguous, restrictive, or simply incorrect. As a contractor, there are strategies you can employ to try to address these issues. One underutilized strategy is a pre-award protest challenging the terms of a solicitation. When used correctly, a pre-award protest could result . . . Read More
SAM Registration Update: Notarized Letter Requirement Change and New Deadline Looming
As most government contractors may know by now, in order to proactively fight against alleged fraudulent activity in the System for Award Management (SAM), the General Services Administration (GSA) issued a rule that required all entities to “provide an original, signed notarized letter stating that you are the authorized Entity Administrator before your registration will be activated.” On June 11, 2018, GSA issued an update to the notarized letter requirement in two parts. The first, which went into effect on . . . Read More
PilieroMazza Works With the House Small Business Subcommittee to Examine VA Compliance with Vets First
On June 7, 2018, the House Committee on Small Business Subcommittee on Investigations, Oversight, and Regulations (“Subcommittee”) held a hearing to examine the resources of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (“VA”) for veteran-owned small businesses (“VOSB”), specifically the Veterans First Contracting Program (“Vets First”). The Subcommittee invited testimony from the National Veteran Small Business Coalition, the American Legion, and two service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses (“SDVOSB”). At the hearing, Subcommittee Chairman Trent Kelly said that despite VA’s authority to assist . . . Read More
The Weekly Update for June 8, 2018
SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION Small Business HUBZone Program and Government Contracting Programs and Consolidation of Mentor-Protégé Programs The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) announces that it is holding tribal consultation meetings in Albuquerque, New Mexico and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, concerning the regulations governing the 8(a) Business Development and all Small Mentor-Protégé programs and the HUBZone program. SBA seeks to reduce unnecessary or excessive regulatory burdens in those programs and to make them more attractive to procuring agencies and small businesses. Testimony . . . Read More
SBA Eliminates “Direct” Ownership Rules for HUBZone Program
On March 26, 2018, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) issued a direct final rule that changed the wording of 13 C.F.R. § 126.200(b)(1) to allow indirect ownership by U.S. citizens of companies in the HUBZone program. The stated purpose of the rule change is to align more accurately the rule with the underlying statutory authority. Prior to this change the HUBZone rules required that a HUBZone company be “unconditionally and directly owned” by U.S. citizens. The rule took effect . . . Read More