OHA Ruling Shows Danger in Proposed SBA Rule

Blog 04.24.15

As the saying goes, unless you have been living under a rock, then you know that SBA recently proposed new rules to create a mentor-protégé program for all small businesses.   Less well known, however, is a provision included with the proposed mentor-protégé rules that would dramatically alter how applicants in non-designated groups qualify for the 8(a) Program. SBA is seeking to change the rules for establishing social disadvantage so the agency could reject a claim of social disadvantage if . . . Read More

Reporting Requirements and Diminishing Profits for Government Contractors

Blog 04.21.15

Firms bidding on government contracts are well-advised to sharpen their pencils in the current, highly-competitive market. Doing so usually means one thing: lowering prices. With procuring agencies placing a premium on technically acceptable, lower-priced proposals, only those bidders willing to absorb cost and reduce profit margins are likely to succeed in winning new work. The price of that success, however, may be much higher than many firms realize. While the government is expecting—if not demanding—that contractors perform more with less, . . . Read More

Possible Trouble for Contractors Who Use Consultants to Prepare Proposals

Blog, Small Business Programs 04.16.15

By: Jacqueline K. Unger

A recent GAO decision highlights the importance of understanding the extent to which the government’s request for proposals (RFP) allows for the use of consultants in assisting with proposal preparation.  In Matter of Advanced Communication Cabling, Inc., B-410898.2 (2015), GAO denied a protest that challenged an RFP prohibition on the use of consultants to assist with proposal preparation as being unduly restrictive of competition. The RFP, issued by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) in November 2014, anticipated the award of up to 20 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity . . . Read More

Consequences for Large Primes Not Hitting Subcontracting Plan Goals

Blog 04.13.15

By Katie Flood The U.S. Government Accountability Office (“GAO”) recently ruled that the Defense Logistics Agency (“DLA”) properly excluded a large business prime contractor’s proposal from the competitive range based in part on the contractor’s consistent failure to meet its small business subcontracting goals on previous contracts. In Graybar, B-410886 (Mar. 4, 2015), the large business prime contractor, Graybar, protested DLA’s exclusion of Graybar’s proposal from the competitive range. Specifically, Graybar challenged DLA’s assignment of deficiencies under the past performance factor, for . . . Read More

When A Protest Isn’t A Protest

Blog 04.08.15

By: Patrick T. Rothwell

In her familiar soliloquy in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, while longingly looking out of her window, Juliet said of her new-found love, Romeo:  “What’s in a name?  That which we call a rose/By any other name would smell as sweet.” Perhaps in a similar vein, Gertrude Stein cryptically wrote “a rose is a rose is a rose.” Law, however, operates with a very different logic. A recent decision issued by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (“Federal . . . Read More

Supreme Court Ruling Increases Potential Liability for Employers Failing to Accommodate Pregnant Employees

Blog, Labor & Employment 04.06.15

        By Corey Argust On March 25, 2015, the Supreme Court reinstated a pregnancy discrimination suit that the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals had previously decided in favor of the employer. The decision in Young v. United Parcel Service, Inc., 575 U.S. ____ (2015), opens the door to potential liability for employers with disability accommodation policies that formerly appeared to be nondiscriminatory. Peggy Young, the plaintiff in Young v. United Parcel Service, Inc. was a former, part-time . . . Read More