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 issue. The judge disagreed with our argument, so despite our best efforts on behalf of our client, our position unfortunately did not prevail in this case.
For almost three decades, PilieroMazza has been a thought leader on issues affecting small and growing government contractors. We have donated our time and resources to assisting trade associations whose memberships include minorities, women, veterans, small businesses, tribes, ANCs, and NHOs. We helped to establish the Native American Contractors Association, the Small Environmental Business Action Coalition, and the National Veterans Small Business Coalition to advocate for the interests of a wide range of small businesses.
We have testified before Congress and drafted proposed legislation, white papers, and comments on regulations—all to improve the market share of the small business community. We have always encouraged the small business community to speak with one voice because pitting one socioeconomic group against another only serves to benefit large businesses. We are proud of our advocacy efforts and our leadership in ensuring the integrity of small business programs that are under regular attack.
We are also advocates for our clients. If a client presents a case where an agency or its competitor may not have followed the rules and that violation causes our client harm, we zealously represent that client’s interests without regard to the socioeconomic class of client or competitor. All of our clients have come to expect this from us.
Understanding the eligibility requirements and ensuring your company’s compliance is vital to protecting your company and the small business programs in which you participate. Failure to comply provides adversaries with a reason to criticize the programs. It does not take much for disgruntled competitors to run up to Capitol Hill or SBA to advocate for laws and regulations that place undue restrictions on the small business programs that benefit the entire small business, government contracting community. SBA does its best to police its programs, but its resources are thin, leaving it to the small business community to police itself.
We have been a trusted and respected advocate for small business, 8(a), WOSB, SDVOSB, and Native communities for almost three decades and will continue to do our best in that regard.
If anyone would like to speak with me, please call our offices at 202-857-1000.
About the Author: Pamela Mazza is the Managing Partner with PilieroMazza. She can be reached at pmazza@pilieromazza.com.