Happy Friday and happy November! It’s time to start thinking about that Thanksgiving turkey dinner and, if you’re inclined to get an early start, begin your Christmas shopping! Enjoy that nice fall weather this weekend as you stay up to date on latest in federal contracting news.
This week in federal government contracting, be sure to check out stories on fixed price contracts and potential NDAA updates on data rights.
Continue reading…The HUBZone Program generally has received less attention from SBA than its counterparts in the 8(a) Business Development, WOSB, and SDVOSB Programs. However, over the past couple years, SBA has given it a little more attention than it has received in the past, with proposed changes in 2024 later becoming finalized that same year to make some aspects of the program a little stricter. This might reflect a new approach to the HUBZone Program. SBA has recently proclaimed that it has approved several petitions for new Governor-Designated Covered Areas, expanding the HUBZone map in 252 areas. Here, we explore what this actually means and how much of an impact this might have.
Continue reading…Past performance is an important part of the agency evaluation process—we’ve written about it many times before for a reason. Like other evaluation areas, agencies get a great deal of discretion in evaluating past performance. Perhaps a contractor thinks it has a good past performance record and wants the agency to consider it; perhaps the contractor doesn’t want the agency to ignore a poor past performance record of a competitor. How can a contractor tell when the agency made a reasonable decision not to consider some aspect of past performance? A recent COFC decision showed that the agency cannot ignore adverse past performance in some cases. COFC applied the “too close at hand” doctrine—which says agencies may be obligated to consider information it has during an evaluation, even if the offeror didn’t cite to it. Whether or not an agency’s failure to consider particular information is a violation of this rule or not is a fact-specific inquiry.
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Happy Friday and Happy Halloween to our SmallGovCon readers! We’ve scared up some interesting updates for this Week in Review. Will the government have tricks or treats for federal contractors? Have some fun this weekend trick or treating, watching scary movies, or just enjoying some fall weather. My personal favorite thing is seeing what all my kids collected in their hauls, including all the non-candy items (pencils anyone?).
This week in federal government contracting were multiple guilty pleas dealing with bribery or kickbacks (probably in the tricks column), along with updates on procurement of AI systems.
Continue reading…The Department of War (DoW, referred to by some as the Department of Defense) is always trying to find new ways to get more federal contractors involved in defense contracts. One of the elements of the DoW which focuses on such is the “Innovation Unit.” Within that unit is now a “Bridge Program” which is hoping to raise the probability of the DoW embracing novel approaches to defense needs while also cutting down on the proverbial red tape which prevented contractors from performing for the DoW in the past, especially regarding security clearance. Let’s dive into some of the ideas and goals of this new Bridge Program.
Continue reading…The Small Business Administration (SBA) Office of Inspector General (OIG) has a mission to “provide independent, objective, and timely oversight to improve the integrity, accountability, and performance of SBA and its programs.” As part of this mission, it investigated and recently issued a report on the federal government’s “oversight work to identify opportunities to strengthen federal-wide compliance with limitations on subcontracting requirements for set-aside awards.” The SBA’s rules on limitations on subcontracting limit how much of a federal contract a small business prime contractor can subcontract to subcontractors that are not similarly situated. OIG identified a number of areas where federal agencies could improve their oversight of small business subcontracting, noting “recurring deficiencies in the federal contracting community’s ability to interpret the rule’s requirements, apply them consistently, and monitor and enforce compliance throughout the life of a contract.” SBA has indicated it will issue a revised rule to address some of these concerns. Let’s take a look.
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Happy Friday! We hope you have had a great week and are looking forward to the weekend. Fall has finally arrived here, and we are all hoping to find some time to enjoy the typical fall festivities like pumpkin patches, watching the leaves change, and watching our favorite football teams before it gets too cold.
This week in federal government contracting there was a focus on artificial intelligence, transparency, and further audits in the SBA’s 8(a) Program, among other items. Have a great weekend!
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