By Kimi Murakami The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (“CFIUS”) recently issued its Annual Report to Congress regarding transactions that they reviewed during 2014. Below are highlights of trends and issues gleaned from the report, as well as a few best practices that contractors performing work for the U.S. federal government may find interesting regardless of whether your business may soon be the target of a non-U.S. buyer. What is CFIUS? To guard against foreign investment that . . . Read More
SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION Underrepresented Industries Identified, Expansion, and Spending Goals Met for WOSB Program SBIR/STTR Programs to be Reauthorized GOVERNMENT CONTRACTS Establishing Paid Sick Leave for Federal Contractors This week’s report follows, click here if you would like to download a copy . SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION Underrepresented Industries Identified, Expansion, and Spending Goals Met for WOSB Program On March 3, 2016, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) announced the results of a study that identified industries in which women-owned small businesses (WOSBs) were underrepresented in federal contracting in connection with the Women-Owned Small Business Federal . . . Read More
By Megan Connor On March 2, 2016, SBA announced that federal government spending in FY 2015 met the 5% spending goal for WOSBs. According to the SBA, 5.05% or $17.8 billion of all federal small business eligible contracting dollars were awarded to WOSBs. This is the first time in the history of the WOSB Program that the goal has been met. This great news was then followed on March 3, 2016 , by SBA’s publishing of updated NAICS codes list for EDWOSB and WOSB set-aside and sole source contracts, . . . Read More
“Yeah, it’s a contract,” conceded Department of Justice (“DOJ”) attorney Zachary Tripp during recent oral arguments in Kingdomware Technologies Inc. v. United States. According to Tom Saunders, attorney for Kingdomware, that concession should begin and end the case currently before the Supreme Court on the issue of whether the Department of Veterans Affairs (“VA”) is required to set-aside awards for Veteran-Owned Small Businesses and Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Businesses when ordering from the Federal Supply Schedules (“FSS”). Unfortunately for Kingdomware—and the . . . Read More
Small business government contractors are sometimes resistant to the idea of filing size protests against their competitors. How much time and effort will it take? Is there enough evidence? Will the agency be offended? These are the types of questions that small business owners often ask themselves in deciding whether to challenge the size status of an apparent awardee and, in some instances, the answer to any one of them may justify a decision not to file a size protest. . . . Read More
Some of you may recall that, back in the 1970s, the legendary actor John Wayne appeared in public service announcements urging people to undergo a “check-up.” Now that the New Year has begun, it is a good time for small government contractors to undertake a “check-up” of their government contracting representations and certifications, as well as ethical compliance programs, to make sure they are still up to date. To begin, firms that pursue federal small business set-aside procurements should review, . . . Read More
PilieroMazza recently submitted comments on the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking Regarding Women-Owned Small Business and Economically Disadvantaged Women-Owned Small Business—Certification issued December 18, 2015, 80 Fed. Reg. 78,984. We represent many small business federal contractors, including women-owned and economically-disadvantaged women-owned small businesses (“WOSBs/EDWOSBs”). We submitted the comments to assist SBA in drafting a viable proposed rule that is fair and workable for WOSBs and EDWOSBs. Click here to read our comments in their entirety: SBA Should Delay . . . Read More
Includes comments on: SBA Should Delay Implementation and Work to Change the Law SBA Certification Program If SBA Adopts the Certification Requirement, SBA Should Be the Only Certifier Streamlined Application Process Concurrent Certification Through 8(a) Program Term of SBA Certification Third Party Certification New Regulations & Procedures Are Needed if SBA Permits Third Party Certification in Addition to SBA Certification All Certifiers Should Apply or Re-Apply Term of Third Party Certification No Repository Access for Third Party Certifiers Mentor-Protégé Agreements . . . Read More
On January 26, 2016, SBA issued its final rule regarding proposed size standard increases to numerous NAICS codes, but one thing that could impact many IT contractors is the new requirement and/or clarification from SBA that IT Value Added Resellers (“ITVAR”) under the footnote/exception to NAICS Code 541519 do have to comply with the nonmanufacturer rule when reselling software under that code. This change does not impact those ITVAR contractors who perform on contracts where the largest portion, by dollar . . . Read More
