The Weekly Update for October 22, 2018
DEFENSE DEPARTMENT Class Deviation-Commercial Items Omnibus Clause for Acquisitions Using the Standard Procurement System According to an article on acq.osd.mil , this class deviation rescinds and supersedes Class Deviation 2013-00019. Effective immediately, when using the Standard Procurement System (SPS) to contract for commercial items, all Department of Defense (DOD) contracting activities may deviate from the requirements at Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 12.301 (b)( 4) and the clause at FAR 52.212-5, Contract Terms and Conditions Required To Implement Statutes or Executive Orders- . . . Read More
Gaining a Competitive Advantage through Cybersecurity Readiness
Submitting a Proposal Soon? Make Sure Your SAM Registration Is Active
While there has been some confusion and a bit of a grey area surrounding when an offeror’s profile with the System for Award Management (SAM) must be active, the confusion will be put to rest effective October 26, 2018. Recently, a final rule was released clarifying that offeror registration in SAM is required prior to submission of an offer. Currently, FAR 4.1102(a) requires contractors to be registered in SAM “prior to award of a contract or agreement,” with some narrow exceptions. While this seems . . . Read More
Labor Law 101: What Employers Need to Understand About the NLRA
Presented By Nichole Atallah and Sarah Nash Click here to view the recorded session. Whether your employees are unionized or not, chances are the National Labor Relations Act applies to you. This seminar will help you navigate the Act and keep on the right side of labor laws.
809 Panel Seemingly Switches Focus of Protest Recommendations
As we noted in our May 2, 2018, post on the possible 809 Panel recommendations for bid protests, the Panel was planning to make radical changes to the bid protest process at DOD, which would lead to less oversight and accountability, opening the floodgates for fraud and abuse by government personnel. However, we recently learned that the Panel may be thinking of taking action that could benefit DOD’s buying processes, without reducing public oversight, by looking at more inward-facing policy changes . . . Read More
Current Trends in Federal Procurement for Set-Aside Alert
809 Panel Likely to Scale Back Harmful Small Business Recommendations
As we have noted in the past , when the 809 Panel first convened, a number of the members believed that small business programs provided little for the warfighter at DOD and, thus, were simply unnecessary. Indeed, the Panel’s initial recommendation was going to be the full elimination of small business goals—which effectively stops small business set-asides entirely. The idea was that government personnel were wasting time counting dollars instead of focusing on increasing the lethality of the warfighter. While helping the warfighter is . . . Read More
OHA to Decide VA SDVOSB Status Protests Starting This Week
Starting on October 1st, SBA began hearing protests challenging an apparent awardee’s eligibility for inclusion in the VA Center for Verification and Evaluation (“CVE”) database and, in turn, its eligibility for a VA SDVOSB contract award. Previously, an SDVOSB status protest for a VA procurement was filed with the contracting officer, who then forwarded the protest to the Director of the CVE to render a status determination. To be timely, the protest had to be filed within five business days . . . Read More
Effective October 1, 2018: SBA Issues Final Rule Regarding Ownership and Control Requirements for SDVOSBs
Recently, I wrote a blog detailing the Department of Veterans Affairs’ (VA) final rule on verification guidelines for veteran-owned small businesses (VOSBs) and service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses (SDVOSBs), which provides that the VA will use the U.S. Small Business Administration’s (SBA) regulations. Just three days before taking effect, SBA issued its final rule on Ownership and Control of SDVOSB Concerns, amending its regulations relating to ownership and control for VOSBs and SDVOSBs. For context and background, I also wrote about SBA’s proposed rule earlier . . . Read More
Marketing Your Small Business for Sole Source Awards
The federal government is increasingly using nontraditional ways to spend its money, such as purchasing goods and services through “other transaction authority,” which we recently wrote about and which does not require traditional competitive award procedures. Another alternative to traditional procurement by competition is a sole source award, and we are seeing more and more of our clients pursuing sole source awards or, in other cases, challenging the award of sole source contracts to other firms. If you are a small . . . Read More