Bid Protests – Seven Things Every Contractor Should Know
Presented by Tony Franco and Peter Ford. For the National Veterans Small Business Engagement (NVSBE)
Comprehensive Joint Venture Agreements
In Partnership with the National Center for Veteran Institute for Procurement (VIP) Presented by Tony Franco and Peter Ford. For the National Veterans Small Business Engagement (NVSBE)
SAM’s New Ownership Disclosure Requirements
The System for Award Management (“SAM”) administrator recently issued a new requirement for identification of your entity’s ownership in order to maintain an active registration in SAM. The notice, which was issued Nov. 1, informs small business owners of new ownership questions that are now required to be answered in order to keep their SAM registration active. The notice is included below: Effective November 1, 2014, a new Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Subpart 4.18 – Commercial and Government Entity Code . . . Read More
Finally! Sole Source Authority for the WOSB Program
By Megan Connor On December 2, 2014, the House Armed Services Committee and Senate Armed Services Committee released the text of an agreement they have reached on the National Defense Authorization Act for FY 2015 (“NDAA”). Section 825 of the FY 2015 NDAA creates, for the first time, sole source authority for small business concerns owned and controlled by women. This legislation will bring parity to the WOSB Program which, until now, was the only small business procurement program without sole source authority. WOSBs will not see the impact immediately. . . . Read More
Court Ruling Confirms that SDVOSB Contractors Possess Procedural Due Process Rights Against Adverse Eligibility Determinations
The U.S. Department of Veteran Affair’s (“VA”) Center for Veterans Enterprise (“CVE”) has a tough and sometimes thankless job. Its role is to serve as a “gatekeeper” for VA contracting programs for service-disabled, veteran-owned small businesses (“SDVOSB”), so that purported SDVOSBs which are, in fact, no such thing or are otherwise ineligible, do not receive benefits under these programs. Even so, it is no secret that legitimate and eligible SDVOSBs have sometimes had unexpected and significant difficulties with CVE in . . . Read More
Court of Federal Claims Affirms Due Process Rights for Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Businesses
By Brian Wilbourn The United States Court of Federal Claims recently issued an important decision affirming the due process rights of Service-Disabled, Veteran-Owned Small Businesses (“SDVOSBs”). The case, AmBuild Company, LLC v. United States (Fed. Cl., Oct. 2014), involved an SDVOSB that had been decertified without first giving the company notice and an opportunity to respond to the specific compliance issue on which the decertification was based. AmBuild Company, LLC (“AmBuild”) was the awardee under a SDVOSB set-aside solicitation issued . . . Read More
“What are my chances of winning this protest at GAO?” Assessing Odds at the Government Accountability Office
By Megan Connor Every week, clients call us with potential bid protests. Usually, they’ve received an unsuccessful offeror letter from the agency and they believe that the evaluation was flawed. After discussing the viable protest grounds, clients always ask, in one form or another, “What are our chances of winning at GAO ?” If “winning” means a GAO decision sustaining the protest—that is, a finding that the protest had merit—the answer is low, based on the GAO’s recent Annual Report. On . . . Read More
Don’t Slip Up: The “Boilerplate” Provisions of Your Contracts Deserve Equal Attention
Webster’s dictionary offers the following as an alternative definition of the term boilerplate: “tightly packed, icy snow.” No one would knowingly pay little heed to such a potentially treacherous condition, yet every day in contract negotiation parties devote the vast majority of their efforts to the business terms, while glossing over the “boilerplate” provisions. Oftentimes, the assumption is “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”—that is, those standard (read: boilerplate) terms you used in past contracts will work just as . . . Read More
OHA Sheds Some Light on What Constitutes a “Class” of Stock
In my recent article about the impact of separate stock classes on veteran-owned firms , I discussed how having more than one class of voting stock can complicate an ownership analysis under both the Department of Veterans Affairs ’ program for Veteran-Owned and Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Businesses and the U. S. Small Business Administration’s (“SBA”) program (the “SBA Program”) for Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business Concerns (“SDVO SBCs”). Citing an SDVO SBC status determination for illustration purposes, I explained how the analysis–which may appear straightforward and mechanical at first look–is not so cut and dry when the initial inquiry entails making a . . . Read More
Business Entity Alphabet Soup – GP, LP, JV, LLC, C, S, QSSS – What do they mean?
By Kimi Murakami As government contractors, the business universe is likely filled with familiar acronyms. However, one may not be as familiar with the meaning behind the alphabet letters that comprise the different business entities in the corporate world. Choosing the form of legal entity for your company was most likely a threshold issue for starting your business. By forming a company, you can shield yourself from liabilities that will arise by the business. Whether just starting out or if . . . Read More