March 2, 2015
With or without legal advice, many contractors develop manufacturing processes to produce products they are confident certifying as Trade Agreement Act (TAA) compliant. Procuring agencies accept the certification and make the purchase. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) decision in Sea Box, Inc., B-409963.3 (February 4, 2015), suggests, however, that contractors…
February 23, 2015
Contractors in the competitive range often enter into discussions with unwarranted expectations. The fact that discussions must be “meaningful” does not mean that an offeror will receive actionable information concerning its price. The recent decision in Theodor Wille Intertrade AG, B-409976.3 (January 22, 2015) reiterates what offerors can – and cannot – reasonably expect to learn…
February 16, 2015
We often hear complaints from contractors that have not received Past Performance Evaluations (PPEs), and for good reason. PPEs are critical to a contractor’s ability to compete successfully for new government business. It therefore is surprising to see a contractor complain – actually sue – when the government issues a PPE. But that’s exactly what happened in a somewhat…
February 16, 2015
Offerors that have lost out on an important contract are highly motivated to identify protest grounds that can be used to challenge the agency’s decision. Their desire to overturn the award decision, coupled with information gleaned from their debriefing and other sources, often results in a number of potentially viable protest grounds. Additional grounds sometimes are identified…
February 16, 2015
Most small business contractors know that growth past a certain point can adversely impact their ability to win new work from the Government. And this understanding is correct, as far as it goes. But, as the recent decision in Research and Development Solutions, Inc., B-410581; B-410581.2 (January 14, 2015), makes clear, it is important not to overstate the impact of becoming “other…
February 9, 2015
The United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit recently tackled the interesting issue of whether or not an awardee’s failure to modify its proposal prior to award – to reflect the pre-award departure of its proposed Project Manager – represents a false statement under the False Claims Act (FCA). Under the facts presented in United States ex rel. American Systems…
February 2, 2015
As reported in this blog back in March of 2013, the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2013 (FY13) made significant changes to the limitations on subcontracting for small business set-aside contracts. Now, twenty-one months later, the Small Business Administration (SBA) has proposed a new rule to implement those changes. While faithfully implementing the statutory…
January 27, 2015
The FAR Council recently issued a new Interim Rule (correction here), implementing President Obama’s Executive Order 13658 establishing a $10.10 per hour minimum wage for employees of covered federal contractors and subcontractors starting January 1, 2015. The new Rule also implements, for FAR-covered contracts, the Final Rule issued by the Department of Labor (DOL) on October 10, 2014,…
January 27, 2015
In a protest decided last week, a disappointed bidder, Amyx, argued that the government was inconsistent in its evaluation of Amyx’s bid since Amyx received only a “good” rating under the relevant experience criterion but an “outstanding” rating under the past performance criterion, an argument that intuitively may seem correct since the government’s ratings were based on the same projects for…
January 20, 2015
Just as people across the country have begun to recover from this year’s particularly nasty flu variant, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) has issued a decision involving an especially virulent form of Incumbentitis. This strain manifests as an incumbent’s touting a new and improved version of the same technology it used to perform the prior contract. However understandable…
January 20, 2015
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently sustained a protest where the Navy’s evaluation did not reasonably reflect its planned purchases. Specifically, GAO found that the Navy should have updated its solicitation for a $2.4 billion information technology modernization contract as soon as the Navy changed its buying strategy. “Where an agency’s requirements materially change…
January 12, 2015
Beware the revolving door. It can hit you or those with you on the way in or the way out. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently reminded us of this fact when it sustained a protest by International Resources Group (IRG) regarding an organizational conflict of interest. The problem? The Agency (USAID) failed to properly investigate the awardee AECOM’s hiring of a…
March 2, 2015
With or without legal advice, many contractors develop manufacturing processes to produce products they are confident certifying as Trade Agreement Act (TAA) compliant. Procuring agencies accept the certification and make the purchase. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) decision in Sea Box, Inc., B-409963.3 (February 4, 2015), suggests, however, that contractors…
February 23, 2015
Contractors in the competitive range often enter into discussions with unwarranted expectations. The fact that discussions must be “meaningful” does not mean that an offeror will receive actionable information concerning its price. The recent decision in Theodor Wille Intertrade AG, B-409976.3 (January 22, 2015) reiterates what offerors can – and cannot – reasonably expect to learn…
February 16, 2015
We often hear complaints from contractors that have not received Past Performance Evaluations (PPEs), and for good reason. PPEs are critical to a contractor’s ability to compete successfully for new government business. It therefore is surprising to see a contractor complain – actually sue – when the government issues a PPE. But that’s exactly what happened in a somewhat…
February 16, 2015
Offerors that have lost out on an important contract are highly motivated to identify protest grounds that can be used to challenge the agency’s decision. Their desire to overturn the award decision, coupled with information gleaned from their debriefing and other sources, often results in a number of potentially viable protest grounds. Additional grounds sometimes are identified…
February 16, 2015
Most small business contractors know that growth past a certain point can adversely impact their ability to win new work from the Government. And this understanding is correct, as far as it goes. But, as the recent decision in Research and Development Solutions, Inc., B-410581; B-410581.2 (January 14, 2015), makes clear, it is important not to overstate the impact of becoming “other…
February 9, 2015
The United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit recently tackled the interesting issue of whether or not an awardee’s failure to modify its proposal prior to award – to reflect the pre-award departure of its proposed Project Manager – represents a false statement under the False Claims Act (FCA). Under the facts presented in United States ex rel. American Systems…
February 2, 2015
As reported in this blog back in March of 2013, the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2013 (FY13) made significant changes to the limitations on subcontracting for small business set-aside contracts. Now, twenty-one months later, the Small Business Administration (SBA) has proposed a new rule to implement those changes. While faithfully implementing the statutory…
January 27, 2015
The FAR Council recently issued a new Interim Rule (correction here), implementing President Obama’s Executive Order 13658 establishing a $10.10 per hour minimum wage for employees of covered federal contractors and subcontractors starting January 1, 2015. The new Rule also implements, for FAR-covered contracts, the Final Rule issued by the Department of Labor (DOL) on October 10, 2014,…
January 27, 2015
In a protest decided last week, a disappointed bidder, Amyx, argued that the government was inconsistent in its evaluation of Amyx’s bid since Amyx received only a “good” rating under the relevant experience criterion but an “outstanding” rating under the past performance criterion, an argument that intuitively may seem correct since the government’s ratings were based on the same projects for…
January 20, 2015
Just as people across the country have begun to recover from this year’s particularly nasty flu variant, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) has issued a decision involving an especially virulent form of Incumbentitis. This strain manifests as an incumbent’s touting a new and improved version of the same technology it used to perform the prior contract. However understandable…
January 20, 2015
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently sustained a protest where the Navy’s evaluation did not reasonably reflect its planned purchases. Specifically, GAO found that the Navy should have updated its solicitation for a $2.4 billion information technology modernization contract as soon as the Navy changed its buying strategy. “Where an agency’s requirements materially change…
January 12, 2015
Beware the revolving door. It can hit you or those with you on the way in or the way out. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently reminded us of this fact when it sustained a protest by International Resources Group (IRG) regarding an organizational conflict of interest. The problem? The Agency (USAID) failed to properly investigate the awardee AECOM’s hiring of a…
