March 20, 2016
Hopewell Darneille, of the Firm’s Washington, DC office, will be a presenter at the seventh annual Dynamic Networking for Small Business (DYNET) Conference, a federal and prime contracting event in Fairmont, West Virginia, on April 27, 2015 at the Robert H. Mollohan Research Center.
Mr. Darneille will co-present a workshop on “Teaming, Joint Ventures, Subcontracting & Mentor-Protege Agreements in…
March 14, 2016
Mentor-Protege Agreements (MPAs) are a hot topic right now, as we near the Small Business Administration (SBA)’s anticipated issuance of new regulations on a possible “universal” Mentor-Protege program that would extend SBA’s current 8(a) Mentor-Protege (M/P) rules (13 C.F.R. §124.520), to other socio-economic programs. However, as we have discussed from time-to-time, the rules governing…
November 2, 2015
A recent GAO decision demonstrates the critical importance of timely submitting and following-up with the Small Business Administration (SBA) on your Joint Venture Agreement (JVA) application if you want to obtain a competitive joint venture (JV) award under SBA’s 8(a) business development program. FedServ-RBS JV, LLC, B-411790, Oct. 26, 2015. In this instance, an 8(a)’s failure to pay…
August 31, 2015
Over the past year, the Small Business Administration (SBA) has begun to require a greater deal of specificity in proposed Joint Venture Agreements (JVAs) between Mentors and their Protégés, and in at least two instances both the cognizant SBA Area Offices and SBA’s Office of Hearings & Appeals (OHA) have rejected such Agreements and found the respective joint ventures ineligible for the…
August 3, 2015
Sometimes, circumstances force offerors to consider making changes to their proposal after it’s been submitted. In some cases, offerors decide they need to go so far as to alter their own structure to address a newly discovered problem. As the recent decision in Task Source/Military Personnel Services Corporation FEPP, LLC, B-411173.3 (July 8, 2015) shows, however, material changes to the offeror…
May 4, 2015
Several months ago, this blog identified the Government Accountability Office (GAO) decision in InSpace 21 LLC, B-410852 (December 8, 2014) as a cautionary tale and discussed the importance of getting joint ventures right. After declining to resolve what it considered a dispute between two private parties, GAO rejected that protest for failure to demonstrate interested party status. Subsequently,…
April 27, 2015
In a decision having potentially far-reaching implications, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently sustained an agency’s bar on offerors using proposal consultants to prepare offerors’ responses to sample tasks as part of the offerors’ technical proposals. Advanced Communications Cabling, Inc. ("ACCI"), B-410898.2, decided March 25, 2015. In addition to raising the…
April 20, 2015
Troubling facts surfaced in a recent bid protest before the Government Accountability Office (GAO) raising significant questions as to the effect and reach of exclusivity language in a teaming agreement. The protest also demonstrates the difficulties in getting an agency or GAO to interpret and enforce exclusivity provisions. ERIMAX, Inc., B-410682, Jan. 22, 2015.
ERIMAX, Inc.…
April 14, 2015
Be diligent in identifying bidding opportunities, and formulating and implementing your bidding and teaming strategy, and do not count on a proposal due date extension to bail you out – particularly in commercial item procurements. As seen in Richen Management, LLC, B-410903, decided March 10, 2015, an agency’s refusal to allow more than 28 days to submit initial proposals, notwithstanding…
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 12, 2015
Happy New Year! The start of a new year is a time for New Year’s Resolutions. Here are several we strongly urge you to follow-through on early in 2015.
1. Reassess Your (and Any Subcontractors’) Small Business Size Status: Most companies operate on a calendar year for tax reporting purposes. For such companies the start of a new tax year, and the end of the prior year, means a change…
December 16, 2014
Ben Franklin famously advised, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” The recent Government Accountability Office (GAO) decision in InSpace 21 LLC, B-410852; B-410852.3 (December 8, 2014) demonstrates that those words remain as relevant today as when they were first uttered, at least in the context of joint ventures (JVs). The case reminds us once again of the dangers of…
March 20, 2016
Hopewell Darneille, of the Firm’s Washington, DC office, will be a presenter at the seventh annual Dynamic Networking for Small Business (DYNET) Conference, a federal and prime contracting event in Fairmont, West Virginia, on April 27, 2015 at the Robert H. Mollohan Research Center.
Mr. Darneille will co-present a workshop on “Teaming, Joint Ventures, Subcontracting & Mentor-Protege Agreements in…
March 14, 2016
Mentor-Protege Agreements (MPAs) are a hot topic right now, as we near the Small Business Administration (SBA)’s anticipated issuance of new regulations on a possible “universal” Mentor-Protege program that would extend SBA’s current 8(a) Mentor-Protege (M/P) rules (13 C.F.R. §124.520), to other socio-economic programs. However, as we have discussed from time-to-time, the rules governing…
November 2, 2015
A recent GAO decision demonstrates the critical importance of timely submitting and following-up with the Small Business Administration (SBA) on your Joint Venture Agreement (JVA) application if you want to obtain a competitive joint venture (JV) award under SBA’s 8(a) business development program. FedServ-RBS JV, LLC, B-411790, Oct. 26, 2015. In this instance, an 8(a)’s failure to pay…
August 31, 2015
Over the past year, the Small Business Administration (SBA) has begun to require a greater deal of specificity in proposed Joint Venture Agreements (JVAs) between Mentors and their Protégés, and in at least two instances both the cognizant SBA Area Offices and SBA’s Office of Hearings & Appeals (OHA) have rejected such Agreements and found the respective joint ventures ineligible for the…
August 3, 2015
Sometimes, circumstances force offerors to consider making changes to their proposal after it’s been submitted. In some cases, offerors decide they need to go so far as to alter their own structure to address a newly discovered problem. As the recent decision in Task Source/Military Personnel Services Corporation FEPP, LLC, B-411173.3 (July 8, 2015) shows, however, material changes to the offeror…
May 4, 2015
Several months ago, this blog identified the Government Accountability Office (GAO) decision in InSpace 21 LLC, B-410852 (December 8, 2014) as a cautionary tale and discussed the importance of getting joint ventures right. After declining to resolve what it considered a dispute between two private parties, GAO rejected that protest for failure to demonstrate interested party status. Subsequently,…
April 27, 2015
In a decision having potentially far-reaching implications, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently sustained an agency’s bar on offerors using proposal consultants to prepare offerors’ responses to sample tasks as part of the offerors’ technical proposals. Advanced Communications Cabling, Inc. ("ACCI"), B-410898.2, decided March 25, 2015. In addition to raising the…
April 20, 2015
Troubling facts surfaced in a recent bid protest before the Government Accountability Office (GAO) raising significant questions as to the effect and reach of exclusivity language in a teaming agreement. The protest also demonstrates the difficulties in getting an agency or GAO to interpret and enforce exclusivity provisions. ERIMAX, Inc., B-410682, Jan. 22, 2015.
ERIMAX, Inc.…
April 14, 2015
Be diligent in identifying bidding opportunities, and formulating and implementing your bidding and teaming strategy, and do not count on a proposal due date extension to bail you out – particularly in commercial item procurements. As seen in Richen Management, LLC, B-410903, decided March 10, 2015, an agency’s refusal to allow more than 28 days to submit initial proposals, notwithstanding…
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 12, 2015
Happy New Year! The start of a new year is a time for New Year’s Resolutions. Here are several we strongly urge you to follow-through on early in 2015.
1. Reassess Your (and Any Subcontractors’) Small Business Size Status: Most companies operate on a calendar year for tax reporting purposes. For such companies the start of a new tax year, and the end of the prior year, means a change…
December 16, 2014
Ben Franklin famously advised, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” The recent Government Accountability Office (GAO) decision in InSpace 21 LLC, B-410852; B-410852.3 (December 8, 2014) demonstrates that those words remain as relevant today as when they were first uttered, at least in the context of joint ventures (JVs). The case reminds us once again of the dangers of…
