As discussed previously, a size protest is a valuable, low cost, way to challenge the size of an announced winning competitor, and possibly get a second bite at an award if such company is not, in fact, small and is disqualified. SBA’s size protest sufficiency filing threshold is low. Importantly, once crossed, SBA shifts the burden to the protested concern to establish its small business size…
On January 31, 2017, the White House issued a Press Release announcing President’s determination to continue the effectivity and enforcement of President Obama’s Executive Order (EO) 13672, protecting the rights of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer (LGBTQ) community under federal contracts. The Press Release stated that President “Trump is determined to protect the rights of all…
The General Services Administration (GSA) recently issued a Final Rule, effective January 9, 2017, amending the General Services Administration Acquisition Regulation (GSAR) to clarify that the Ordering Agency Task and Delivery Order Ombudsman has jurisdiction and responsibility to review and resolve “fair opportunity” complaints on task and delivery orders placed against GSA multiple-award…
President Trump is moving quickly to implement his various campaign pledges, including his commitment to reduce federal regulation and the resulting huge burdens and costs on both large and small businesses. Specifically, within hours of the President's inauguration, his Chief of Staff, Reince Priebus, issued a Presidential Memorandum (the “Freeze Memo”) imposing a broad freeze on all new and…
Reverse auctions, while offering obvious advantages to the Government in appropriate circumstances, pose a number of challenges for bidders. These challenges include the need to exercise bidding restraint, and fight the animalistic instinct or desire to “win,” particularly at the cost of bidding too low. This is particularly so where there is no prequalification of bidders, and some bidders,…
The FAR Council has published a Final Rule, effective January 19, 2017, prohibiting the use of appropriated or otherwise available funds for any contract, grant or cooperative agreement with an entity that requires its employees or subcontractors to sign internal confidentiality agreements or statements that prohibit or otherwise restrict the lawful reporting of fraud, waste or abuse to a…
The Department of Defense (DoD), General Services Administration (GSA) and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) issued a Final Rule raising the acquisition threshold for Special Emergency Procurement Authority, modifying the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) as required by the 2016 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA-16). The rule raises the simplified acquisition…
Individuals and companies should carefully consider the many serious risks, including criminal prosecution and forfeiture of assets, before seeking to improperly take advantage of and abuse federal programs created to advantage various socio-economic groups. These programs include Government contract set-aside programs for Veteran-Owned (VOSBs), Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned (SDVOSBs),…
Most federal civil monetary penalties will increase by an additional 1.636%, rounded to the nearest dollar, for new assessments issued after the effective date of each respective agency’s implementing regulations. This new increase is on top of last year’s huge, one-time, “catch-up” adjustments intended to offset inflation through October 2015, and is the first of what hereafter will be annual…
The Department of the Treasury has updated the Prompt Payment Act Interest Rate for the first half of calendar year 2017. The new rate has increased from 1.875 percent to 2.5 percent per year. Under the Contract Disputes Act (CDA), when prevailing on a monetary contract dispute, a contractor is entitled to recover simple interest, calculated at the applicable rate for every six-month period, on…
Contractors often “win” a protest when the agency decides to take corrective action in the form of discussions and revised proposals, only to find that the agency limits the nature of the allowed revisions so that contractors cannot make all the necessary changes to its new proposal. As the recent decision in Deloitte Consulting, LLP, B-412125.6 (November 28, 2016), makes clear, contractors in…
As Jackson Kelly has previously reported, there is significant uncertainty regarding which of the many Executive Orders signed by President Obama will still be binding after President Trump’s inauguration later this month; but some things will not change, at least in the short term. One of those is the new requirement, from Executive Order 13706, that federal contractors provide paid sick leave…
