March 22, 2015
Hopewell Darneille, of the Firm’s Washington, D.C. office, will be a presenter at the sixth annual Dynamic Networking for Small Business (DYNET) Conference, a federal and prime contracting event in Fairmont, West Virginia, on April 2, 2015 at the Robert H. Mollohan Research Center.
Darneille will co-present a workshop on “Your Strategic Toolbox Update: Teaming, Joint Ventures, Subcontracting &…
March 17, 2015
On December 4, 2014, the Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP) announced a new strategic plan to create a more innovative, effective and efficient federal acquisition system. This plan focusses on three core elements: (1) buying as one through Category Management, (2) driving innovation through developing and deploying talent and tools across agencies, and (3) building…
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 9, 2015
The recently-enacted National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2015 (NDAA-15) includes two important changes for Women-Owned Small Businesses (WOSBs). First, the Act authorizes certain sole source awards to WOSBs, ending a long effort to bring the WOSB program in line with other socio-economic programs that have long authorized sole source awards. Second, the Act…
February 9, 2015
The Justice Department has announced that a 44 year old retired Army Sergeant Major working as a civilian contracting official for the Army, James Warner, was arrested on January 28th for allegedly soliciting bribes from company executives. DOJ Press Release.
According to the affidavit filed by the government in support of the criminal complaint, Warner met with executives of Company A, a…
February 2, 2015
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently held that procuring agencies are not required to solicit the incumbent for follow-on Federal Supply Schedule (FSS) work, notwithstanding statutory and regulatory changes designed to enhance competition and provide notice “to as many contractors as practicable.” Technical Professional Services, Inc., B-410640, decided Jan. 20, 2015. GAO…
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
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…
March 22, 2015
Hopewell Darneille, of the Firm’s Washington, D.C. office, will be a presenter at the sixth annual Dynamic Networking for Small Business (DYNET) Conference, a federal and prime contracting event in Fairmont, West Virginia, on April 2, 2015 at the Robert H. Mollohan Research Center.
Darneille will co-present a workshop on “Your Strategic Toolbox Update: Teaming, Joint Ventures, Subcontracting &…
March 17, 2015
On December 4, 2014, the Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP) announced a new strategic plan to create a more innovative, effective and efficient federal acquisition system. This plan focusses on three core elements: (1) buying as one through Category Management, (2) driving innovation through developing and deploying talent and tools across agencies, and (3) building…
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 9, 2015
The recently-enacted National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2015 (NDAA-15) includes two important changes for Women-Owned Small Businesses (WOSBs). First, the Act authorizes certain sole source awards to WOSBs, ending a long effort to bring the WOSB program in line with other socio-economic programs that have long authorized sole source awards. Second, the Act…
February 9, 2015
The Justice Department has announced that a 44 year old retired Army Sergeant Major working as a civilian contracting official for the Army, James Warner, was arrested on January 28th for allegedly soliciting bribes from company executives. DOJ Press Release.
According to the affidavit filed by the government in support of the criminal complaint, Warner met with executives of Company A, a…
February 2, 2015
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently held that procuring agencies are not required to solicit the incumbent for follow-on Federal Supply Schedule (FSS) work, notwithstanding statutory and regulatory changes designed to enhance competition and provide notice “to as many contractors as practicable.” Technical Professional Services, Inc., B-410640, decided Jan. 20, 2015. GAO…
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
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…
