March 30, 2015
A recent decision by the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (Federal Circuit) highlights the very substantial risks that subcontractors run in continuing performance under a financially troubled prime contract based upon government urgings and assurances of indirect payment for further services, as well as the difficulties faced by a subcontractor seeking to hold the…
March 2, 2015
A recent GAO decision provides support to agencies in addressing the increasing pressure to evaluate offerors’ compliance with, and puts some teeth in, socio-economic and subcontracting goals. Specifically, GAO found reasonable, and rejected a bid protest challenging, an agency’s assessment of “weaknesses” and downgrading of an offeror’s past performance for failing to meet socio-economic…
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 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 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 9, 2014
As previously noted in this blog, GAO has repeatedly made clear that protests alleging that the awardee’s proposal violates the applicable limitation on subcontracting cannot succeed unless the protester can demonstrate that the quotation shows, on its face, that awardee will not comply with the clause. In the recent case of Archer Western Federal JV, B-410168.2/B-410168.3 (November 12,…
December 2, 2014
Two years after a report critical of how the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) addresses potential conflicts of interest (COIs) when choosing Zone Program Integrity Contractors (ZPICs), the chickens are finally coming home to roost – with extreme prejudice. In July 2012, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) issued a report…
September 23, 2014
The recent decision of the Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals (ASBCA) in Binghamton Simulator Co., ASBCA No. 59117, provides an interesting twist on a frequent issue in drafting subcontracts and teaming agreements – namely, how to enable the subcontractor to pursue an appeal of an adverse contracting officer final decision, or file a bid protest, and particularly in the event that the prime…
August 12, 2014
On July 31, 2014, President Obama signed an Executive Order placing new restrictions and burdens on federal contractors directly related to labor and employment law compliance issues. The Executive Order became effective upon signing. Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces Executive Order. It applies to both prime contractors and subcontractors of all tiers, to the extent the applicable…
August 12, 2014
The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) recently announced the federal government’s Fiscal Year 2013 (FY13) small business goaling results and Small Business Procurement Scorecard. Government-Wide Performance Scorecard FY13. SBA understandably highlighted the fact that, for the first time in eight years, the federal government achieved its goal to award 23% of eligible contracts…
August 22, 2013
In two recent protests at the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the protester alleged that the awardee’s quotation violated the applicable limitation on subcontracting because awardee could not or would not perform the required portion of the contract. In both cases, GAO made clear that such protests cannot succeed unless the protester can demonstrate that the quotation shows, on its face,…
March 30, 2015
A recent decision by the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (Federal Circuit) highlights the very substantial risks that subcontractors run in continuing performance under a financially troubled prime contract based upon government urgings and assurances of indirect payment for further services, as well as the difficulties faced by a subcontractor seeking to hold the…
March 2, 2015
A recent GAO decision provides support to agencies in addressing the increasing pressure to evaluate offerors’ compliance with, and puts some teeth in, socio-economic and subcontracting goals. Specifically, GAO found reasonable, and rejected a bid protest challenging, an agency’s assessment of “weaknesses” and downgrading of an offeror’s past performance for failing to meet socio-economic…
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 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 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 9, 2014
As previously noted in this blog, GAO has repeatedly made clear that protests alleging that the awardee’s proposal violates the applicable limitation on subcontracting cannot succeed unless the protester can demonstrate that the quotation shows, on its face, that awardee will not comply with the clause. In the recent case of Archer Western Federal JV, B-410168.2/B-410168.3 (November 12,…
December 2, 2014
Two years after a report critical of how the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) addresses potential conflicts of interest (COIs) when choosing Zone Program Integrity Contractors (ZPICs), the chickens are finally coming home to roost – with extreme prejudice. In July 2012, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) issued a report…
September 23, 2014
The recent decision of the Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals (ASBCA) in Binghamton Simulator Co., ASBCA No. 59117, provides an interesting twist on a frequent issue in drafting subcontracts and teaming agreements – namely, how to enable the subcontractor to pursue an appeal of an adverse contracting officer final decision, or file a bid protest, and particularly in the event that the prime…
August 12, 2014
On July 31, 2014, President Obama signed an Executive Order placing new restrictions and burdens on federal contractors directly related to labor and employment law compliance issues. The Executive Order became effective upon signing. Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces Executive Order. It applies to both prime contractors and subcontractors of all tiers, to the extent the applicable…
August 12, 2014
The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) recently announced the federal government’s Fiscal Year 2013 (FY13) small business goaling results and Small Business Procurement Scorecard. Government-Wide Performance Scorecard FY13. SBA understandably highlighted the fact that, for the first time in eight years, the federal government achieved its goal to award 23% of eligible contracts…
August 22, 2013
In two recent protests at the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the protester alleged that the awardee’s quotation violated the applicable limitation on subcontracting because awardee could not or would not perform the required portion of the contract. In both cases, GAO made clear that such protests cannot succeed unless the protester can demonstrate that the quotation shows, on its face,…
