A Look At The Numbers: 2015 Government Contracting Annual Report
Some very interesting data, trends, and analysis of government contracting, which should be of interest to government contractors, was published in a recent report by the National Contract Management Association (NCMA) and Bloomberg Government (Bloomberg). Some of the data should come as no surprise to firms seeing how U.S. government contracting dollars continue to be declining. According to the report, titled “Annual Review of Government Contracting, 2015 Edition,” contract spending will likely continue to fall due to budget caps and the . . . Read More
Court Ruling Confirms that SDVOSB Contractors Possess Procedural Due Process Rights Against Adverse Eligibility Determinations
The U.S. Department of Veteran Affair’s (“VA”) Center for Veterans Enterprise (“CVE”) has a tough and sometimes thankless job. Its role is to serve as a “gatekeeper” for VA contracting programs for service-disabled, veteran-owned small businesses (“SDVOSB”), so that purported SDVOSBs which are, in fact, no such thing or are otherwise ineligible, do not receive benefits under these programs. Even so, it is no secret that legitimate and eligible SDVOSBs have sometimes had unexpected and significant difficulties with CVE in . . . Read More
An 8(a) Contracting Cautionary Tale’s Final Scene
Many may have fond childhood memories of their parents reading cautionary tales or poems to them before going to bed, such as Hilaire Belloc’s “Rebecca: Who Slammed Doors For Fun and Perished Miserably” or Shel Silverstein’s “Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout Would Not Take the Garbage Out.” Like these poems, the stories are usually very funny. Yet, however ludicrous they may be, the writings often teach valuable life lessons without (usually) giving children bad dreams in the process. When one exits . . . Read More
Strategic Sourcing a.k.a. Constructive Criticism
The small business community’s ongoing struggle to increase its access to federal contracting and its share of the federal spend is facing yet another challenge. We say that small businesses are more robust then larger firms and are more able to adapt and mobilize in less time. Well the fact is that they have to be–particularly in our current environment. As the pie shrinks and agencies struggle to do more with less, a new or recycled term has emerged as . . . Read More
Right-Sized: How a Contractor and its Outside Counsel Adjusted a GSA Schedule BPA RFQ to the Appropriate Size Standard
Last summer, we helped a contractor with a case that had all of the plot twists of a Hollywood blockbuster. The case involved an RFQ for a blanket purchase agreement (“BPA”) under a GSA Schedule Contract. There were multiple Special Item Numbers (“SINs”) on the schedule, with different NAICS codes and size standards. The procuring agency issued the RFQ as a total set-aside for small businesses, but the terms of the RFQ were unclear as to how size would be . . . Read More
Right-Sized: How a Contractor and its Outside Counsel Adjusted a GSA Schedule BPA RFQ to the Appropriate Size Standard
An article by Jon Williams and Alex Levine’s published in February’s Contract Management Magazine. Last summer, we helped a contractor with a case that had all of the plot twists of a Hollywood blockbuster. The case involved an RFQ for a blanket purchase agreement (“BPA”) under a GSA Schedule Contract. There were multiple Special Item Numbers (“SINs”) on the schedule, with different NAICS codes and size standards. The procuring agency issued the RFQ as a total set-aside for small businesses, . . . Read More