Subcontracting Plans: How Implementing Best Practices Now Can Save You Headaches Down the Road
By Katie Flood As a federal contractor, there are already many areas where you must track your compliance with the rules and regulations carefully. One area increasingly receiving greater scrutiny from the government is prime contractors’ compliance with their small business subcontracting plan obligations. Under the Small Business Act as amended in 1978, prime contractors must provide small businesses subcontracting opportunities for all contracts in excess of $150,000. And, for large businesses, formal subcontracting plans are required elements for most . . . Read More
Construction Claims and Pitfalls: General Claims/Requests for Equitable Adjustments (REAs)
Presented by: Cy Alba and Retired Judge William Thomas VETS15 – Veteran Entrepreneur Training Symposium
The Ins and Outs of Joint Venture and Mentor-Protege Agreements
Presented by: Cy Alba and Katie Flood VETS15 – Veteran Entrepreneur Training Symposium
Legislative and Regulatory Update for Government Contractors
Presented by: Cy Alba and Katie Flood VETS15 – Veteran Entrepreneur Training Symposium
Trademarks, Copyrights and Registered Marks: Corporate Website Housekeeping
By Kimi Murakami Among all of the other areas of your business that you need to keep in order, don’t forget your website. Your website is the company’s digital store front to all of your customers and the public. Protecting it is paramount to protecting your brand. Below is a checklist of issues to keep in mind in order to more fully protect valuable company assets. Have you trademarked your business name and logo? If not, are you using the . . . Read More
The New Way We Work: Protecting Against the Legal Risks of Telecommuting
It is more likely than not that you have allowed one or more of your employees to work from home, either on a sporadic or regular basis. If not, you may face the challenge soon. The advent of the internet, cloud computing, environmental and community impact incentives, economic efficiency and the realities of our daily lives have made telecommuting extremely commonplace and attractive to many businesses. However, even as telecommuting becomes a widely-accepted method of completing work, many employers have . . . Read More
The Dangers of Operating An LLC Without an Operating Agreement
What could possibly go wrong if you and your fellow limited liability company owners decide to operate your LLC without an operating agreement? Lots of things, many of which could cause you significant financial pain and mental distress. Many business partners who form an LLC decide not to develop and adopt an operating agreement for their LLC because the state in which they are forming their LLC has an LLC Act that provides default provisions absent a written agreement. Thinking . . . Read More
Good News for Offerors who Provide Unique Low-cost Solutions to the Government
The author and playwright Clare Boothe Luce, known for her feline wit, is famously supposed to have said “No good deed goes unpunished.” While that remark may have had validity that in the 1930s New York café society, it should have no place in federal contracting. To that end, the Government Accountability Office (“GAO”) recently issued an important opinion that, in effect, reminds the government contracting community that offerors who provide unique low-cost solutions to the Government should not be . . . Read More
Should You Be an LLC or S Corp?
The answer is it depends, as a business owner, on what your goals and objectives are. Both LLCs and S corporations are tax efficient. LLCs and S corporations are both pass-through entities; meaning, generally speaking, the entity itself is not subject to taxation. Rather, the profits and losses flow through to the owners, who either pay taxes on the profits or get to use the losses to offset income. Both LLCs and S corporations protect the owners and management against . . . Read More
Once 8(a) Competitive, Not Always 8(a) Competitive
Unlike other sole source authorities for small business programs, such as that recently granted to the WOSB program via the 2015 NDAA, a recent decision from GAO confirms that the sole source authority given to the 8(a) program has very few limits, especially with regard to Tribally-owned entities or Alaska Native Corporations. In the case of Agency Management Concepts, Inc., B-411206 (April 21, 2015), the Department of State (“DOS”) sought to sole source a contract for lock services to a . . . Read More