SmallGovCon
Small business federal contracting commentary.
Govology Webinar: Navigating Government Regulations in Solicitations and Contracts, March 27, 2024, 1:00pm EDT
Steven Koprince, Govology Legal Analyst and retired founder of Koprince McCall Pottroff will be presenting this webinar to help you understand the applicable rules and regulations in government contracts and the Federal Acquisition Regulation. These rules can be lengthy and compl
Koprince Law LLC · Mar 20, 2024
First Annual MyGovWatch Buyer Survey Results May Surprise You
This post was written by our friend and colleague, Nick Bernardo, president of MyGovWatch, a bid notification and intelligence website offering a free trial to government contractors in more than 200 industries. Over the years, MyGovWatch has accumulated tens of thousands of buye
Koprince Law LLC · Mar 20, 2024
Webinar! Small Business Certifications, March 20, 2024, 10:00-11:00 am CDT
Please join federal government contracts attorneys Nicole Pottroff & Greg Weber for this informative webinar on SBA certifications hosted by Catalyst Center for Business & Entrepreneurship. Participants will get an overview about the Small Business Certifications including: - Wom
Koprince Law LLC · Mar 15, 2024
SmallGovCon Week in Review: March 11-15, 2024
Happy Friday and happy, early Saint Patrick’s Day. We hope you have some fun things planned for the weekend. Here, in Lawrence, Kansas, preparations are underway for the annual St. Patty’s Day parade. It seems the whole town comes out to celebrate and it’s a very fun and festive
Koprince Law LLC · Mar 15, 2024
GAO Says: SBA’s Rules for Mentor-Protégé Joint Venture Experience Evaluations May Limit Solicitation Terms
Contractors will often enter into mentor protégé relationships and joint ventures to leverage the experience and skills of multiple parties for various reasons. SBA regulations dictate how the capabilities, past performance, and experience of a mentor-protégé joint venture will b
Koprince Law LLC · Mar 14, 2024
SmallGovCon Week in Review: March 4-8, 2024
Happy Friday! March Madness is upon us! For you college basketball fans, it’s a great time of year. The upsets keep things exciting, even if they do bust everyone’s brackets. I guess that’s what makes March Madness so maddening and exciting–one can never predict the outcome. List
Koprince Law LLC · Mar 8, 2024
8(a) Program’s Two Years in Business Rule: Requirement or Suggestion?
It is no doubt that the SBA’s 8(a) Business Development Program is a first-class program: there is a reason that some of us around here tend to say that it is one of the most important of federal government contracting programs. And in the past year, there has been a flurry of ac
Koprince Law LLC · Mar 8, 2024
Playing Dr. Frankenstein: DoD Memo Tries to Revive Joint Venture Facility Clearance Requirements
Back in 2021, GAO came down with a clear decision on whether Department of Defense (DoD) agencies could require a joint venture (JV) to have its own facility clearance level (FCL) if its component members held the required FCL themselves. Infopoint LLC, B-419856 (Aug. 27, 2021).
Koprince Law LLC · Mar 6, 2024
Why File: A NAICS Code Appeal
A NAICS code appeal can be a powerful tool for altering the competitive landscape of a bid by changing what size of business is allowed to submit a bid and thereby either increasing or decreasing the potential competitor pool. This post explores some of the important reasons for
Koprince Law LLC · Mar 4, 2024
SmallGovCon Week in Review: Feb 26-March 1, 2024
Hello, blog readers and happy Friday. Can you believe it’s already March? In just a few short weeks, spring will (finally) be here! We hope that you’re gearing up for a nice weekend. But before you punch out, let’s take a look at the-week that was. In this edition of the Week in
Koprince Law LLC · Mar 1, 2024
2024 NDAA will Update DFARS to Require Evaluation of Small Business Affiliate Past Performance
The 2024 NDAA is directing quite a change in past performance evaluations for offerors in Department of Defense acquisitions. Historically, an offeror’s affiliate’s past performance is not automatically considered along with the offeror’s proposal, although an agency could consid
Koprince Law LLC · Feb 29, 2024
MyGovWatch YouTube Video Available Now!
Join our attorneys, Nicole Pottroff and John Holtz, on the latest edition of MyGovWatch, now on YouTube. This podcast, hosted by Nick Bernardo, covered a wide variety of current government contracting topics and answered all the right questions. From the migration of the Veteran
Koprince Law LLC · Feb 28, 2024
1 Day Virtual Event! The Essentials for Small Business Government Contracting, February 29, 2024
Whether you are a small, medium or even a large contractor seeking to team with small businesses, this course will discuss the different regulations you must follow, the different small business programs set up by the SBA, the advantages and disadvantages of the JV & Mentor Proté
Koprince Law LLC · Feb 27, 2024
SmallGovCon Week in Review: February 19-23, 2024
Happy final Friday of February! Can you believe that next week is March already? I guess we can start preparing for St. Patrick’s Day because it will be here soon. I think folks are hoping that our spring like weather will hold and that winter is over. Of course, in Kansas, the w
Koprince Law LLC · Feb 23, 2024
OHA Sustains Status Protest: Self-Proclaimed SDVOSB Awardee Not Certified by VetCert, Not Eligible For SBA’s Grace Period, And Not Veteran Owned or Controlled
In Mckenna Brytan Indus. LLC, SBA No. VSBC-334, 2023 (Feb. 8, 2024)&navigationPath=Search%2Fv1%2Fresults%2Fnavigation%2Fi0ad7140a0000018dc7975b44ff75f6c8%3Fppcid%3Da2f93b6034f84644823651a075cea140%26Nav%3DADMINDECISIONPUBLICVIEW%26fragmentIdentifier%3DIa43910f5cac711eebf10824eb1f
Koprince Law LLC · Feb 22, 2024
Shopping for a New Small Business: How Acquisitions Affect Size Status for Multiple-Award Contracts
As federal contracts attorneys, we often get questions about what happens in the event of an acquisition of a small business. Reporting requirements, whether before or after an acquisition, tend to vary from one type of small business socioeconomic program to another. And there a
Koprince Law LLC · Feb 22, 2024
A Bridge (Not) Too Far: Prohibition on Dividing up Contracts to get Under 8(a) Sole Source Dollar Limit Doesn’t Apply to Bridge Contracts
Under 13 C.F.R. § 124.506, if an 8(a) contract price would exceed a certain threshold ($7 million for manufacturing contracts, $4.5 million for others), in most cases, the agency must compete the set-aside. 13 C.F.R. § 124.506(a)(5) is a provision meant to close up what otherwise
Koprince Law LLC · Feb 19, 2024
Agency Could Not Accept Price Above Awardee’s FSS Price, GAO Says
If you feel like prices for just about everything are going up, you’re not alone. I recently got my annual property tax bill, and the first thing I did (after recovering from a brief fainting spell) was to start Googling to find out how much I could get for one of my kidneys on t
Koprince Law LLC · Feb 16, 2024
Free Webinar! The SBA Mentor-Protégé Program hosted by Washington DC APEX Accelerators, February 27, 10:30am -12:30 PM EST
Touted as a “game-changer” when it was first introduced in 2016, the U.S. Small Business Administration’s All Small Mentor-Protégé Program isn’t new anymore. Known now as simply the “SBA Mentor-Protégé Program, it is still extremely powerful for large and small contractors alike.
Koprince Law LLC · Feb 16, 2024
SmallGovCon Week in Review: February 12-16, 2024
Hello, blog readers. We want to say that our hearts are with the people of Kansas City. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the victims and families of those impacted during the the Super Bowl celebration in Kansas City. We also salute the first responders who acted so quickly. Ou
Koprince Law LLC · Feb 16, 2024
Event! MyGovWatch Live: The B2G Rountable hosted by Nick Bernardo, February 21, 2024, 12:00pm CST
If you’re interested in learning more about the federal government contracting business, our very own, Nicole Pottroff and John Holtz, will be co-hosting with Nick Bernardo at this live podcast event. Sign up now to join this free opportunity to speak with experts, who have actua
Koprince Law LLC · Feb 16, 2024
Adverse Inference, the Wrong Way to Lose a Size Protest
An adverse inference is a penalty that the Small Business Administration (SBA) can enforce as part of a size protest. During a size protest determination, SBA will ask the protested company lots of questions. Sometimes, a protester will not answer those questions, either on purpo
Koprince Law LLC · Feb 12, 2024
SmallGovCon Week in Review: February 5-9, 2024
Happy Friday Readers. We hope you all have had a great week. We are enjoying some milder winter weather here in Kansas finally. We still have a bit to go before spring, but it feels like it is right around the corner. We will be following our KC chiefs as they look to defend thei
Koprince Law LLC · Feb 9, 2024
Why File: A GAO Pre-Award Protest
For our third entry in our “Why File” series, we will be covering one of the two big bid protest routes, a “pre-award” Government Accountability Office (GAO) bid protest. Most contractors are fairly familiar with GAO bid protests that occur after an agency makes their award decis
Koprince Law LLC · Feb 9, 2024
GAO: Brand Name or Equal RFQ Must Explicitly State All Salient Characteristics
Solicitations for brand name or equal products are commonly used by contracting officers to ensure that the products procured via the contract meet minimum requirements. However, as one agency found, the salient characteristics required to meet the minimum requirements must be ex
Koprince Law LLC · Feb 7, 2024