SmallGovCon
Small business federal contracting commentary.
The Thaw: Dealing with the End of the HUBZone Map Freeze
Well, summer is certainly here. You only need to step outside to be able to tell. And with the arrival of summer, the long-awaited end to the HUBZone map freeze just occurred on June 30, 2023. The new map took effect the following day, July 1, 2023. If you’re in the HUBZone progr
Koprince Law LLC · Jul 6, 2023
SmallGovCon Featured on Legally Contented Podcast
If you are in to podcasts, law firm blogs, or legal marketing, check out my appearance on the Legally Contented podcast with Wayne Pollock. Here is the YouTube version, and below are links to the audio podcast on your format of choice. In this podcast, we discuss how blogging can
Koprince Law LLC · Jul 5, 2023
SmallGovCon Week in Review: June 26-30, 2023
Happy Friday! We hope you have had a productive week. We are having a heat wave here in Kansas, with the heat index getting up to 106 degrees, and we know it’s even higher in other parts of the country. I think I speak for everyone here when I say we are grateful for air conditio
Koprince Law LLC · Jun 30, 2023
Govology Webinar: Compliant and Effective Teaming Agreements, Joint Ventures & Subcontracts – 3-Part Series (2023 Update) July 11-13, 2023, 1:00pm EDT
For large and small contractors alike, teaming agreements, joint venture agreements, and subcontracts can be essential to winning and successfully performing federal government contracts. In this three-part series, government contracts attorneys Nicole Pottroff and John Holtz wil
Koprince Law LLC · Jun 29, 2023
Recent NAICS Code Appeal Demonstrates Contractor Strategy to Limit Competition
While every federal government contractor is likely familiar with bid protests, whether directly involved in one or not, it is far less likely that those same contractors are as familiar with NAICS code appeals. This is probably due to the infrequent nature of NAICS code appeals,
Koprince Law LLC · Jun 29, 2023
Koprince McCall Pottroff LLC Announces Gregory Weber as Senior Associate Attorney!
Koprince McCall Pottroff LLC is a premier small business and federal government contracts firm in Lawrence, Kansas. The management team is pleased to announce that Gregory Weber has been promoted to the role of Senior Associate Attorney. Greg quickly integrated himself into the f
Koprince Law LLC · Jun 27, 2023
GAO: Each JV Partner’s Experience Must Be Considered
A common path for many federal contractors to bid on and perform a federal contract is through a joint venture (“JV”). Utilizing a JV can provide some great opportunities for two (or sometimes more) businesses to share resources and boost each others’ performance on a contract. A
Koprince Law LLC · Jun 26, 2023
Event Announcement: Procurement & Contracting Symposium hosted by Texas El Paso APEX Accelerators, July 25, 2023
I’m very excited to be speaking at the Procurement & Contracting Symposium held at EPCC Administrative Services Center (ASC) in El Paso, Texas on July 25. The wonderful Pablo Armendariz is putting this one together. I’ll be providing a comprehensive update on the most important g
Koprince Law LLC · Jun 26, 2023
SmallGovCon Week in Review: June 19-23, 2023
Happy Friday and happy Summer Solstice! It’s officially summer and the temperatures here in Lawrence, Kansas sure feel like it. We have been in the 90’s this week and we are certainly grateful for air conditioning (and maybe even looking forward to winter). We hope our readers ha
Koprince Law LLC · Jun 23, 2023
SBA Revisions to the “Two-Year Rule” for Joint Ventures: a Reminder to Read the Entire Rule
SBA recently revised its affiliation regulations in a number of ways, some of which we have already discussed here. We have likely sounded pretty upbeat about most of SBA’s recent updates thus far, as the majority do seem to be a step in the right direction–adding clarity to SBA’
Koprince Law LLC · Jun 22, 2023
Event: SBA Mentor Protege Program Webinar hosted by Texas El Paso APEX Accelerators, June 27, 10:00am-11:30am MDT
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 · Jun 20, 2023
Clarity is Key: An Example of Why Clear Language is Important for Showing SDVOSB Control
While SBA has taken over SDVOSB certification from the VA (along with some other rule changes), some things remain the same. One thing which we think will never change, is that making sure the language in your agreements is clear, is vital for the federal contractor (and indeed a
Koprince Law LLC · Jun 19, 2023
SmallGovCon Week in Review: June 12-16, 2023
Happy Friday! Monday is our newest federal holiday, Junteenth. Courtesy of History.com, Juneteenth (short for “June Nineteenth”) marks the day when federal troops arrived in Galveston, Texas in 1865 to take control of the state and ensure that all enslaved people be freed. The tr
Koprince Law LLC · Jun 16, 2023
Exception to the Rule: Evaluating Price at IDIQ Versus Order Level Is a Limited Exception
A recent COFC decision yielded some important insights about government contracting. We already wrote about some joint venture aspects of the decision. But the decision also touched on whether GSA’s solicitation violated federal procurement law by excluding price as an evaluation
Koprince Law LLC · Jun 15, 2023
Limitations on Subcontracting: Partial Set Asides
Subcontracting is a hot topic in the federal government contracting world. Large businesses placing bids on federal procurements are often required to have a small business subcontracting plan, while small businesses are limited to exactly how much work they can subcontract out.
Koprince Law LLC · Jun 14, 2023
SmallGovCon Week in Review: June 5-9, 2023
Happy Friday, Readers! As temperatures climb in this now official Kansas summer, so does federal government spending. But with more spending, comes more responsibility. A lot has happened this week! The FAR council proposed to ban TikTok for contractors. NASA is planning some ext
Koprince Law LLC · Jun 9, 2023
Event: Ethics in Federal Government Contracting Webinar hosted by Govology, June 15, 1:00pm EDT
Uncle Sam only wants to do business with ethical contractors — and not all of the government’s ethics rules are intuitive. In this webinar, government contracts attorney, Nicole Pottroff, explains the ins and outs of the key ethics rules contractors should know, including organiz
Koprince Law LLC · Jun 9, 2023
Back to Basics: Status Protests
In the world of Federal Government Contracting, it often feels like there are 20 different ways that your business or your business’s awards can be protested. In addition to size protests and bid protests (at both GAO and the COFC), there is also what is commonly referred to as a
Koprince Law LLC · Jun 8, 2023
GAO Sustains Protest to GSA Strategic National Stockpile Acquisition Based on Agency’s Failure to Conduct Meaningful Discussions
GAO recently sustained a bid protest to a General Services Administration (GSA) acquisition for warehousing and deployment services at the strategic national stockpile–a literal “stockpile” of the nation’s largest supply of critical pharmaceuticals, medical equipment and supplies
Koprince Law LLC · Jun 6, 2023
SmallGovCon Week in Review: May 29- June 2, 2023
Happy Friday! We hope you had a great week and can take time to enjoy your weekend. We’ve been receiving a lot of rain here in the Midwest lately. The rain gauge was completely full and topped out at 4 1/2″ in a 12 hour span of time, this past week. Everything outside is looking
Koprince Law LLC · Jun 2, 2023
Event: Limitations on Subcontracting and the Nonmanufacturing Rule Webinar hosted by Texas El Paso APEX Accelerators, June 6, 10:00-11:30am MDT
For small businesses and their teammates, few topics in government contracting are as confusing as the limitations on subcontracting for set-aside and socioeconomic sole source contracts. And if that isn’t stressful enough, the “LoS” is an area of heavy enforcement: get it wrong,
Koprince Law LLC · May 31, 2023
COFC Part II: Evaluation of Mentor-Protégé Joint Ventures
A couple of weeks ago, I explored the Court of Federal Claims case of SH Synergy, LLC v. United States. In that blog, linked below, I looked at the first question raised in the protest that centered on the question of whether a mentor with two approved mentor protégé joint ventur
Koprince Law LLC · May 30, 2023
SmallGovCon Week in Review: May 22-26, 2023
Happy Friday and we hope you are looking forward to a nice, long weekend. Monday, May 29 is Memorial Day and an official federal holiday, but do you know when and why it was established? If not, here’s a brief history lesson. After the Civil war, in late 1860s, Americans in vario
Koprince Law LLC · May 26, 2023
OASIS+ Small Business: A Preview
GSA has produced a number of successful contract vehicles over the years, one of which was the One Acquisition Solution for Integrated Solution or “OASIS.” This vehicle, used to acquire professional services (not including information technology) for the government, was so succes
Koprince Law LLC · May 25, 2023
OHA: Ill-Defined Joint Venture Agreement and State Law Requirements Means JV was Invalid
As readers of SmallGovCon know, SBA interprets its small business joint venture rules vary strictly. A small business joint venture must follow all of SBA’s requirements down to the letter, or risk being found noncompliant. In a recent case, SBA’s Office of Hearings and Appeals (
Koprince Law LLC · May 22, 2023