By Oles Morrison on December 2, 2015 | Posted in Legislative and Regulatory Developments
As many readers may know, in February 2015, the U.S. Small Business Administration (“SBA”) released its proposed rule to establish a mentor-protégé program for all small businesses. Currently available only to participants of the SBA’s 8(a) Program, the SBA’s proposed rule would create a new mentor-protégé program open to all […]
By PaperStreet Web Design on November 18, 2015 | Posted in Bid Protests
The deadline for the submission of proposals in response to a RFP is looming. The proposal team is frantically using the last moments before the submission deadline to ensure that every component of their proposal is perfect. Inevitably, nothing becomes more important than ensuring that the proposal is correctly submitted […]
By Oles Morrison on November 4, 2015 | Posted in Bid Protests
A recent decision by GAO in FedServ-RBS JV, LLC, B-411790, provides yet another reminder to 8(a) joint ventures to submit proposed joint venture agreements to the U.S. Small Business Administration (“SBA”) for approval as early as possible. This case shows that waiting until the last minute to submit your joint venture agreement to SBA […]
By Howard W. Roth on October 29, 2015 | Posted in Claims and Disputes
On October 20, 2015, the Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals (ASBCA) released its Annual Report of Transactions and Proceedings for the fiscal year ending 30 September 2015. The report indicates that the number of appeals pending have more than doubled since 2011, but that the increase has slowed considerably […]
By Oles Morrison on October 15, 2015 | Posted in Bid Protests
A recent Government Accountability Office (GAO) bid protest decision provides yet another example of the importance for contractors to identify potential organizational conflicts of interest (OCI) when submitting a proposal in response to a federal government solicitation. In DV United, LLC, B-411620, B-411620.2, Sept. 16, 2015, GAO denied a bid protest […]
By PaperStreet Web Design on October 7, 2015 | Posted in Legislative and Regulatory Developments
Yesterday, the Small Business Administration (“SBA”) issued a proposed rule to amend its regulations to implement Section 1614 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2014 (the “2014 NDAA”). The amendment proposes to expand the credit prime contractors may receive towards their small business subcontracting goals for subcontracts […]
By Oles Morrison on October 6, 2015 | Posted in Bid Protests
Have you ever had a contract dispute and looked back at the contract only to realize that you hadn’t contemplated that type of dispute occurring, and the contract is essentially silent on the issue? It seems that this is the type of situation that GAO recently encountered with its bid protest regulations. Unfortunately, this […]
By Oles Morrison on October 1, 2015 | Posted in Bid Protests
In a recent bid protest decision, Coulson Aviation (USA), Inc., the Government Accountability Office (“GAO”) injected uncertainty regarding informal communications between a prospective offeror and the agency expressing concern about a solicitation provision. Unfortunately, this decision may punish contractors that seek to resolve concerns about a solicitation outside the protest […]
By Oles Morrison on June 2, 2015 | Posted in Suspension and Debarment
Last week we discussed the FY2014 Interagency Suspension and Debarment Committee Report released in April, and discussed how the data in that report is compiled. This week we are breaking down the numbers in the report. FY 2014 saw an increase in overall numbers of suspensions, proposed debarments, and debarments. There […]
By Oles Morrison on May 28, 2015 | Posted in Suspension and Debarment
It’s the time of year again to obsess over numbers that are mostly irrelevant. On April 1, the Interagency Suspension and Debarment Committee released its FY2014 report releasing the number of exclusion actions government-wide that agencies initiated. These numbers include suspensions, proposed debarments, and debarments as well as administrative agreements. […]
By Oles Morrison on April 21, 2015 | Posted in Suspension and Debarment
In the previous post, the World Bank’s system for debarment was discussed. This post discusses the collateral impacts of a World Bank debarment in the context of the World Bank’s debarment of Alstom SA. What did the World Bank debarment of Alstom mean in the broader context of international procurement? […]
By Oles Morrison on April 1, 2015 | Posted in Suspension and Debarment
On February 25, 2015, the World Bank lifted its debarment of Alstom SA. The company had been debarred after it was discovered it had made improper payments for consultant services to an entity controlled by a former senior government official on a World Bank-finance project in Zambia in 2002. The terms of the debarment required […]
By Oles Morrison on January 15, 2015 | Posted in Suspension and Debarment
This month I wanted share an article I recently found on the OECD Foreign Bribery Report, written by Richard Bistrong. Mr. Bistrong is a former international sales executive who himself was convicted of bribery and debarred, and Mr. Bistrong spent 14 ½ months in prison. Prior to his conviction, Mr. […]
By Howard W. Roth on January 13, 2015 | Posted in Bid Protests
Last month, the U.S. Court of Federal Claims denied a post-award bid protest of a contract set aside by the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) for AbilityOne Program contractors. The court found the government correctly considered the impact of the award on the incumbent contractor, an Alaska Native Corporation (ANC), and […]
By Oles Morrison on January 9, 2015 | Posted in Legislative and Regulatory Developments
Back in September 2014, NASA awarded contracts to Boeing and SpaceX to provide Commercial Crew Transportation Capability (aka space shuttle services) to transport astronauts to/from the International Space Station by 2017. Subsequently, Sierra Nevada, who submitted a proposal but was not awarded a contract, filed a protest at GAO challenging the […]