2021

The All Small Mentor-Protégé Program (“All Small”) is a small business development program administered by the U.S. Small Business Administration (“SBA”).  Through this program, a small business can team up with a large business and use the large business’s experience and resources, to aid in their own development and to assist their entry into...

Small government contractors are in an unenviable position when it comes to developing effective ethics and compliance programs. On the one hand, profit margins are low, competition is fierce, and financial and personnel resources are scarce -- particularly for tasks that do not contribute immediately to the bottom line. On the other hand, government...

Federal contractors must know the requirements for maintaining records pertaining to work performed on federal contracts. Unfortunately, there’s not one definitive answer on how long a record should be kept. Often, the first step for determining how long a record must be kept is identifying what type of records your organization creates and maintains...

The Minority Small Business and Capital Ownership Development Program—commonly known as the “8(a) Program”—provides participating small businesses with training, technical assistance, and contracting opportunities in the form of set-aside and sole-source awards. The SBA administers the 8(a) Program.  Eligibility for the program is generally limited to small businesses “unconditionally owned and controlled by one...

One of the main reasons why contractors choose to file bid protests at the Government Accountability Office (GAO) is the automatic stay of performance required by the Competition in Contracting Act (CICA) – more commonly known as a “CICA stay.” The Competition in Contracting Act requires the contracting officer to immediately stay performance if...

Kathleen Hicks, the Biden Administration’s nominee for Deputy Defense Secretary, expressed criticism this week for the current “use or lose” culture in defense budgeting. "If the incentive structure is you only get your money if you spend it inefficiently and hold on to it and hide the ball, you'll never get the business reform...