Government Contracts

A “small business concern” is eligible for certain Federal programs, including the All Small Mentor-Protégé Program, and for certain Federal contracts and subcontracts.  Often times, the question of whether your business qualifies as small is a straightforward question of your revenue, or how many employees you have.  This article introduces the concept of affiliation,...

On February 19, 2021, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD) withdrew an opinion letter that had previously provided guidance on when certain businesses may classify workers as independent contractors under federal wage and hour laws. Opinion letter FLSA 2019-6, issued in 2019 during the Trump Administration, had given employers a...

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...