SBA Issues Suspension Notices to 8(a) Participants That Failed to Timely Respond to Data Call With Complete Responses: What 8(a) Participants Need to Know
SBA Acts Quickly and Issues Suspension Notices On January 21, 2026, just two days after the deadline for all 8(a) Participants to respond to a comprehensive audit (often referred to as the “8(a) Data Call”), the SBA issued Notices of Suspension to 8(a) firms for apparent failure to submit all required documentation in response...
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Protests Based on Impaired Objectivity Organizational Conflict of Interests (“OCI”) Continue to Find Success at GAO
In Solutions71, LLC: B-423671.2, GAO sustained the third impaired objectivity OCI protest within the last six months. GAO’s decision in Solutions71 joins Castro & Company, LLC: B- 423689 and DirectViz Solutions, LLC:B- 423366; B-423366.3; B-423366.4 in what has become an increasingly successful protest ground. What is an Impaired Objectivity OCI? An impaired objectivity OCI...
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Two CAS Moves in One Day: What Small Contractors Need to Know
On September 11, 2025, the Office of Management & Budget’s (“OMB”) Cost Accounting Standards Board, which is chaired by the Office of Federal Procurement Policy (“OFPP”), dropped two important updates: A final rule that simplifies how revenue and leases are handled under CAS; and A proposed rule that would scale back or align four...
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Federal Circuit, Sitting En Banc, Reverses Landmark Panel Decision on Bid Protest Standing
Back in June 2024, we wrote about a 3-judge panel’s holding in Percipient.AI, Inc. v. United States, 104 F.4th 839 (Fed. Cir. 2024), that a contractor was permitted to bring a bid protest against the government alleging violations of a procurement statute even though it did not “challenge a contract, proposed contract, or solicitation...
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Bid Protests at the Government Accountability Office (GAO)
Congress established the Government Accountability Office in 1921 to act as a source of objective, non-partisan information on government operations, most importantly, the executive branch. This authority extends to the review of federal government contracts—whether federally appropriated funds are being properly spent and whether procurements are being conducted fairly so as to bring the...
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Guide for Forming an 8(a) Native Hawaiian Owned Small Business
Are you a Native-Hawaiian Owned (“NHO”) business interested in applying for the Small Business Administration (“SBA”) 8(a) Development Program (“8(a) Program”)? Ward and Berry provides this brief informative guide as to the legal framework and regulations for becoming an NHO (as defined by the SBA) and applying for the 8(a) Program. Under 13...
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