October 2018 - page 2

When preparing a proposal for a Government solicitation, ensuring that your product or service meets all of the requirements specified by the Government’s solicitation is essential. Simple enough, right?

Source: When You Assume: Proposals Don’t Automatically Include “Industry Standards” | SmallGovCon – Government Contracts Law Blog

Ever since the Supreme Court’s Kingdomware decision was handed down in 2016, an important question has remained: who has priority at the VA for items on the AbilityOne List?

Yesterday, the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals provided the answer. The VA is required to prioritize service-disabled veteran-owned or veteran-owned small businesses when the Rule of Two is met, even when it buys items on the AbilityOne List.

Source: Federal Circuit Affirms SDVOSB Priority Over AbilityOne | SmallGovCon – Government Contracts Law Blog

The Air Force’s large NETCENTS-2 IDIQ vehicle did not require orders to be set-aside under the small business pool, except for orders valued between the micro-purchase threshold and simplified acquisition threshold.

In a recent decision, the GAO held that although the NETCENTS-2 contract in question says that Contracting Officers “should” perform a “rule of two” small business set-aside analysis for orders valued over the simplified acquisition threshold, it does not require that such an analysis be performed–meaning that Contracting Officers can validly award such orders to large businesses, even if two or more small business NETCENTS-2 holders exist.

Source: Small Business Set-Asides Not Required Under NETCENTS-2, Says GAO | SmallGovCon – Government Contracts Law Blog

In order to protest a procurement at GAO, the protester must be an “interested party.” An interested party is an “actual or prospective bidder or offeror whose direct economic interest would be affected by the award of the contract or by the failure to award the contract.”

But does the identity of the protester have to be the same as the offeror under the procurement? GAO recently offered some guidance on that question.

Source: GAO: Protester Identity Must Match Offeror Identity | SmallGovCon – Government Contracts Law Blog

The Buy American Act generally requires construction contractors to use domestically-made materials, unless an exception applies. One important exception allows contractors to use foreign-produced materials when the cost of domestic material is six percent more expensive. To quality under this exception, however, a contractor must provide certain information outlined by the FAR with its bid.

Source: GAO: Bid Was Responsive Despite Missing Information Regarding Buy American Act Exception | SmallGovCon – Government Contracts Law Blog