Effective January 6, 2007, the Boards of Contract Appeals for the General Services Administration, the Departments of Agriculture, Energy, Housing and Urban Development, Interior, Labor, Transportation, and Veterans Affairs will cease to exist and will become part of the new Civilian Board of Contract Appeals. All of the judges of these boards and their pending cases
Federal Procurement Policy
Technical Assistance Guide for Federal Construction Contractors
The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) has published a Technical Assistance Guide designed to help federal government construction contractors and subcontractors comply with the federal laws and regulations that prohibit government contractors from discriminating in employment, and require that they undertake affirmative action to ensure equal employment opportunity in their workforces. It is intended for government contractors who have construction contracts and/or subcontracts. The obligations of government contractors and subcontractors who hold non-construction contracts differ in significant ways and are covered in a separate guide.
This Guide does not create new legal requirements or change current legal requirements. Instead, it reflects the views of OFCCP and is intended to serve as a basic resource document on OFCCP-administered laws. The legal requirements related to equal employment opportunity that apply to Federal supply and service contractors are contained in the statutes, executive orders, and regulations cited in the Guide. Every effort has been made to insure that the information contained in the Guide is accurate and up to date.Continue Reading Technical Assistance Guide for Federal Construction Contractors
New SBA Regulations Require Small Businesses to Recertify After Five Years
By Michael H. Payne on
A new regulation announced by the Small Business Administration on November 15, 2006, to be effective on June 30, 2007, requires small businesses to recertify their size when they are purchased by or merged with a larger business, or at the end of the five-year point of a contract. The rules are intended to help small businesses obtain more federal contracts and to assure that contracts set aside for small businesses are not going to larger companies. As reported in the Thompson West publication, the Government Contractor Online Update, “According to SBA Administrator Steven Preston, the changes “will go a long way toward ensuring that contract awards get in the hands of small business owners, federal agencies get the proper credit toward their small business contracting goals and small business contracts are fairly and accurately reported..’”
There are critics of the new policy, however, who contend that the SBA has not gone far enough to prevent larges businesses from intruding into the small business marketplace. The American Small Business League has commented that “A new policy proposed by the Small Business Administration (SBA) and the Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP) will allow the government to continue reporting awards to large companies as federal small business contracts.” (See the full article).
Pertinent parts of the new regulation are as follows:Continue Reading New SBA Regulations Require Small Businesses to Recertify After Five Years