Late last year, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) issued a lengthy final rule that made changes to various SBA regulations. While the SBA highlighted its changes to the Mentor-Protégé program, the rule will have wide-ranging impacts on small business contracting, including the treatment of a small business offeror’s capabilities, past performance, and experience.

Prior to the issuance of the SBA’s new rule, FAR 15.305(a)(2)(iii) stated that an agency “should” consider the past performance of key subcontractors, but the use of “should” left agencies with broad discretion to consider (or not consider) subcontractor past performance. In many cases, agencies still issued solicitations that explicitly precluded consideration of subcontractor experience. Such limitations prevented small business offerors from using key subcontractors or a teaming arrangement to establish the required experience and past performance.
Continue Reading SBA Changes Ensure Small Businesses Can Utilize Teaming Arrangements and Subcontractor Experience

This is the first in a series of three articles brought to you by Maria L. Panichelli and Edward T. DeLisle for GovBizConnect, an online professional network for government contracting professionals. 

Originally published on the GovBizConnect website.

Welcome to the first installment of our three-part series, Key Considerations in Small Business Teaming: How to Form a Productive Partnership While Safeguarding your Interests and Protecting your Small Business Eligibility. Today, we will be focusing on the differences between teaming arrangements and joint ventures. Check back soon for our next two installments, which will address: (1) avoiding the common pitfalls of teaming; and (2) how to draft an enforceable teaming agreement that will protect your interests.


Continue Reading Key Considerations in Small Business Teaming: Part 1 – Teaming vs. Joint Venturing

Associated General Contractors of America & Cohen Seglias Webinar

AGC_Logo_0On October 6th, join Partner Ed DeLisle for the Associated General Contractors of America webinar, “What all Federal Contractors—Big and Small—Need to Know about the New SBA Mentor-Protégé Program & Other Small Business Changes.” For more information, and to register for this event, please visit the AGC of America website.Continue Reading What all Federal Contractors Need to Know about the New SBA Mentor-Protégé Program & Other Small Business Changes

WeOnviaLegalLandscapelcome to the third edition of Legal Landscape, a series we have developed with Onvia’s blog to provide government contractors with a quick, but thorough, summary of important legal developments and regulations in government contracting, as well as a plain-English explanation of how those developments may affect contractors at all levels of government. In this issue, we discuss recent trends in federal, state and local government contracting. Contractors should keep in mind that state and local agencies often look to changes in federal regulations as a guide for future changes at their respective levels. Changes recently made in the federal arena are likely to trickle down to state and local governments soon.

Continue Reading Legal Landscape: Top News in the Mentor-Protégé Program, Bond Claims & DBE Fraud

Please join us on NoveNVSBE logomber 18th and 19th for Maria Panichelli’s three seminars at the 2015 National Veterans Small Business Engagement in Pittsburgh, PA. To view the dates and times of Maria’s seminars, and to register, visit the NVSBE website
Continue Reading The 2015 National Veterans Small Business Engagement

The SBA is on a roll!  It seems that ringing in the new year has invigorated the agency, prompting it to act on the various outstanding directives set forth in the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2013 (“NDAA”).

Game_Changer

Last Thursday, the agency issued its long-awaited proposed rule on the expansion of the Mentor-Protégé

Here we are and it’s already the middle of February, 2014. We’ve gotten off to a bit of a slow start on our blog this year, but that’s about to change. The delay in posting new information has, in large part, been due to the tremendous up-tick of activity in the world of federal government

By: Michael H. Payne and Edward T. DeLisle

The U.S. Small Business Administration published a package of final rules on February 11, 2011, that will revise the regulations of its 8(a) Business Development program to better ensure that the benefits flow to the intended recipients and help prevent waste, fraud and abuse. The rules were published