A little over a week ago I had the privilege of speaking at the Associated General Contractors of America’s national convention in Las Vegas. I was asked by the Director of the Heavy Highway and Federal Division to address a number of “hot topics” in the world of federal contracting. Over the next several weeks,

On June 28, 2013, the Small Business Administration (“SBA”) issued a Final Rule relating to the penalties involved when a contractor misrepresents its small business size status. While the current regulations provide that a contractor might suffer certain penalties for “knowingly misrepresenting” its small business status, they offer little guidance concerning what those penalties might

It’s not all that surprising when contactors question the Department of Veterans Affairs’ authority, especially those who are denied SDVOSB verification.  It’s a little surprising, however, when members of Congress do it.  Late last month, two congressmen explicitly challenged the VA’s management structure, which could have an impact on how the verification process operates in

By: Edward T. DeLisle & Craig Schroeder

Last year, the United States Association of Veterans in Business (“USAVETBIZ”) urged Congress for a government-wide preference in contracting and set-aside programs that extended the existing preference for service-disabled veteran owned small businesses (“SDVOSB”) to all veteran-owned small businesses.  While that has not happened yet, the set aside

By: Edward T. DeLisle

On August 27th, we posted an article regarding the recent Court of Federal Claims case, DGR Associates, Inc. v. United States. In that case, the protesting contractor took the position that the government agency, the Air Force, failed to follow the direction of Congress in determining how to set aside

By: Edward T. DeLisle

On August 13th, the Court of Federal Claims temporarily ended a controversy regarding how agencies go about setting aside contracts for certain qualified small businesses. DGR Associates, Inc. v. United States involved a decision by the Air Force to issue a set aside contract for qualified 8(a) companies. The project involved housing maintenance