By Carol L. O’Riordan We have recently discussed provisions in the Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) concerning the percentage of work that a small business must perform itself rather than subcontract out, in order to comply with small business self-performance mandates. This is the so-called limitation on subcontracting rule. A contractor must ask: What percentage of...
Tag: Small business
Lessons to Be Learned From Avon’s FCPA Experience
Avon Products Inc. announced recently that it could face penalties from the U.S. Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission for alleged violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). The beauty products company faces an ongoing government investigation of its alleged payment of bribes in China and other countries that it paid...
SEC Set to Create New Rules on ‘Crowdfunding’
This is the second blog post in our series about new federal regulatory initiatives in the first half of 2014. The U S. Securities and Exchange Commission has issued a notice of proposed rulemaking that will help implement a new law that permits “crowdfunding” on a limited basis for the sale of securities. Under Title...
Congress Changes Key Calculation in Small Business Contracting Program
The Small Business Act, as is well known, sets aside certain federal contracts for small businesses. But how much of the contract work must the small business perform? Can it subcontract any of the work to a larger business? What limitations are there on subcontracting? Of course it can subcontract – but the law provides...
New Rule Will Help Small Businesses Get Fair Share of Subcontracts
For many federal government contracts, the prime contractor is required by law to certify that it has included small businesses in its subcontracting plan. But what happens when the contract work begins and ends, and the small business subcontractor doesn’t actually have the opportunity to be involved in the work? On August 15, a new...
D.C. Falls Short on Small Business Contract Goals, But What Does This Mean?
The Washington Business Journal reported the other day that the D.C. government fell far short of reaching a statutory goal related to its efforts to contract with small businesses, according to a report from the D.C. Auditor. Under a law adopted in 2005, each D.C. agency is required to spend half of the dollar volume...
D.C.-Area Company Is Stripped of “HUBZone” Designation by SBA
While we support the various programs for granting preferences in federal contracting to companies in traditionally disadvantaged groups such as women, minorities, and disabled veterans, it is also critical that potential contractors not abuse the preferences that Congress has granted. Although this type of abuse is not nearly as common as some in the media...
Bill Would Open New Opportunities for Small Business Contracting
Right now, if a federal agency brings in a subcontractor to a project that itself subcontracts to another company, all the dollars that flow to that second-tier subcontractor, if it’s a small business, are able to “count” against the agency’s goal of contracting with small businesses. And that’s how it should be. However, the prime...
Why Has Participation in 8(a) Program Declined Recently?
According to a recent article in FedScoop, there has been a recent decline in the number of companies that are participating in the Small Business Administration’s 8(a) and HUBZone set-aside programs, and the SBA is planning some targeted recruitment efforts to increase the number of companies in the programs. That’s not necessarily all bad news,...
This Newspaper ‘Expose’ May Show Nothing But Good Business Practices
In an April 10, 2013, article entitled “Minority contractors ‘game the system,’ find havens in DC homes,” two reporters for The Washington Times wrote what they evidently believed to be an expose of the District of Columbia’s Certified Business Enterprise (CBE) program, which is designed to help small, local, and minority-owned businesses. The article, by...