New Advisory Ruling on Substantial Transformation of Software

Amy Spencer

Bulletin:  If you have a contract governed by the Trade Agreements Act (“TAA”), you know that each line item on that contract needs to be either manufactured or “substantially transformed” in the United States or a TAA designated country.  The substantial transformation test is often a matter of degree and is far from black and [...]

02/25/2013

Federal Government to Implement SAM in Late July: Goodbye CCR, ORCA and EPLS!

C. Kelly Kroll

Bulletin: SAM stands for the System for Award Management and is the latest online government procurement tool. SAM will eventually combine nine federal procurement systems into one. Phase 1 of the SAM implementation is expected at the end of July 2012 and will combine Central Contractor Registration (“CCR”), Online Representations and Certifications (“ORCA”) and the [...]

06/20/2012

GSA Plans to Close Certain Special Item Numbers Under the Multiple Award Schedule Program to New Offerors

C. Kelly Kroll

Bulletin: Last week the General Services Administration (“GSA”) made public its intention to close out certain Special Item Numbers (“SINs”) under its popular Multiple Award Schedule (“MAS”) program. The SIN’s to be eliminated are those that GSA deems to be part of an “ever shrinking market.” In his statement to the House Small Business Subcommittee [...]

06/13/2012

Small Business Set-Asides Now Allowed Under the GSA Schedule Program

Andrew Mohr

Synopsis: For decades now, GSA and SBA have fervently argued over the application of the Small Business Act’s small business set-aside rule to the GSA Schedule program. SBA claimed that the requirement to set-aside procurements valued between $3,000 and $100,000 exclusively for small businesses applied to GSA Schedule task orders under a clear reading of [...]

01/01/2012

GAO Permits Task Order Protests Under $10 Million In Civilian Agency Contracts – At Least for Now

David Cohen

In a major ruling on June 14, 2011, the Government Accountability Office significantly expanded the range of task orders that are subject to protest.

11/23/2011

E Stands for (Just About) Everything

Andrew Mohr

Synopsis: About five or six years ago, we wrote about the steadily growing E-Government trend as evidenced by the numerous websites the government was using to effectuate E-Procurement such as eOffer, eBuy, and eLibrary.  Back then we looked through our crystal ball and predicted that a day would come when doing business with the federal [...]

02/14/2011

The Service Contract Act and GSA Schedules – Yes, It Does Apply (But It May Not Affect You)

Andrew Mohr

Synopsis: Many GSA Schedule contractors operate under the mistaken belief that the Service Contract Act (“SCA”) does not apply to GSA Schedules. In fact, until just recently, there were also many GSA Schedule Contracting Officers that believed the same thing. The Department of Labor (“DOL”), Wage and Hour Division, however, will tell you otherwise. With [...]

08/19/2010

So You Want Service? All Service Orders Are Not the Same

Andrew Mohr

Synopsis: No matter what an ordering activity may tell you, not all GSA Schedule task orders for services are issued on the same basis. The underlying terms and conditions of most GSA Schedule contracts allow for three different types of task orders: Time-and-Materials (“T&M”), Labor-Hour (“LH”) and Firm-Fixed Price (“FFP”). Understanding the differences among these [...]

02/09/2010

Government Video Expo 2009 GSA Schedules Presentation

Andrew Mohr

This presentation, given at the 2009 GV Expo, covers the basics of GSA Schedule contracts and highlights latest trends in GSA Schedule contracting including compliance issues associated with almost all GSA Schedule contracts.

12/09/2009

E-Verify Rules Delayed Again

John O'Brien

E-Verify Rules to go into effect September 8, 2009.

07/26/2009