A recent decision from the Virginia Supreme Court further weakens the enforceability of teaming agreements, which may mean trouble for prospective subcontractors, according to an alert from Baker & Hostetler.

The post explains:

“In light of CGI Federal, contractors should assess whether they can reasonably rely on the terms and conditions of their teaming agreements to provide meaningful assurances regarding the negotiation of a prospective subcontract without binding themselves to more definite terms prior to any prime award, at least under Virginia law. Accordingly, unless contractors wish to consider the law of other forums when negotiating their teaming agreements, they must pay close attention to the specific terms and conditions of their contracts when evaluating what is and is not enforceable and govern their pre-award conduct accordingly.”

Read the article.

Fox Rothschild LLP has posted its Federal Contractors’ Guide to Small Business Administration Set-Aside Contracts, Size Standards, Size Protests, and Affiliation.

The federal government sets aside a significant portion of its procurement dollars each year for purchasing goods and services from small businesses. Small business set-aside procurements and small business contract awards (“Set-Aside Procurements” and “Set-Aside Contracts,” respectively) provide substantial opportunities for a certified small business concern (SBC) to compete for and perform federal contract work. However, SBCs awarded Set-Aside Contracts are frequently subjected to size protests filed with the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) by disappointed competitors looking to challenge the awardee’s size, and if successful, to disqualify the awardee from the procurement.

The Fox Rothschild LLP Guide advises federal contractors on the following issues and concepts:

●SBA Set-Aside Procurements, Set-Aside Contracts, and Size Standards;
●The parameters and purposes for SBA size protests, how they are filed, and how contractors can avoid and defend against such protests; and
●The parameters of SBA affiliation, which contractors can use to challenge Large Businesses masquerading as small business concerns, and, as importantly, must understand to protect themselves from being adversely affected by a finding of affiliation at the hands of a size protest.

Download the guide.

The State Department will be improving transparency in its requirements for contractor cooperation with its Office of Inspector General, according to Federal News Radio.

“While the Foreign Affairs Manual authorizes the OIG to access a contractor’s documents and interview its employees during the scope of an investigation, that provision is not currently explicitly expressed in the contracts signed by vendors,” writes David Thornton. “The OIG and the department are moving to correct this issue, and hopefully head off any further confusion or misunderstandings.”

The change is intended to head off problems such as the one seen earlier this year when a contractor would not comply with requests for an IT audit of security controls.

Read the article.

Washington Technology will present a complimentary webinar on Jan. 25, 2018, to discuss new compliance requirements for securing government data contractor networks. The webinar will begin at 2 p.m. Eastern time.

Speakers for the one-hour event will be Ron Ross of NIST; Maria Proestou, CEO of Delta Resources; and Susan Cassidy, partner, Covington & Burling.

Government and industry experts will:

• Offer advice and guidance on what contractors should be doing to ensure compliance.
• Provide insights on best practices in areas such as training, risk management and planning for in the future.
• Help to prepare attendees for meeting this requirement and maintaining compliance for their government customers.

Register for the webinar.