Office of Hearing and Appeals (OHA) Year-In-Review: Impactful Decisions from 2021
Any acquisition involving a small business government contractor comes with a host of questions concerning what effect, if any, the transaction may have on the small business’s size and status post-closing. ...more
In January, the OMB implemented the following new policies designed to strengthen the federal contracting system. On January 10, 2023, the OMB issued a memorandum on the subject of Strengthening Support for Federal...more
The Small Business Administration’s (SBA) popular shields from affiliation for all-small and mentor-protégé joint ventures are powerful tools for helping small businesses succeed in the federal procurement marketplace. These...more
In an unusual turn of events, the SBA Office of Hearings and Appeals (OHA) recently reversed course and granted a Petition for Reconsideration in a case involving a challenge to the Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small...more
Veteran-Owned Business Priority - In 2016, the U.S. Supreme Court surprised many by hearing a bid protest concerning the application of the "Rule of Two" for veteran-owned small businesses in procurements run by the U.S....more
If you are a government contractor, chances are that you have been involved in – or at least are familiar with – bid protests. If you are a small business, it’s likely that you are also familiar with size or status protests,...more
The recent decision in CVE Appeal of Valor Construction, Inc, SBA No CVE-121-A (June 3, 2019) provides a useful reminder to contractors regarding the difference between unconditional ownership and unconditional control, and...more
U.S. Small Business Administration (“SBA”) regulations require that mentor-protégé and socioeconomic joint ventures designate the protégé or socioeconomic member as the “managing venturer” of the joint venture. However, the...more
The essential elements of the government’s Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) program are ownership and control of the business by a qualifying service-disabled veteran of the U.S. military. A recent...more
Published by Set-Aside Alert: The Small Business Administration's regulations require a concern to recertify its small business and/or socio-economic size status (1) within 30 days of an approved contract novation; (2) within...more
Starting October 1, 2018, the U.S. Small Business Administration’s (“SBA”) Office of Hearings and Appeals (“OHA”) now has jurisdiction over all service-disabled veteran-owned small business (“SDVOSB”) status protests when the...more
The Small Business Administration (SBA) Office of Hearings and Appeals (OHA) recently issued what appears to be its first ever decision on a bid protest challenging a company’s eligibility for participation in the Department...more
Between new regulations from the Small Business Administration (SBA) and decisions from the SBA's Office of Hearings and Appeals (OHA), the limits of acceptable actions by small business owners set on maintaining their small...more
Starting on October 1st, SBA began hearing protests challenging an apparent awardee’s eligibility for inclusion in the VA Center for Verification and Evaluation (“CVE”) database and, in turn, its eligibility for a VA SDVOSB...more
In the Matter of ASIRTek Federal Services, LLC, SBA No. VET-269 (2018), SBA found that the apparent awardee of a contract set aside for service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses (“SDVOSB”) was ineligible as an offeror...more
The Small Business Administration (SBA) issued a Direct Final Rule on March 26, 2018 that appears to address a specific holding of SBA’s Office of Hearings and Appeals (OHA) related to small business recertification rules. ...more
Earlier this year, the Small Business Administration’s (“SBA”) Office of Hearings and Appeals (“OHA”) ruled that recertification by a Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (“SDVOSB”) following its acquisition by a...more
In a noteworthy decision earlier this year, the Small Business Administration’s (“SBA”) Office of Hearings and Appeals (“OHA”) confirmed the broad nature of SBA’s general rule that a contractor maintains its size and...more
Published by Set-Aside Newsletter: The new year brought a ruling from the Small Business Administration's Office of Hearings and Appeals (OHA) clarifying the effect of SBA's recertification rules. These rules require...more
In a recent case with wide-ranging implications, the Small Business Administration’s (“SBA”) Office of Hearings and Appeals (“OHA”) confirmed the broad nature of SBA’s general rule that a contractor maintains its size and...more
On January 29, 2018, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) proposed to significantly amend its regulations to standardize and clarify the ownership and control standards required for qualifying as either a...more
This is the first blog post by Holland & Knight’s newest government contracts attorney; Mitchell Bashur. Mitchell focuses his practice on government contracts and has extensive experience with protests, small and...more
In late October 2017, the period to comment on SBA’s proposed rule to amend the SBA Office of Hearings and Appeals (“OHA”) rules of practice to implement provisions of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year...more
SBA’s Office of Hearings and Appeals recently issued a surprising decision finding that the mentor-protégé affiliation exemption does not excuse program-specific requirements for SDVOSB joint ventures. OHA agreed with SBA’s...more
What may be standard in the corporate world can severely disrupt set-aside status in the highly-regulated government contract space. Take the recently-decided case of Precise Systems. ...more