Georgia Tech Procurement Assistance Center

CVE verification pointer: remember to provide truthful information

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In government contracting—as in life—it’s important to be honest.  And in our experience, most government contractors are honest.  Where a contractor is dishonest or untruthful, it can face significant sanctions.

So it was in a recent SBA Office of Hearings and Appeals decision, in which the OHA considered the cancellation of an entity’s SDVOSB status.  In CVE Appeal of Afily8 Government Solutions, LLC, SBA No. CVE-125-A (2019), the OHA affirmed the cancellation of Afily8’s SDVOSB verification based on concerns that Afily8 did not provide truthful information to the VA’s Center for Verification and Evaluation.

Continue reading at:  SmallGovCon

If you’re working on a military installation, don’t lose your base access

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In the classic 1993 movie Gettysburg, Colonel Joshua Chamberlain, a great American hero (played by Jeff Daniels), commented on the power wielded by military commanders, particularly generals:  “Generals can do anything.  Nothing quite so much like God on Earth as a general on a battlefield.”

It turns out that this this power extends to actions that might affect your Government contract.  For instance, a base commander can revoke a contractor’s access to the base; if that happens, and the contract required the contractor to maintain base access eligibility, the Government can rightly terminate the contract for default.

Continue reading at:  SmallGovCon

 

Small businesses struggle to climb the FedRAMP

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Small businesses need lawmakers to ease barriers to product authorization through the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program, according to industry and federal CIOs speaking before Congress.

FedRAMP is the entity charged with evaluating security and authorizing cloud products.  During a House Subcommittee on Government Operations hearing on the program, CIOs noted challenges for small business in getting offerings approved, such as a lack of transparency with the length of the process and cost.

Or some don’t know it exists it all.

“A lot of small businesses are unaware of the process itself, the security requirements that we have,” said Anil Cheriyan, the director of technology transformation services at the General Services Administration.

It took 20 months for Virtru, a small data protection start-up, to get its product FedRAMP authorized for a federal agency to use, according to testimony from Virtru’s CTO Will Ackerly.  From the beginning, he said, “it was also unclear upon entering the process how long it would take.”  The process cost the company $1.6 million, he told lawmakers.

Entering the FedRAMP approval process can be a “high-risk decision for most small companies” because of the cost “when combined with unknown timelines,” he said.

Looking back, Ackerly said that if his company hadn’t received an agency sponsorship to go through the FedRAMP process, it may not have made it through.

Continue reading at:  Federal Times

Five ways small, minority-owned construction firms can build success

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To spread the economic benefits that construction projects generate more fairly across communities, government agencies reserve some public work for contractors owned or operated by traditionally disadvantaged groups.

Federal, state and even city and county agencies have special programs that give qualified minority and woman-owned business enterprises (MWBEs) and other disadvantaged business enterprises (DBEs), such as service-disabled veterans, a chance to bid on and win certain construction projects ranging from small to mega.  That is, if they are certified.

The Small Business Administration, for example, runs the 8(a) certification program, which is probably the most well-known among government contractors, but other agencies have renditions as well.  Most certifying agencies require that a qualified business be owned by at least 51% minority or disadvantaged owners.

African Americans, Hispanics, Native Americans, Asian-Pacific and Subcontinent Asian Americans and women are presumed to be socially and economically disadvantaged, according to the federal government.  Other individuals can also qualify as socially and economically disadvantaged on a case-by-case basis.

But while certification provides some opportunities, it doesn’t mean that MWBEs and DBEs get to skip over all the hard work that goes into building a business.  “That’s not the way it works,” said Dan Moncrief III, CEO and chairman of certified minority commercial contractor McDaniel’s Construction Corp. in Columbus, Ohio, and president of the National Association of Minority Contractors.

“You have to work harder than you’ve ever worked and stay up later than you’ve ever stayed up to get your first job,” he said.  “And once you get a first job, it may be a long time before you get the second one.  So, it’s a constant grind.  If you don’t have the fortitude for it, you might want to do something else.”

Continue reading at:  Construction Dive

Congressional Research Service issues report on HUBZone program

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The Historically Underutilized Business Zone Empowerment Contracting (HUBZone) program provides participating small businesses located in areas with low income, high poverty, or high unemployment with contracting opportunities in the form of set-asides, sole-source awards, and price-evaluation preferences.  Its primary objectives are job creation and increased capital investment in distressed communities.  Firms must be certified by the SBA to participate in the program.  As of July 5, 2019, the SBA’s Dynamic Small Business Search database included 6,897 firms with active HUBZone certifications.

In FY2018, the federal government awarded $9.8 billion to HUBZone-certified businesses.  About $2.3 billion of that amount was awarded with a HUBZone preference ($2.1 billion through a HUBZone set-aside, $112.6 million through a HUBZone sole-source award, and $100.7 million through a HUBZone price-evaluation preference).  About $1.8 billion was awarded to HUBZone certified businesses in open competition with other firms.  The remaining $5.7 billion was awarded with another small business preference (e.g., set aside and sole source awards for small business generally and for 8(a), women-owned, and service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses).

The HUBZone program’s administrative cost is about $8.4 million annually.  It received an appropriation of $3.0 million for FY2019, with the additional cost of administering the program provided by the SBA’s appropriation for salaries and general administrative expenses.  Congressional interest in the HUBZone program has increased in recent years, primarily due to GAO reports of fraud in the program and efforts by small businesses to ease HUBZone eligibility requirements.

This report examines arguments both for and against targeting assistance to geographic areas with specified characteristics as opposed to providing assistance to people or businesses with specified characteristics.  It then assesses the arguments both for and against the continuation of the HUBZone program.

The report also discusses the HUBZone program’s structure and operation, focusing on the definition of HUBZone areas and HUBZone small businesses and the program’s performance relative to federal contracting goals.  It includes an analysis of the SBA’s administration of the program and the SBA’s performance measures.

Continue reading at:  https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R41268

Will defense contractors be ready for CMMC?

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Defense contractors will face big changes and tight timelines over the next year as the Department of Defense rolls out its new Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification framework, experts say.

The framework, which aims to certify a company’s compliance with federal cybersecurity regulations around controlled unclassified information (CUI), was announced by DOD officials in June.  It will be used to evaluate and rate contractors’ ability to protect sensitive data on a 1-5 scale starting next year.

The initial version of the framework is scheduled to go public in January 2020.  By June 2020, its requirements will start appearing in requests for information, and will become a regular feature of defense procurement by September 2020.  That means defense contractors will have less than eight months to implement changes for compliance with the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement and National Institute of Standards and Technology guidance on protecting CUI.

Continue reading at:  FCW

The challenge of effective marketing

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Winning government contracts with a high return on the investment (ROI) of time, money, and effort requires a well-thought-out process that incorporates a targeted marketing, sales, capture, and request for proposal (RFP) response process specific to the government marketplace.  Many businesses do not have a proactive marketing process in place for any market segment and those focusing on the federal market have a tough time understanding why the federal contracting market requires a tailored marketing approach as opposed to a traditional approach.  Of the few companies selling to the federal government who do proactively market, traditional consumer or business-to-business tactics are most often used instead of federal-specific tactics, resulting in a very low ROI.  Unfortunately, traditional tactics such as ad-buying, social media sales, pay-per-click, and search engine optimization (SEO) are not the best marketing fits for the federal customer.  Instead, a company that understands the value of research, planning, and effective market positioning before the RFP is released has a much higher chance of winning federal contracts.

Continue reading at:  The APTAC Quarterly eMagazine

Cybersecurity: front and center for industry

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“Deliver Uncompromised,” the “Fourth Pillar of Acquisition” or “Securing the DoD Supply Chain” — no matter what turn of phrase one uses to discuss protecting the defense industrial base and the equipment and support it provides warfighters from cyber threats, this issue stands front and center for the Pentagon and for the people and companies that provide its capabilities.

Experts estimate losses of about $600 billion per year in the transfer of wealth, expertise and trade secrets due to cyber crime.  Adversaries and bad actors specifically target the defense industrial base, using the pilfered data to close capability gaps with the United States, its allies and partners.

The National Defense Strategy and the National Cyber Strategy lay it bare, “Our competitors — including … foreign adversaries such as Russia and China — are also using cyber to try to steal our technology.”  Protecting U.S. advantages demands better government-industry collaboration.  Fortunately, that is happening with the end state an effective, holistic cyber defense.

Despite being the home of cyberspace and the innovative tech giants who used it to transform society and the economy, America — both its government and its traditional industries — has responded slowly to growing and increasingly adaptive cyber threats.  That said, stakeholders now recognize the challenge and have begun responding with concrete actions.  Called out in the series of 2018 strategy documents, the cyber hygiene of U.S. government contractors, especially those in the defense industrial base, will likely soon require third-party cybersecurity certification for contractors to participate in any Defense Department contract.

Continue reading at:  National Defense Magazine 

MAP: GSA regions manage thousands of federal properties

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This story is part of Federal News Network’s ongoing series: GSA @ 70: Mission evolved

From dozens of historic lighthouses to the busiest land border crossing in the Western Hemisphere, the General Services Administration’s 11 regions run the gamut of federal property management.  They also serve thousands of employees through offices such as the Public Buildings Service, Federal Acquisition Service and Office of Small Business Utilization.

GSA’s regions also have their own unique histories and geographical assets.  In honor of the agency’s 70th anniversary this month, Federal News Network compiled highlights of each region, as well as details on their longest-serving employees.

See the interactive GSA Region MAP at the:  Federal News Network

Deadline near for south Georgia small businesses to apply for SBA working capital loans

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South Georgia residents have less than a month to seek federal aid in the wake of Hurricane Michael last year.

The U.S. Small Business Administration is reminding small businesses, small agricultural cooperatives, small businesses engaged in aquaculture and most private nonprofit organizations that Aug. 12 is the filing deadline for federal economic injury disaster loans in Georgia as a result of Hurricane Michael, federal officials said.

The disaster declaration includes Lowndes and Appling, Atkinson, Bacon, Baker, Baldwin, Ben Hill, Berrien, Bibb, Bleckley, Brantley, Brooks, Bryan, Bulloch, Burke, Calhoun, Camden, Candler, Charlton, Chattahoochee, Clay, Clinch, Coffee, Colquitt, Cook, Crawford, Crisp, Decatur, Dodge, Dooly, Dougherty, Early, Echols, Effingham, Emanuel, Evans, Glascock, Glynn, Grady, Greene, Hancock, Houston, Irwin, Jeff Davis, Jefferson, Jenkins, Johnson, Jones, Lanier, Laurens, Lee, Liberty, Long, Lowndes, Macon, Marion, McDuffie, McIntosh, Miller, Mitchell, Monroe, Montgomery, Peach, Pierce, Pulaski, Putnam, Quitman, Randolph, Richmond, Schley, Screven, Seminole, Stewart, Sumter, Talbot, Taliaferro, Tattnall, Taylor, Telfair, Terrell, Thomas, Tift, Toombs, Treutlen, Turner, Twiggs, Upson, Ware, Warren, Washington, Wayne, Webster, Wheeler, Wilcox, Wilkinson and Worth counties.

The SBA’s economic injury disaster loan program is available to eligible farm-related and non-farm-related entities that suffered financial losses as a direct result of this disaster, federal officials said.

Keep reading at:  Valdosta Daily Times

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