Georgia Tech Procurement Assistance Center

U.S. Department of Education to host Atlanta small business conference July 29th

By

The U.S. Department of Education (Education) Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization (OSDBU) will host the Atlanta Small Business Conference Monday, July 29, 2019.  The Atlanta Small Business Conference will feature presentations concerning Education procurement opportunities and Education prime contractor partnering opportunities.

Registration is required.  Conference registration will close July 22, 2019  or when capacity is reached.

The U.S. Department of Education has posted the following notice on fbo.gov:

The U.S. Department of Education Atlanta Small Business Conference

https://www.fbo.gov/spg/ED/OCFO/CPO/ED-OSDBU-ATL-SB19-9100/listing.html

Below is the conference registration link:

http://www.cvent.com/d/m6qy9k/1Q

Event Details

Date:  July 29, 2019

Time:  10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Eastern Time

Location:  Sam Nunn Federal Building, 61 Forsyth Street, SW, Atlanta, GA 30303

Please email questions to small.business@ed.gov or call 202-245-6300.

GTPAC supports Georgia National Guard vendor expo

By

On May 2nd, 2019, GTPAC provided support at the Georgia National Guard vendor expo at the Clay National Guard Center in Marietta, GA.  Vendors who attended the expo were allowed to showcase their products and services to buyers from the Georgia National Guard’s logistics, human resources, medical, equipment, training, operations, and information technology units.

The event was organized by Derrick A. Thomas, a Contract Specialist with the Georgia National Guard.  The Georgia National Guard makes a strong effort each year to reach out to small businesses in the local community who desire to do business with the Guard. 

GTPAC Program Manager Andrew Smith spoke at the event and provided some general tips and advice to contractors in attendance.  “To be a successful government contractor, you have to have the basics covered.  You need to be registered in SAM, the SBA Dynamic Small Business Search (“DSBS”) database, and you need to develop a smart marketing strategy if you want to have a chance to win simplified acquisitions or subcontracting opportunities.” 

GTPAC and Procurement Technical Assitance Centers located in all 50 states, regularly provided free assistance to businesses who need help with the SAM and SBA DSBS registration process. 

Smith continued, “The government will not buy from you if they do not know about you, and the value of your products or services, so attending events like this where you can interact with government buyers, showcase your products and services, and meet prime contractors who are looking for subcontractors is essential if you want to have success in the government market.  I thank the Georgia National Guard for making this opportunity available to the local business community.”

How government contracting is still suffering from the shutdown

By

The longest government shutdown in U.S. history ended in January 2019, but businesses that contract with the federal government are still seeing damaging effects for themselves and their employees months later, according to witnesses who testified at a May 6 House Oversight and Reform Committee hearing.

“Everyone thinks the shutdown ended on the 25th [of January]. The shutdown ended on the 25th for government employees.  The shutdown didn’t end for our employees until we got a letter from the contracting officer authorizing us to come back to work,” said Roger Krone, CEO of Leidos.

“Where it may have been 35 days for government employees, it could be another 14 days or more for contractors.  Because the contracting officer had to come to work, get through the pile of paper, figure out what contracts were under a stop work order, and then prioritize those and authorize the contractors to come back.”

Federal employees were guaranteed back pay for the time they were forced to stay home from work or work without pay during a shutdown.  But contractors received stop-work orders or were unable to access the resources necessary for their contracts, and never received compensation for that time they were unable to go to work.

Continue reading at the: Federal Times

Nuclear Regulatory Commission holding small business event in Atlanta on June 5th

By

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is holding a Small Business Exchange and Matchmaking Event on Wednesday, June 5, 2019 in Atlanta.   In addition to the NRC, other government agencies and prime contractors will be in attendance.

The event is being held at Georgia State University, 33 Gilmer Street S.E., Atlanta, from 8:00 am to 3:30 pm.

See the event flyer here: NRC Event Flyer

To register to attend this event, free of charge, visit: https://nrcsboutreachatlanta2019.eventbrite.com

DoD testing secure cloud to help small contractors protect data

By

The Pentagon still has deep concerns about thefts of sensitive Defense data from contractor systems. But it’s concluded that simply using contract terms to order firms to improve their security isn’t going to do the job.

So the department is testing ways to extend its own cybersecurity expertise and infrastructure to small and medium-sized businesses who don’t have the wherewithal to adequately secure their systems against nation-state attackers. Specifically, it plans to build a secure cloud to house the Defense data companies need to perform their contracts, instead of requiring them to store it themselves.

DoD’s research and development budget for 2020 includes $15 million for a small project the department terms the Defense Industrial Base (DIB) Secure Cloud Managed Services Pilot. In the early going, the Pentagon plans to make the cloud service available to “a subset” of small and medium companies that “support prioritized, critical DoD missions and programs.”

In contract terms, the department would treat the secure cloud as Government Furnished Equipment (GFE), said Ellen Lord, the undersecretary for acquisition and sustainment.

Keep reading this article at: https://federalnewsnetwork.com/defense-news/2019/03/dod-will-test-secure-cloud/

 

5 things you should know about the ‘nonmanufacturer rule’

By

To qualify as a small business under most set-aside or sole source contracts seeking manufactured products or supplies, SBA’s regulations require an offeror to be the item’s manufacturer or, alternatively, comply with the nonmanufacturer rule.

In a prior post, we discussed 5 Things You Should Know about being the item’s manufacturer; in this post, we’ll discuss qualifying under the nonmanufacturer rule.

1. Do I need to qualify under the nonmanufacturer rule?

That depends on the type of procurement you’re bidding on. Again, the nonmanufacturer rule comes into play for solicitations seeking manufactured items or supplies, and only if the offeror doesn’t qualify as the manufacturer itself.

Keep in mind, too, that acquisitions set-aside for small businesses under the simplified acquisition threshold are not subject to the nonmanufacturer rule. This exemption doesn’t apply, however, to any other socio-economic designation—for example, if it’s an SDVOSB set-aside under the simplified acquisition threshold, the offeror will have to either be the item’s manufacturer or qualify under the nonmanufacturer rule.

Keep reading this article at: http://smallgovcon.com/five-things/nonmanufacturer-rule/

White House issues new guidance on category management

By

Eight years after the Obama administration began importing the private-sector procurement tool known as “category management,” the Trump administration on Thursday rescinded old directives and delivered new agency guidance.

In a March 21 memo to all agency heads, Office of Management and Budget Deputy Director Margaret Weichert—who is doing double duty running the Office of Personnel Management — tasked agencies with a new reporting regime for shared services that “supersedes and rescinds” OMB directives from 2011 and 2012.

Category management involves agency teams coordinating bulk purchasing in areas such as information technology, security and protection, and transportation. Weichert’s memo reported that as much as 56 percent of the government’s $325 billion in purchases of software, mobile services, technology services and travel remained “unaligned” or decentralized, as of December 2018.

“This statistic confirms that substantial cost-avoidances and performance benefits are going unrealized and underscores the need for greater management attention on collaborative buying at both the federal and agency levels by increasing the portion of an agency’s spend” using category management, the memo said.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.nextgov.com/cio-briefing/2019/03/white-house-issues-new-guidance-category-management/155759/

GSA rescinds all awards made on $15 billion Alliant 2 Small Business contract

By

The government rescinded all awards made in the $15B Alliant 2 Small Business governmentwide acquisition contract for IT services procurement last week.

The move follows an order from the Court of Federal Claims that the General Services Administration must rescore every submission it received to address errors raised in protest from Virginia-based technology company, Citizant Inc.

The Alliant 2 SB is part of one of the largest federal IT opportunities of the decade. In February 2018, GSA announced its award to 81 small business, which federal agencies would be able to access for integrated IT solutions around their “current and evolving needs.” After the announcement, protests from dissatisfied bidders ensued.

In March 2018, Citizant, Inc. protested the bid to the Government Accountability Office. GAO dismissed the file in May 2018, but Citizant took complaints to court and won this week, resulting in the rescission.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.nextgov.com/cio-briefing/2019/03/gsa-rescinds-all-awards-made-15b-alliant-2-small-business-contract/155869/

Former Army colonel pleads guilty to role in Fort Gordon fraud, kickback scheme

By

A former active-duty U.S. Army colonel has pled guilty to accepting bribes in return for helping steer military contracts to a business fraudulently claiming status as a small business.

Anthony R. Williams of Vienna, VA, pled guilty to Conspiracy to Commit Bribery and felony conflict of interest in U.S. District Court, said Bobby L. Christine, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Georgia.

Williams faces a sentence of up to five years in prison, and has agreed to forfeit more than $1.2 million in proceeds derived from the scheme.

According to court documents and evidence entered during court proceedings, Williams, while serving as a colonel in the U.S. Army, accepted bribes to steer federal procurement contracts to the CREC Group, a company owned by Calvin Devear Lawyer, a retired U.S. Army colonel. The CREC Group had received Small Business Administration (SBA) status as a small, disadvantaged business based on false representations from Lawyer and from Dwayne Oswald Fulton, then an employee of a defense contractor.

Lawyer previously pled guilty in the case and is serving a 60-month prison sentence, while co-conspirator, Anthony Roper, a former active duty U.S. Army colonel at Fort Gordon, also pled guilty and is serving a 60-month sentence.

The cases were investigated by the United States Army Criminal Investigations Division (CID), the Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS), the Small Business Administration’s Office of Inspector General, and the United States Attorney’s Office.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdga/pr/former-army-colonel-pleads-guilty-role-fort-gordon-fraud-kickback-scheme

Bribery, fraud indictment issued for $15 million in set-asides for disabled-veteran and other small businesses

By

Five men have been charged in a 71-count indictment with engaging in conspiracies to defraud several federal agencies by paying bribes and fraudulently obtaining at least $15 million in government contracts they were not entitled to though disabled-veteran set asides and other small business programs.

Indicted are: James A. Clark of Chipley, Florida, who owned several businesses, including Enola Contracting Services, Inc.; Eric L. Hogan of Bonaire, Georgia, who owned P&E Construction, LLC; Kenneth A. Latham of Albany, Georgia, who was employed by the U.S. Navy as a civilian engineering technician; James K. Alford, 55, of Bowling Green, Kentucky, who owned K&S Constructors, Inc., and Harvey Daniels, Jr. of Marianna, Florida, who owned HDJ Security, Inc.

The charges include conspiracy to commit honest services wire fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy to submit false claims, false claims and major fraud.

Construction projects detailed in the indictment include contracts at the Marine Corps Logistics Base in Albany, Georgia, the VA Medical Center in Louisville, Kentucky, and the NASA Plum Brook Station near Sandusky, Ohio.

According to the indictment:

  • Federal departments and agencies, as directed by Congress, work with the Small Business Administration to award portions of contracts to small businesses, with specific goals for small disadvantaged business, including service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses.
  • Businesses must register and meet a number of criteria to be classified as small disadvantaged business – also known as the 8(a) program – such as being at least 51 percent owned and controlled by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals. Businesses must also meet a number of criteria to be classified as a service-disabled veteran-owned small business, such as being at least 51 percent owned by a veteran with a service-connected disability who controls the management and daily operations of the company. Service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses are permitted to enter into joint ventures with other companies but must meet specific requirements to do so.
  • The defendants and others engaged in several criminal schemes designed to deprive the government of its right to honest services of its employees through bribes and kickbacks, and to submit false claims and defraud the United States by obtaining government contracts set aside for qualified companies to which they were otherwise ineligible to obtain by fraudulently using proxy and pass-through companies.
  • P&E, through Hogan and Clark, made false statements, misrepresentations and omissions of facts. Hogan on several occasions certified P&E was a service-disabled veteran-owned small business. It also registered as a joint venture with Enola, with Hogan listed as president and Clark as vice president of the joint venture. HDJ Security was enrolled in the 8(a) program. Daniels self-identified as the president of HDJ, the sole owner of the company and to be socially disadvantaged.

In one scheme, Latham accepted a series of bribes and kickbacks from Hogan and Clark – including cash, meals, a hunting trip,  a fence, and an all-terrain vehicle – in return for Latham using his official position with the Navy to benefit Hogan, Clark and their businesses. These benefits included assistance in finding and securing government contracts, approval of invoices for payments to pass-through companies used by Hogan and Clark to obtain set-aside contracts for which their companies were not otherwise eligible, and concealing Clark and Hogan’s use of pass-through companies to obtain bonding.

Another scheme involved defrauding the VA and the TK by fraudulently representing that P&E and Hogan independently qualified for the service-disabled veteran-owned small business program despite Clark’s involvement in providing bonding for and equity ownership in P&E.

Clark, Hogan, Alford, Daniels and others defrauded the government by using purported service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses and 8(a) businesses as proxies to bid on and obtain set-aside contracts.

Arrow Construction, which was registered in the 8(a) program, was awarded a $2.8 million contract for work at the Marine Corps Logistics Base in Albany, Georgia, in September 2011. Clark and Arrow officials Kent Reynolds and Jennifer Dillard agreed that about 90 percent of the value of the contract was passed through to Clark and Enola, in violation of the 8(a) program.

HDJ was awarded a contract for work at the Marine Corps Logistics Base in Albany, Georgia, in September 2012. HDJ was paid approximately $2.6 million. Clark, Hogan and Daniels agreed to pass through approximately 95 percent of the value of the contract to Clark, Hogan, Enola and P&E, in violation of the terms of the 8(a) program.

The VA in June 2011 awarded a contract to P&E Construction for work at the VA Medical Center in Louisville, Kentucky. The VA paid P&E approximately $4.5 million that the company would not have received if the VA knew P&E was acting as a pass-through for K&S and that it was back-bonded by Clark and Enola.

P&E submitted a winning bid in February 2013 for a contract for construction services at the NASA Plum Brook Station near Sandusky, Ohio. NASA paid P&E approximately $5.6 million that the company would not have received if NASA knew it was acting as a pass-through for K&S and that P&E was back-bonded by Clark and Enola.

If convicted, the defendants’ sentences will be determined by the Court after review of factors unique to this case, including the defendant’s prior criminal record, if any, the defendant’s role in the offense and the characteristics of the violation.  In all cases the sentence will not exceed the statutory maximum and in most cases it will be less than the maximum.

This case was investigated by National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Office of Inspector General, the Defense Criminal Investigative Service, Naval Criminal Investigative Service, Department of Veterans Affairs’ Office of Inspector General, Small Business Administration’s Office of Inspector General, the Defense Contract Audit Agency, and the Air Force Office of Special Investigations.

Readers are reminded that an indictment is only a charge and is not evidence of guilt.  A defendant is entitled to a fair trial in which it will be the government’s burden to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

Contracting News

Read More

Contracting Tips

Read More

GTPAC News

Read More

Georgia Tech News

Read More