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ASBCA Delivers Bad News to Contractor Who Violated SBA’s Nonmanufacturer Rule

Client Alert | less than 1 min read | 05.27.16

In Third Coast Fresh Distrib., LLC (Apr. 6, 2016), the ASBCA held that a small business’ failure to comply with the requirements of the SBA’s Nonmanufacturer Rule justified its default under a small business set-aside contract for produce delivery. Rejecting the contractor’s argument that it was only required to represent in good faith that it would comply with the requirements, the Board held that the rule was a condition of performance and, by subcontracting out delivery of the produce, the contractor had changed its performance and had become “other than small” for the procurement, which constituted a default.

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Client Alert | 4 min read | 10.30.26

Two Wrongs Don’t Make a Right: GAO Sustains Protest Where Agency Tried to Fix PIA Violation with a Second PIA Violation

Recent sustain decisions by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) in Fluor Federal Solutions, LLC and Reliance Test & Technology send a clear message: when an agency tries to fix a Procurement Integrity Act (PIA) violation by committing a second one, the cure can be just as fatal as the disease. The cases involved the U.S. Air Force’s $1.8 billion procurement for O&M services at Elgin Air Force Base. During discussions, the Air Force inadvertently released a pricing overview slide with all offerors’ bottom-line evaluated costs to Reliance Test & Technology, which immediately notified the agency of the error. In response, the Air Force decided to level the playing field by providing the same information to all the other offerors in the procurement, stating, “[o]fferors may consider this disclosure in their [final proposal revision].”...