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SBA Proposes Sweeping Expansion of the Mentor-Protégé Program

Client Alert | 1 min read | 02.13.15

On February 5, 2015, the SBA issued a proposed rule implementing portions of FY 2013 NDAA regarding the establishment of a universal mentor-protégé program available to all small businesses (instead of just certain SBA-approved 8(a) contractors under the current program) that would allow, among other benefits, approved mentor-protégés to compete as a joint venture for set-aside awards for which the protégé would otherwise be eligible. The SBA is seeking comments (due by April 6, 2015) on a number of aspects of this proposed rule, including whether the SBA should require all joint ventures in this program to be formed as separate legal entities and whether there should be a maximum of two mentors per protégé.

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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].”...