The Senate’s markup of the 2018 National Defense Authorization Act (“NDAA”) adds new language to 10 U.S.C. § 2304 that would give the Secretary of Defense authority to waive provisions of law that result in only one responsible bidder for a contract for purposes of expanding competition. However, the new provision, which appears in Section 811 of the bill and which, if enacted, would be part of a new subsection (m) added to 10 U.S.C. § 2304, contains a significant carve-out such that it would not permit the Secretary of Defense to impose additional competition in connection with the Small Business Administration’s 8(a) program.
Continue reading “NDAA Section 811: New Waiver Authority—What Does It Mean?”
After a long wait and much anticipation, the Small Business Administration (“SBA”) issued its final rule expanding the mentor-protégé program to all small businesses on July 25, 2016. The new rule broadly expands upon the existing 8(a) mentor-protégé program, and is projected to result in $2 billion in federal contracts to program participants. Though the final rule largely tracks the February 2015 proposed rule, which we previously wrote about 
Late last month, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Kingdomware Technologies, Inc. v. United States, which concerns the extent to which the Veterans Benefits, Health Care, and Information Technology Act of 2006 (“Veterans Act of 2006”) limits the ability of the Department of Veterans Affairs (“VA”) to use contracting vehicles like the Federal Supply Schedule (“FSS”). The ruling may have a major impact on VA procurements and warrants close attention from contractors serving the VA.