Even though committees have completed work on all twelve FY’25 spending bills, the House of Representatives is unlikely to pass most of them anytime soon. This means that contractors and their government customers can expect a delayed start to new projects in the next fiscal year, though how long a delay is unclear. All bills, except for the Energy and Water appropriations measure, were pulled from the House calendar last week and again this week, meaning that the earliest those bills would see action is in September. House appropriators further indicate, though, that they may not bring the remaining measures to a vote at all. Read more
The combination of the President’s decision to not seek reelection, fallout from the Supreme Court’s Loper decision, and a “laser focused” Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) all mean that contractors can expect a “regulatory circus” between now and January. While this circus may produce gasps and surprises like the real thing, there likely will be little humor in store for industry. First, the president’s decision not to run again puts pressure on those supporting his regulatory agenda to move as quickly as possible to finalize guidance in priority areas. Look for faster-paced work on socio-economic rules, such as those having to do with climate or labor-related issues. These could have a real impact on contractor compliance Read more
A top Navy admiral, two employees of a would-be government contractor, the former Army CIO and the head of a well-known service provider all find themselves in ethical hot water for again failing to follow basic ethics principles. The issue? Alleged improper preference in acquisitions tied in one way or another to a post-government hiring promise. The size of the business also didn’t seem to matter. While the incident involving the larger company, Service Now, was a multi-million-dollar deal, the Navy sole source contract, with Next Jump, was for only $355,000. Now both sides in that incident will quite likely spend more than this amount of Read more
With two and a half months left in FY’24, all major GSA IDIQ contracts are on track to exceed their FY’23 use levels. FY’23 itself was a strong year for the use of GSA IDIQ contracts, making the potential record-breaking use for FY’24 even more impressive. Led by the Schedules program and the OASIS and Alliant contracts, GSA’s IDIQ’s should easily exceed $75 billion in business by the end of the fiscal year and may very well exceed $80 billion. Indeed, the Alliant, OASIS, Vets, and StAR’s programs have already exceeded their collective business totals for all of FY’20. These numbers are a strong indicator to contractors of the importance of having robust IDIQ contract vehicles. Agencies increasingly use such contracts year-round, but especially in the 4th quarter when time is short, and a premium is placed on rapid acquisition. Bloomberg Government estimated that the use of all IDIQ contracts accounted for 66% of business in the last quarter of FY’23. Nothing suggests that this number will be lower this year, while actual use could exceed it given the lateness in FY’24 appropriations. In addition to ensuring that all IDIQ contract offerings remain current, contractors should also have a copy of the IDIQ ordering procedures handy to share with any customer who may not know how to use such contracts. FAR 16.504 contains these rules, but a copy is also available from Allen Federal by emailing info@allenfederal.com. Contractors cannot assume that their customers already know these rules, even though IDIQ vehicles are obviously popular. Schedule contracts also allow for contractor teams to bid on task orders that a single contractor may not be able to perform. Make sure, however, that teaming agreements are in writing and that their format is not plucked out of the blue from an internet form. GSA’s IDIQ’s should be an important part of any company’s year-end selling arsenal. Making sure that you and your customers know how to get the most out of them is increasingly important.
Veteran Owned Small Businesses (VOSB’s) would get their own contracting goal for DOD contracts under Section 861 of the House version of the FY’25 NDAA. VOSB’s would have at least the same 5% goal currently allotted to Service-Disabled Veteran Owned Small Businesses (SDVOSB’s). Most notably, however, Section 861 would necessarily increase DOD’s overall small business contracting goal beyond the governmentwide 23% level. The administration has told agencies that they expect 13% of contract awards to be made to small, disadvantaged businesses. When combined with existing 5% goals for SDVOSB’s and women-owned small businesses the 23% target is met. Even if agencies award only 10% of contracts to small, disadvantaged businesses, the existing 3% goal for HUBZone contracting still adds up to at least Read more