Author Archives: terrenceoconnor

In this article, we describe the general rules that a government contractor must follow to get an effective “required debriefing.” It is based on our years of government contract experience working with clients who want to get as much information as possible from the government on why they lost a…

Out-of-office email responses can make communications easier but they must be updated and kept current. Reliance on an “Away Message” from an offeror’s point of contact (POC) during an on-going solicitation led to the offeror being eliminated from the competition. In the opinion of the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the…

Where does FAR say that a contracting officer must treat contractors in a fair and equitable way? Where does FAR make contractors part of the “Acquisition Team” and encourage contractors to be involved in the acquisition planning process? Where does FAR deal with the applicability – actually, non-applicability – of…

With all the time and effort a contractor spends on marketing for new opportunities, it’s a shame when a missed opportunity had been previously announced on beta.SAM.gov – twice. We cannot stress enough how important monitoring beta.SAM.gov is. Several months ago, we reported on a GAO decision that concluded…

Blameless Contractor Loses Contract After Agency Botches Conflict Inquiry A friendly foosball game between long-time friends — employees from a contractor and federal agency — led to a contractor losing a contract even though the contractor broke no laws. The Government Accountability Office recently sustained a protest because the awarding…

The often-heard claim that “a teaming agreement is not legally enforceable” is really a half-truth; the whole truth is that only some of the provisions in a teaming agreement are not enforceable. Because teaming agreements can play such a critical role in winning a multiple-award Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity contract,…

Among all the various websites that government contractors have to monitor, which is the most important one? According to a recent GAO decision, it’s beta.SAM.gov because notice there creates an un-rebuttable presumption that a contractor received notice of agency action.  In this case, even though the agency had not complied…

Contractors should not assume that every procurement action by every agency is subject to the protest jurisdiction of the Government Accountability Office (GAO). Some agencies have special exemptions from the federal procurement rules and regulations. In addition, as several contractors recently learned, some agency procurement actions, especially those in the…

Keeping 8(a) procurements in the 8(a) program is procurement policy. Follow-on work must stay within the 8(a) program unless the Small Business Administration (SBA) concludes that the follow-on work is a “new requirement.” The term “new requirement” includes: “[t]he expansion or modification of an existing requirement … where the magnitude…