by Dan Coley | Industry News
SBA Proposed Rule to Size Standards extends calculations
from average of three year of receipts to five years.
The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) posted a proposed rule
to modify its method for calculating annual average receipts used to determine
size standards for small businesses. SBA has proposed to change its regulations
on the calculation of annual average receipts from a three-year averaging
period to a five-year averaging period. The rule will not affect employee count
under manufacturing NAICS.
The intention is to create size-standard consistency
throughout the federal government and benefit small business in a strong
economy. A five-year average will generally be lower than a three-year average,
allowing:
- Mid-sized businesses who have just exceeded size
standards to regain their small business status, and
- Advanced small businesses close to exceeding the
size standard to retain their small business status for a longer period. It
The opposite would tend to be true in an economic downturn.
SBA Seeking Public Comments
SBA is allowing for public comments and feedback until August 23, 2019. The National Veterans Small Business Council and Coley GCS are in favor of this rule and have provided some sample language for those in favor of the extension:
“COMMENT REF: RIN 3245–AH16 – IN FAVOR. This proposed rule change on the calculation
of annual average revenues from a three-year averaging period to a five-year
averaging period will be very helpful to small businesses of every size,
especially those that have successfully grown to revenues above the three-year
average for their respective NAICS code.
This rule change supports the small business, providing them additional
time to prepare to successfully compete in the full & open marketplace, and
also benefits Government by ensuring continued access to these successful small
businesses. I am a small business owner (or employee) and support this rule
change by SBA. “
SBA has also discussed changing HUBZone and WOSB
certification requirements.
If you have questions of concerns about the SBA proposed rule, contact Coley GCS by phone at 210-402-6766 or by email at [email protected]
Vice President for Coley Government Contracting Services, Dan leads the day-to-day Consulting Practice. He has more than a decade of experience with the acquisition, management, and marketing of Federal, State, and Local government contracts. Daniel specializes in all aspects of GSA Schedules management and marketing and has helped hundreds of Coley clients remain compliant with the terms of their GSA contract while helping them expand their business.
by Dan Coley | GSA Audit Defense, Industry News
MAS Consolidation is happening as previously advised. Plans to consolidate all 24 GSA Federal Supply Schedules into one mega schedule beginning October 1, 2019. GSA has released an industry Request for Information on changes and formatting to the new solicitation scheduled to arrive in the next fiscal year: (more…)
Vice President for Coley Government Contracting Services, Dan leads the day-to-day Consulting Practice. He has more than a decade of experience with the acquisition, management, and marketing of Federal, State, and Local government contracts. Daniel specializes in all aspects of GSA Schedules management and marketing and has helped hundreds of Coley clients remain compliant with the terms of their GSA contract while helping them expand their business.
by Dan Coley | Resource
FAR 15.1 covers Source Selection Process and Techniques. FAR 15.101 covers the Best Value Continuum which provide guidance on when agencies should consider the Tradeoff process (Best Value) or Lowest Priced Technically Acceptable (LPTA) Source Selection.
Best Value should always be used when the deliverable requirements are not clearly defined, and there may be a risk of contractor performance. The tradeoff process allows tradeoffs between price and non-price factors, the tradeoff should justify the tradeoff in price.
The selection committee or contracting officer will determine if tradeoff process is appropriate and when that decision is made, the following apply:
- All evaluation factors and significant subfactors that will affect contract award and their relative importance shall be clearly stated in the solicitation; and
- The solicitation shall state whether all evaluation factors other than cost or price, when combined, are significantly more important than, approximately equal to, or significantly less important than cost or price.
When the tradeoff process is used, pay specific attention to the evaluation factors and how those items are evaluated. If you are unsuccessful in your bid, when appropriate, request a full debriefing.
Recently, John S. McCain National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019 made sweeping federal changes that limit the use of LPTA, especially on complex professional and IT solutions. These restrictions should increase the number of best value opportunities available, See our blog here.
Vice President for Coley Government Contracting Services, Dan leads the day-to-day Consulting Practice. He has more than a decade of experience with the acquisition, management, and marketing of Federal, State, and Local government contracts. Daniel specializes in all aspects of GSA Schedules management and marketing and has helped hundreds of Coley clients remain compliant with the terms of their GSA contract while helping them expand their business.
by Dan Coley | Resource
The scourge of many professional service providers is the lowest priced technically acceptable (LPTA) source selection process. FAR 15.101-2 address LPTA source selection.
Product vendors, especially those acted as resellers of widely available products, should understand that nearly all of their federal opportunities will be price sensitive and value will likely not be considered. (more…)
Vice President for Coley Government Contracting Services, Dan leads the day-to-day Consulting Practice. He has more than a decade of experience with the acquisition, management, and marketing of Federal, State, and Local government contracts. Daniel specializes in all aspects of GSA Schedules management and marketing and has helped hundreds of Coley clients remain compliant with the terms of their GSA contract while helping them expand their business.
by Dan Coley | B2G Marketing Tips, GSA Audit Defense
A new email pops into your Inbox. It’s an order off through your GSA schedule directly through GSAAdvantage. Your first thought is elation – the schedule program is working!
(more…)Vice President for Coley Government Contracting Services, Dan leads the day-to-day Consulting Practice. He has more than a decade of experience with the acquisition, management, and marketing of Federal, State, and Local government contracts. Daniel specializes in all aspects of GSA Schedules management and marketing and has helped hundreds of Coley clients remain compliant with the terms of their GSA contract while helping them expand their business.
by Dan Coley | Industry News
General Service Administration (GSA) and Office of Management & Budget (OMB) submitted the phase II report of their e-Commerce portal to Congress. (more…)
Vice President for Coley Government Contracting Services, Dan leads the day-to-day Consulting Practice. He has more than a decade of experience with the acquisition, management, and marketing of Federal, State, and Local government contracts. Daniel specializes in all aspects of GSA Schedules management and marketing and has helped hundreds of Coley clients remain compliant with the terms of their GSA contract while helping them expand their business.
by Dan Coley | GSA Audit Defense, Industry News
Federal professional services firms should all breath a sign of relief— one of the many changes of the FY2019 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) is the government-wide restriction on the application of Lowest-Priced Technically Acceptable (LPTA) as the basis of award on complex professional and IT services contracts. (more…)
Vice President for Coley Government Contracting Services, Dan leads the day-to-day Consulting Practice. He has more than a decade of experience with the acquisition, management, and marketing of Federal, State, and Local government contracts. Daniel specializes in all aspects of GSA Schedules management and marketing and has helped hundreds of Coley clients remain compliant with the terms of their GSA contract while helping them expand their business.
by Dan Coley | Industry News
Last December, GSA has stated a new initiative to create one
mega-schedule
consolidating and housing all existing schedules. This will be a massive
undertaking that, we believe, will streamline scope expansion for new and
existing schedule holders.
Today GSA has shared some key information on the consolidation process.
GSA intends to release new terms and conditions in early
June that will reveal more of the phase-out for public comments.
Until then, we have heard that GSA will continue to award contracts and
modifications under current terms and conditions until October 1, 2019, at
which time the new terms and conditions are slated to take effect.
Current schedule holders will receive a mass modification to
accept the new terms and conditions in January 2020.
Coley will continue to monitor and connect with GSA to get
updates as things progress. If you have question or concerns, contact Coley.
Vice President for Coley Government Contracting Services, Dan leads the day-to-day Consulting Practice. He has more than a decade of experience with the acquisition, management, and marketing of Federal, State, and Local government contracts. Daniel specializes in all aspects of GSA Schedules management and marketing and has helped hundreds of Coley clients remain compliant with the terms of their GSA contract while helping them expand their business.
by Dan Coley | Industry News
Information Technology Government Opportunity Released!
The United States Air Force released a Request for Quote on March 04t, 2019 titled Second Generation Information Technology (2GIT) Blanket Purchase Agreement. The USAF has determined to make the 2GIT BPA a mandatory use vehicle for the replacement of the NETCENTS-2 (NC2) Products IDIQ contract.
The NC2 IDIQ was USAF’s go-to procurement option with a
ceiling spend value of $6.9B. NC2 IDIQ expires in November 2019, making the new
2GIT GSA BPA a necessary vehicle for all software and product resellers on the
GSA schedule.
The USAF must receive all responses to the 2GIT RFP by April
19th and all responses must be provided through the eBuy portal.
The stated intent of the BPA is to reduce redundancies and
create fast and effective ways to order IT hardware and software commodities.
2GIT has five classes of products:
- BPA Line Item One – Data Center (Compute/Store)
- BPA Line Item Two – End User
- BPA Line Item Three – Network (Connect)
- BPA Line Item Four – Radio Equipment
- BPA Line Item Five – Order Level Material (OLM)
USAF states they will not base awards on lowest price
technically acceptable basis but will instead review best value and Fair and
Reasonable Price evaluations. USAF will look at the following non-price factors
breadth of the OEM products you are offering through your schedule or through
your team; Relevant Experience; Socioeconomic Factor and subcontracting goals;
and finally Supply Chain Risk Management.
Pricing factors will be based on the evaluation of a market basket;
which include the most commonly ordered items under the BPA. Note of concern is
that bidders must provide quotes for all the most commonly ordered products or
face possible elimination from the BPA evaluation.
All products proposed must be awarded to you GSA IT 70
schedule or to a member of your teams’ schedule; No Open Market Items are
permitted.
USAF anticipates awarding nine (9) BPAs to vendors or teams.
Most frequently ordered manufacturers include:
|
BPA
Line Item One
Data
Center (Compute/Store)
|
BPA
Line Item Two
End
User
|
BPA
Line Item Three
Network
(Connect)
|
BPA
Line Item Four
Radio
Equipment
|
|
HPE
|
Dell
|
Cisco
|
Motorola
|
|
APC
|
HPI
| Extreme
Networks |
Harris
|
|
Vmware
|
Symantec
| Broadcom/
Ruckus/Brocade |
|
|
Dell
|
LG
|
NetApp
|
|
|
IBM
|
Samsung
|
F5 Networks
|
|
|
|
McAfee
|
Juniper
|
|
Locate the RFQ on your eBuy site. If you need assistance with the response, building a team, or accessing your eBuy contact Coley at 210-402-6766 or by email at [email protected].
Vice President for Coley Government Contracting Services, Dan leads the day-to-day Consulting Practice. He has more than a decade of experience with the acquisition, management, and marketing of Federal, State, and Local government contracts. Daniel specializes in all aspects of GSA Schedules management and marketing and has helped hundreds of Coley clients remain compliant with the terms of their GSA contract while helping them expand their business.
by Dan Coley | Industry News
The Professional Services Schedule (PSS) is making it easier
to win new schedules and new SINs. The General Service Administration 00CORP
PSS program announced
that an upcoming March 2019 solicitation will streamline the solicitation and
remove barriers to entry for new and existing schedule holders. (more…)
Vice President for Coley Government Contracting Services, Dan leads the day-to-day Consulting Practice. He has more than a decade of experience with the acquisition, management, and marketing of Federal, State, and Local government contracts. Daniel specializes in all aspects of GSA Schedules management and marketing and has helped hundreds of Coley clients remain compliant with the terms of their GSA contract while helping them expand their business.
by Dan Coley | Industry News
The Texas State Procurement Division (SPD), which manages the Texas Multiple Award Schedule (TXMAS), has announced that “effective immediately, SPD has issued a hold on accepting all new TXMAS applications.”
SPD cannot provide a guaranteed date to re-opening the successful TXMAS program, but tentatively have stated they expect the suspension to last through March 14, 2019. Interested vendors should return to the site after March 1, when a determination will be made regarding the suspension.
Current proposals in review will remain in the review process. All new application packets will be rejected and returned.
The TXMAS program has had difficulties and long review cycles over the last few years when sweeping changes were implemented, including:
- Introduction of the online TXSmartBuy purchasing portal
- Reduction in Texas Contract Redundancies
- removal of all Technology products and services, including ancillary technology services, conferring communication, and audio-visual solutions – those offering are supported under the TX DIR program (TX DIR)
- Other Miscellaneous products and solutions provided under State Term contracts (Term)
- A requirement of a Signed letter from authorized buyers, guaranteeing purchasing through the TXMAS program
The award review cycles for contracts have been pushed from six months to 18 months for some vendors.
TXMAS is a successful state, local, and education procurement vehicle that award multiple award contracts using other federal and state multi-year award contracts as a base for establishing product offerings and price reasonableness.
If you are interested in pursuing the TXMAS contracting vehicle or other government and cooperative purchasing vehicles, contact Coley for assistance.
Vice President for Coley Government Contracting Services, Dan leads the day-to-day Consulting Practice. He has more than a decade of experience with the acquisition, management, and marketing of Federal, State, and Local government contracts. Daniel specializes in all aspects of GSA Schedules management and marketing and has helped hundreds of Coley clients remain compliant with the terms of their GSA contract while helping them expand their business.
by Dan Coley | Industry News
While our executive and legislative branches are at a stalemate over budget priorities non-essential government actives will not be funded and as January 20th will usher in a new demographic break-out of party partisans; it is likely this issue will not be resolved quickly.
How will the shutdown affect you, the government contractor and your employees? The agencies where funding for FY19 has already been passed, and therefore not affected by a shutdown, include the Departments of Defense, Labor, Energy, Health and Human Services, Education, Veterans Affairs and the legislative branch. Your contracts will continue forward, If you have any contracts with agencies controlling discretionary spending — VA, DOD, HHS, Labor, Education or Labor. You will receive payments for work completed during this time and no contracts should be cancelled.
Agencies impacted during the shutdown include the Departments of Homeland Security, Agriculture, Interior, Treasury, State, Housing and Urban Development, NASA, Transportation, Commerce, and Justice. If you have contracts with these agencies, unless your contract functions are essential, you are unlikely permitted to continue work and you and your employees will not receive compensation for this downtime. Essential personnel, such as airport security, will be permitted to work, however compensation for work may not occur until the government re-opens.
If you have any outstanding invoices for non-essential work, you will not likely receive payment until the government re-opens. If this effects your business or you feel the issues of the stalemate or more important than your contracts, contact you representatives and share your opinion (technically, they work for us):
US House of Representatives: https://www.house.gov/representatives/find-your-representative
US Senate:https://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
White House: https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/
If you have any questions on future or current government contracting opportunities, contact Coley for support.
Vice President for Coley Government Contracting Services, Dan leads the day-to-day Consulting Practice. He has more than a decade of experience with the acquisition, management, and marketing of Federal, State, and Local government contracts. Daniel specializes in all aspects of GSA Schedules management and marketing and has helped hundreds of Coley clients remain compliant with the terms of their GSA contract while helping them expand their business.
by Dan Coley | Industry News
The General Services Administration has announced the consolidation of the 24 Multiple Award Schedules into one single products and services Schedule. This single Schedule will have only one set of terms and conditions, which will allow more consistency in contracting practices. (more…)
Vice President for Coley Government Contracting Services, Dan leads the day-to-day Consulting Practice. He has more than a decade of experience with the acquisition, management, and marketing of Federal, State, and Local government contracts. Daniel specializes in all aspects of GSA Schedules management and marketing and has helped hundreds of Coley clients remain compliant with the terms of their GSA contract while helping them expand their business.
by Dan Coley | B2G Marketing Tips, Industry News
A new GSA tool to see who wins GSA Schedule bids may help you decide.
The General Services Administration (GSA) has launched a new pilot program to make eBuy award public through the Federal Business Opportunities portal at www.FBO.gov. The program will be called e-Buy Open and will run for a one-year pilot period. (more…)
Vice President for Coley Government Contracting Services, Dan leads the day-to-day Consulting Practice. He has more than a decade of experience with the acquisition, management, and marketing of Federal, State, and Local government contracts. Daniel specializes in all aspects of GSA Schedules management and marketing and has helped hundreds of Coley clients remain compliant with the terms of their GSA contract while helping them expand their business.
by Dan Coley | B2G Marketing Tips, Industry News
All Federal agencies have to abide by a variety of rules. These determine who and how agency buyers should purchase from the various procurement vehicles available (more…)
Vice President for Coley Government Contracting Services, Dan leads the day-to-day Consulting Practice. He has more than a decade of experience with the acquisition, management, and marketing of Federal, State, and Local government contracts. Daniel specializes in all aspects of GSA Schedules management and marketing and has helped hundreds of Coley clients remain compliant with the terms of their GSA contract while helping them expand their business.
