​The Small Business Blog

On January 19, 2016, the SBA Office of Hearings and Appeals (OHA) issued a decision in the Matter of:  Prosouth Construction Svcs, LLC.   This appeal arose out of Prosouth's size protest against Birmingham Industrial Construction, LLC in conjunction with a construction procurement. In its protest, Prosouth, an unsuccessful offeror, alleged generally that Birmingham was not a small business under the applicable $15 million size standard and questioned whether Birmingham had the ability to self-perform at least 25% of the cost of contract performance, in accordance with the applicable limits on subcontracting.

On November 16, 2015, the United States Department of Justice issued a Press Release announcing that a Federal grand jury in Maryland had indicted Anthony "Tony" Nwagbara Daniels (age 59 of Silver Springs, Maryland) on wire fraud charges arising from a scheme to defraud the United States by fraudulently obtaining a government contract through the SBA's 8(a) Business Development Program from 2011 through 2014.

On September 24, 2015, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) published a report titled:  "Defense Cybersecurity - Opportunities Exist for DOD to Share Cybersecurity Resources With Small Businesses" which addresses "the extent to which the DOD Office of Small Business Programs (OSBP) has integrated cybersecurity into its existing outreach and education efforts for defense small business."  GAO's review and subsequent Report were done as a result of a provision in the Joint Explanatory Statement accompanying the 2015 NDAA which required GAO to perform such an assessment. 

On September 11, 2015 the Office of Federal Contractor Compliance Programs (OFCCP) published its Final Rule on Pay Transparency, which implements the Non-Retaliation for Disclosure of Compensation Information Executive Order which was signed by President Obama on April 8, 2014.  The Final Rule takes effect on January 11, 2016.  

On December 29, 2014, the SBA issued its Proposed Rule announcing changes to the calculation(s) of the limitations on subcontracting, as well as other changes implemented by the 2013 National Defense Authorization Act.   Comments were initially due on February 27, 2015; however, as we previously reported, the SBA reopened the comment period due to requests to extend the deadline and the scope/significance of the proposed rule.  Comments are now due on April 6, 2015.