Final rule says no ‘Fair Opportunity’ up to $10K

      The DOD, GSA, and NASA issued a final rule raising the threshold in which “Fair Opportunity” procurement rules must be applied to task and delivery orders under multiple-award contracts.

     When the final rule becomes effective on July 12, the threshold for Fair Opportunity will be the same as the micropurchase threshold, currently $10,000.

      In the past, Fair Opportunity rules--which often result in multiple offers-- were required for task and delivery orders in multiple-award contracts under FAR Part 16. Most recently that threshold was $3,500.

      There were about 9,800 purchases under those FAR Part 16 procedures each year, receiving an average of three offers each, the Federal Register notice for the final rule stated.

      In the 2020 NDAA, Congress raised the fair opportunity threshold to correspond to the micropurchase threshold.

Read more:
Final rule: https://bit.ly/3quBzwq

OMB’s ‘how-to’ guide to Buy American

      On June 11, OMB Acting Director Shalanda Young issued a memo to federal agencies on procedures to strengthen domestic supply chains and to increase the transparency and consistency of authorized exceptions to “Buy American.”

      The memo describes procedures for designating officials in charge, agency reporting, waiver reviews and more.

Read more:
OMB memo: https://bit.ly/2TeHKbR

Virginia man sentenced

      Robert S. Stewart Jr., 35, owner of Federal Government Experts in Arlington, VA, was sentenced to 21 months in prison with three years of parole for making false statements to the government to obtain millions of dollars in contracts, loans and military benefits.

      Stewart made false statements to the FEMA and the VA to obtain $38 million in contracts to provide PPE masks during COVID. He was not paid due to failed delivery.

Read more at:
US Attorney press release: https://bit.ly/3jr3DiP

Inside this edition:

Biden OKs $1.2T bipartisan infrastructure bill with senators

SCOTUS rules for ANCs

Number of small biz federal vendors has shrunk since 2017

Big change in CIO-SP4 RFP

HUBZone rules to apply at or below the SAT

USWCC blasts Category Mgt

NASA RFI on racial equity

Army posts RFP forecasts

Small biz gets big share of GSA GWACs

Column: Use USASpending to Get Ahead of the Game

Washington Insider:

Coronavirus Update