GSA Schedules not subject to “Rule of Two”

Federal agencies are not required to follow the “Rule of Two” to determine if a solicitation should be set aside for small businesses before making a purchase from the Federal Supply Schedule, the Government Accountability Office decided in a recent case.

Under the rule of two, if there are two more qualified small businesses willing to do the work, the government should create a small business set-aside.

In Walker Development & Trading Group, B-411357 (July 8, 2015), the GAO said the rule of two does not apply when an agency uses the federal supply schedule.

While agencies are permitted to issue federal supply schedule acquisitions as small business set-asides, they are not required to do so, according to Steven Koprince, government contract attorney, and Ian Patterson, a summer law clerk with Koprince Law LLC.

More information: GAO decision: http://goo.gl/GC0vKm

Undefinitized contracts at Air Force, Commerce

The Air Force spent $14 billion on undefinitized contract actions to meet emergency needs over the last five years, according to a Government Accountability Office report.

These types of contracts are risky because they are executed before all terms are settled. The Air Force met the requirements for the contracts, but still incurred risk, the GAO said.

In a separate report by the Commerce Department Office of Inspector General, the auditors found that undefinitized contract actions at two Commerce agencies were not correctly reported into the Federal Procurement Data System.

More information: GAO report: http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-15-496R
Commerce Department IG report: http://www.oig.doc.gov/OIGPublications/OIG-15-033-A.pdf

Vendors gets prison, fines in fraud cases

A Hopewell, NJ woman was sentenced to 37 months in prison for bribing a former Veterans Affairs Dept. supervisory engineer to fraudulently obtain $6 million in construction contracts, the Justice Department announced.

Donna Doremus, 47, paid approximately $671,000 in bribes to a former VA official, Jarod Machinga, 45, also of Hopewell. Machinga pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 46 months in prison on June 30, 2015.

In a separate case, two Maryland contractors were fined $7.8 million for posing as a disadvantaged small business under the 8(a) program. LB&B Associates Inc. of Columbia, MD, and its principals, Lily A. Brandon and F. Edward Brandon, were fined for making false statements to obtain contracts through the 8(a) program.

More information: Doremus case https://goo.gl/fbQb2g
LB&B Associates case http://goo.gl/gp1dcZ

Limited view of Buy Indian Act

Lawmakers hit labor law rule

OASIS dashboard now online

The importance of preservation of electronically-stored information in contract disputes

Washington Insider: