The fourth-quarter federal spending surge is real and agencies prepare for it, according to Joanne Woytek, program manager for the NASA “SEWP” acquisition vehicle.

“We do 40% of our business in the last quarter,” Woytek said at an industry event. “We probably get 800 orders on Sept. 30.”

“On Sept. 30, we are usually there until midnight making sure that anything that came in gets processed,” Woytek said. “We are gearing up the staff now. The last three months are very busy.”

The Government Accountability Office recently upheld the Defense Logistics Agency’s authority to contract with Federal Prison Industries even though the work was a set-aside for HUBZone firms.

Federal Prison, also called UNICOR, is not a HUBZone company. Tennier Industries filed a protest, which GAO dismissed.

The GAO said that FAR 8.602 requires UNICOR to be given a “fair opportunity” to compete even with a contract set-aside for HUBZone or presumably others, too, according to Steven Koprince, a contracts attorney in Lawrence, KS..

“There is no reason in my mind why the same logic would not apply to 8(a), SDVOSB, WOSB, and ordinary small business set-aside procurements,” Koprince wrote in a blog entry.

The SBA’s advocacy office wants the agency to take another look at a new rule it is implementing for the Small Business Innovation Research program because it might have negative effects.

Winslow Sargeant, the SBA’s chief counsel for advocacy, and Major Clark, assistant chief counsel for advocacy, wrote to SBA Administrator Karen Mills on July 16.

The proposal implements parts of the SBIR Reauthorization Act passed in the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act.

Under current regulations, the awardee certifies small business status when notified it will be awarded the contract. Under the proposal, owners would be required to declare status at submission.

Small business owners believe the change would result in a decrease in SBIR applicants, Sargeant and Clark wrote. Because of the research and development nature of most SBIR projects, declaring status upon submission may jump the gun, they wrote.

“Because changes in status could occur after the proposal submission, some believe that requiring a declaration of small business status would in fact be premature,” Sargeant and Clark wrote.

For more information, go to: http://www.sba.gov/advocacy/816/161351

A proposed change to the Federal Acquisition Regulation could encourage agencies to suspend and debar firms as a punishment, according to the Professional Services Council.

The proposed non-displacement rule would require contractors to hire qualified service workers from predecessor firms.

The Labor secretary may suspend or debar for failure to comply, which the PSC said is misdirected.

“These remedies are not intended to be available for punishing every failure to comply with laws, regulations, and contract provisions,” Alan Chvotkin, executive vice president, wrote to GSA.