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ACQUISITION ALERT

SBA Mentor - Protege Rule Announcement

 
On August 24, 2016, Eric Ness, Wisconsin District Director, US SBA, announced the much awaited Mentor-Protege (MP) Rule for all Small Businesses at Wisconsin Procurement Institutes (WPI) Federal Prime-Subcontractor Group Meeting hosted by Deltahawk in Racine, WI.  The rule became effective on August 24 with on-line processing of applications beginning October 1, 2016.  This rule implements provisions from the 2010 Jobs Act and the 2013 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).  These Acts directed the US SBA to create a Mentor Protégé program for all Federal small business categories which mirrored the existing 8(a) Mentor Protégé Program.   This rule is being categorized by some as a "game changer" in that it will alter the competitive landscape for small business.  We encourage current federal contractors to look at and evaluate this opportunity.   Applications will be processed through https://certify.sba.gov/ .    
 
UPCOMING EVENTS
9/13/16
Acquisition Hour: Federal Government Contracting- A Look at Recent Changes
(Part 1)
Webinar

9/16/16
A Winning Approach to Contract Award: Preparation, Lead Generation, Follow-up & Closing the Deal
Milwaukee
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9/14/16
 Acquisition Hour: Federal Government Contracting - A Look at Recent Changes
(Part 2)
Webinar
Learn More

9/20/16
A Winning Approach to Contract Award: Preparation, Lead Generation, Follow-up &
Closing the Deal
Wausau
Learn More
Marketplace 2016 - New Date  - December 13th and 14th  

Are you ready to start or grow your business in Wisconsin? Each year, MARKETPLACE helps minority, women and veteran-owned company representatives learn about doing business with state, federal and local agencies as well as corporations. These markets represent billions of dollars of annual purchasing with special programs to include minority, women, veteran and disadvantaged business owners.
Meet with potential buyers, identify funding sources, connect with business assistance resources and build their capacity at MARKETPLACE.
Labor Department, FAR Council Issue Final Regulations, Guidance to Ensure Government Contractors Better Comply With Workplace Rights, Protections
WASHINGTON - To ensure that federal contractors better comply with laws that protect their workers' safety, wages and civil rights, the U.S. Department of Labor and Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council today announced final regulations and guidance implementing the Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces Executive Order.

Signed by President Obama in July 2014, the order requires prospective federal contractors to disclose labor law violations and gives agencies more guidance on how to consider labor violations when awarding federal contracts. It directs the department and the council to issue regulations and guidance to implement the new requirements.

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DoD now awarding more than half its contract spending without competitive bids
This week marks the two-year point since the Defense Department - worried that only 56.5 percent of its contracted dollars involved a meaningful competition between two or more vendors -
issued a series of corrective actions to reverse a downward slide that's been ongoing for nearly a decade.

So far, the results are not encouraging.

Data published by the Office of Defense Procurement and Acquisition Policy shows things have gotten worse, not better since those orders were signed. In each quarter of fiscal 2016 thus far, DoD's overall competition rate has been below 50 percent, meaning something dramatic would have to happen in the fourth quarter for the department to meet its goal of 57 percent for the year.

Continue reading at   federalnewsradio.com.


Take Two: Proposed Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement Commercial Item Rule Still Fails to Rein in Contracting Officer Discretion

On August 16, 2016, the Department of Defense ("DOD") published a revised proposed rule to amend the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) to implement sections of the National Defense Authorization Acts for Fiscal Years 2013 and 2016 related to commercial items acquisitions. This proposed rule replaces the rule that DOD proposed last August and retracted last December following critical commentary from the acquisition community. While the revised proposed rule seemingly lessens the burden on contractors selling commercial items to the DOD by, among other things, restricting the contracting officer's discretion to conclude that an item is not commercial when a DOD component has previously determined that it is and establishing a"hierarchy" of data for contracting officers to consider when making determinations of price reasonableness, both of these provisions fall short. 
A Winning Approach to Contract Award: Preparation, Lead Generation, Follow-up & Closing the Deal

Join us for this series of government business development workshops taking place across the state of Wisconsin!

This is A BEST PRACTICE presentation on how to increase success in closing sales and receiving contract awards from government and business and improve your firms return on investment from attending the Marketplace 2016 conference [or any other conferences or trade shows]

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