Photo of Olivia LynchPhoto of Brian Tully McLaughlinPhoto of Lyndsay GortonPhoto of Zachary Schroeder

In its recent decision, CVE Appeal of First State Manufacturing, Inc., SBA No. CVE-184-A (2021), the Small Business Administration Office of Hearing and Appeals (OHA) denied an appeal of a decision by the Department of Veterans Affairs Center for Verification and Evaluation (CVE) to cancel First State Manufacturing, Inc.’s verification of service-disabled veteran-owned small business (SDVOSB) status. CVE issued its Notice of Verified Status Cancellation based on concerns of present responsibility related to a consent judgment entered into merely a month before to resolve a False Claims Act (FCA) lawsuit against First State that required First State to pay over $393,000. Prior to the FCA lawsuit, First State’s Vice President for Marketing/Contract Administration and Chief Executive Vice President/Chief Financial Officer were criminally charged, pled guilty, and were sentenced to prison terms for bribing an Amtrak official to win federal Government contracts. In the appeal before OHA, First State argued that CVE erred in cancelling its verified SDVOSB status for two reasons: (1) the FCA consent judgment was based upon an underlying FCA settlement agreement that did not admit liability or wrongdoing by First State; and (2) the Federal Railway Administration, which oversees Amtrak funding, determined that First State was “presently responsible,” and that the likelihood of future harm to the Government did not warrant suspension or debarment. First State further argued that as the Federal Railway Administration is the agency with the potential injury, its determination of present responsibility should have been given greater deference by CVE.
Continue Reading False Claims Act Consent Judgment Prompts Termination of SDVOSB Status Even Without an Admission of Liability

Photo of Olivia LynchPhoto of Amy Laderberg O'SullivanPhoto of Michael SamuelsPhoto of Zachary Schroeder

In this bullet point, Olivia Lynch, Amy O’Sullivan, Michael Samuels, and Zachary Schroeder address the SBA Office of Hearings and Appeals’ (OHA) recent decision in DSC-EMI Maintenance Solutions, LLC, SBA No. SIZ-6096. In the decision, OHA affirmed a size determination holding that a joint venture formed pursuant to SBA’s Mentor-Protégé Program was other-than-small because

Photo of Amy Laderberg O'SullivanPhoto of Olivia LynchPhoto of Peter J. Eyre

The Small Business Administration (SBA) has seemingly slipped a noteworthy change into a technical correction published in the Federal Register on March 26, 2018.  Indeed, this “technical correction” actually appears to be an attempt to overturn the impact of a decision that the Office of Hearing and Appeals (OHA) issued in January 2018 – In

Photo of Amy Laderberg O'SullivanPhoto of Olivia Lynch

As we have previously addressed, the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) final rule, Small Business Government Contracting and National Defense Authorization Act of 2013 Amendments, has implemented numerous changes to small business contracting contained in the National Defense Authorization Act of 2013 (FY2013 NDAA).  Below we discuss an important change to one affiliation test as well as newly introduced exclusions from affiliation.  On the whole, these changes make it easier for small businesses to work together without risking a finding of affiliation.

Affiliation is a central component of SBA’s regulations: in determining a concern’s size, SBA counts the receipts, employees, or other measure of size of the concern whose size is at issue and all of its affiliates (domestic and foreign).  In other words, these tests and (and exemptions or exclusions) affect whether SBA finds a concern to be small or other than small based on its relationships with other concerns.Continue Reading The SBA Final Rule Implementing the FY2013 NDAA Part III: What You Need to Know About Affiliation and Joint Ventures