The second decision, InfoPoint, LLC, B-419856, Aug. SBA agreed, asserting in its response to the protest that its regulations mean that “protégés must be held to a different experience standard from mentors and other offerors.” procuring activity may not require the protégé firm to individually meet the same evaluation or responsibility criteria as that required of other offerors generally.Īlthough the contracting agency argued that the solicitation’s experience requirements reflected its minimum needs, GAO found that it violated the express language of SBA’s regulations. When evaluating the capabilities, past performance, experience, business systems and certifications of an entity submitting an offer for a contract set aside or reserved for small business as a joint venture. The protester argued that this requirement ran afoul of SBA regulations providing that: 26, 2021, 2021 CPD ¶ 178, involved a solicitation provision that effectively required the protégé member of a mentor-protégé joint venture to individually have the same level of experience as other small business offerors. The first decision, Innovate Now, LLC, B-419546, Apr. ![]() The decisions serve as important reminders that although the law may have changed, agencies may fail to implement those changes in their solicitations. Both were matters of first impression for GAO, in which GAO interpreted new rules related to the Small Business Administration’s (SBA’s) mentor-protégé program. Law360 membership required.The Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently issued two decisions sustaining challenges to solicitation restrictions on mentor-protégé joint ventures. Read more, as Michelle Litteken delves into the challenges and the benefits for small business contracts deriving from the new Rule. "If a current JV that doesn't have a clearance submits a proposal, goes through all that time and effort to put together a proposal for a contract that requires a clearance, it's not out of the question that the procuring agency is going to deem them ineligible," she said. Department of Defense's position on the rule, which hasn't been publicly stated, if it differs from the SBA's, according to Michelle Litteken, of counsel at Morris Manning & Martin LLP, who frequently advises clients on SBA programs. Contracting agencies may choose to defer to the U.S. Noting that some federal agencies had rejected joint ventures' bids for contracts when the venture didn't have its own security clearance, the SBA said that it "does not believe that such a restriction is appropriate."īut the SBA's proposal may not make any practical difference for joint ventures seeking federal deals that involve classified information because the SBA doesn't have the authority to either issue or deny security clearances. ![]() 16, the SBA said that a mentor-protege joint venture can use a facility security clearance from one of its partner companies, as long as related information is kept within the secured facility. In a final rule that went into effect on Nov. Small Business Administration rule intended to provide clarity for mentor-protege agreements hasn't resolved uncertainty for related joint ventures that require security clearances, leaving those ventures to potentially miss out on deals their members are individually eligible for.
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