News for the Week

Looks like DAU's Ask-A-Professor Program has competition. There is now a place on WIFCON where you can ask government contracting questions; check it out.

We all know that being late in submitting a bid or proposal can be fatal to an offeror's chance for contract award. Don't forget however, late can be fatal to the government's rights when it comes to exercising options in a contract. In White Sands Construction, INc, ASBCA Nos. 51875 and 54029, the Government failed to provide a timely preliminary notice of its intent to exercise the 2nd option year. The government mailed the preliminary notice on the 60th day before contract end. However, the contractor did not receive it until 7 days later (it was not faxed or electronically transmitted). The Board held that since the contractor did not receive the notice in a timely fashion the subsequent option exercise was invalid. This also meant that Option 3 was likewise invalid. The court then stated: "The ineffective attempt to exercise an option gives a contractor the right to recover the costs it incurred in performing that work plus a reasonable profit on those costs. Lockheed Martin Corp., ASBCA No. 45719, 00-2 BCA ¶ 31,025; Varo, Inc., ASBCA Nos. 47945, 47946, 98-1 BCA ¶ 29,484 at 146,319, rev’d on other grounds, 179 F.3d 1363 (Fed. Cir 1999); Chemical Technology Inc., ASBCA No. 21863, 80-2 BCA ¶ 14,728. The measure of recovery is the difference between the amount incurred plus profit and the amount received for the work. Varo, supra at 146,320."

SBA is restructuring the size standards doing away with $$ value in most cases and focusing on employees. Federal Register Notice. Also, information is available on the SBA website.

More later.