Government Contracting Blog

Selling products and services to the U.S. government means adhering to several established rules and regulations. For potential and current GSA Schedule holders, complying with regulations outlined in the Trade Agreements Act (TAA) is one of the many requirements. While preparing an initial GSA Schedule proposal, most schedule holders become vaguely familiar with required trade laws and regulations. However, after their contract is awarded many make the mistake of not broadening their understanding and fail to regularly monitor their contract to maintain TAA compliant. In this blog, we will define what TAA compliance means and discuss 5 ways to stay TAA compliant.

Most government solicitations start off with some form of market research, including, but not limited to, Sources Sought Notices (SSNs), or Requests for Information (RFI), where the government generally will state their requirements and see how industry responds. This allows the government to ‘define’ their requirement, but also determine availability from commercial providers and how the agency can set up competition requirements at the solicitation/Task Order level.

2023 has already brought important changes for the future of small businesses in the federal marketplace. The Department of Defense (DoD), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the General Services Administration (GSA) are issuing two final rules amending the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR). These rules will implement changes to Small Business Administration Regulations (SBA) which will improve federal market opportunities and provide more clarity as well as consistency between SBA and FAR regulations. The final rules will go into effect on March 16, 2023. 

As a government contractor, you have to stay vigilant about certain regulations so you are staying within the guidelines of the federal government. However, it’s not always an easy guidebook to follow. Some contractors are subject to additional policies if they handle certain types of information. If you are a government contractor within the Defense Industrial Base (DIB), or you handle Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI), there are certain regulations and clauses you have to follow. Here’s what you need to know about the security requirements for safeguarding CUI.

In late January 2023, the Department of Defense (DoD) released its Small Business Strategy which reduces barriers to entry, increases set-aside competitions, and leverages programs to grow the industrial base. As part of the overall federal government initiative to strengthen the support of small businesses, the DoD has been looking for ways to create more opportunities including providing more tools and resources to small businesses. Here’s what you need to know about this new strategy and what it could mean for you as a small business government contractor.

As a prospective or current GSA contractor, you might have seen the term COTS. What does it mean and why is it an important piece of government contracting? If a government agency wants to buy Commercially available Off the Shelf (COTS) items quickly, efficiently, and at the best value, they often turn to the GSA Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) program. In this article, we will define COTS, cover how they fit into the MAS program, and discuss regulations on COTS from the Buy America Act (BAA).