Small Business Size Protest and Affiliation Appeals Attorneys

Aggressively Representing the Rights of Small Businesses.  Call Toll Free 1-866-601-5518 – Free Initial Consultation.

Small business size standard violations can cause prime contractors to forfeit a government contract in the event of a bid protest. Small businesses often propose subcontractors to help them to reach larger contracts or to utilize past performances during the bidding stage. If you subjected to a small business size protest, you may want to seriously consider retaining an experienced government contracts attorney to protect your interests.  The objective of a size protest is to deem each contractor affiliated with the other in order to join revenues that go over the size standard.

The law firm of Watson & Associates, LLC represent small businesses across the country that are facing bid protests after the initial award. Given the in-depth knowledge of the rules and regulations involved with subcontractor requirements and affiliation, our lawyers can help you to plan your proposal efforts, defend or intervene on your behalf and challenge the small business size standard of other companies. See example of successful challenge against an SBA affiliation decision.

Call us at 1-866-601-5518 for a free initial consultation.

 

Small Business Size Appeals and Affiliation Services

If you are facing a bid protest that is based on allegations of size standard affiliation, attorneys in our law firm will:

• File the necessary documents to a size appeal and bid protest on your behalf
• Analyze the legal requirements as it applies to your case
• Provide direction on how to avoid costly mistakes during the proposal stage
• Defend against size appeals and size standard protests
• Help you to respond to initial SBA investigation
• Appeal adverse size standard decisions to SBAOHA

 

Five Ways to Avoid Costly Mistakes with SBA Size Standards and Affiliation

Contractors must be aware of the lurking dangers in the SBA size standard regulations. The main focus of the inquiry is control from the subcontractor over the small business prime. If control is present, then affiliation drives a negative result. You will now have to give up the awarded contract. Common mistakes made by contractors include:

• Thinking that having a large prime subcontractor has no penalties
• Failing to get legal review of teaming relationships during the initial proposal stages
• Passing on the critical aspects of the project to subcontractors
• Responding to SBA Size standard investigations without counsel
• Assuming that the Contracting Officer makes the final determination of affiliation

 

As a small business bidding on government contracts, you must be careful when utilizing 8(a) or other teaming agreements and subcontracting to other businesses. The dangerous landmines of affiliation and SBA size regulations await you. If you have recently been awarded a federal contract and are subject to a bid protest, you might consider retaining a government contract attorney that understands small business size regulations and how to defend your position. On the other hand, if you are challenging the small business size determination at the Office of Hearing and Appeals, you want to ensure that you adhere to the short deadlines and procedural rules.

 

Consequences of an Adverse Size Protest Decision

At the end of the day, if you receive an unfavorable decision in an SBA small business protest, the agency will revoke the award. Furthermore, the decision will prohibit you from representing your company as a small business for future government contracts under that specific NAICS code until you pass a subsequent review by the SBA. This can have a serious impact on your bottom line.

The best approach to handling a bid protest of this nature is to have legal review of the relationship during the initial bidding stage. In addition, you should ensure that you do propose the important and critical aspects of the project to your subcontractor. This is especially important when you are considering the incumbent to be your subcontractor.

 

Filing and defending SBA small business size protest: When you subjected to this type of bid protest, you must show that you are not unduly reliant upon another entity. A size appeal involves several legal points of affiliation that you must defend against or allege. This includes affirmative or negative control, passing on the critical aspects of the contract to a subcontractor, identity of interests, common management, newly organized firms and more. When you have an experienced bid protest lawyer on your side, you can get the guidance of asserting specific factual details to help you to withstand a request to dismiss the allegation. There are certain legal procedural and filing requirements that must be met.

You can also have a size protest defense lawyer to protect your rights in a challenge. The stakes are high and you should consider getting experienced representation.

 

Appeals of SBA Small Business Size Protests to SBAOHA: If you end up with an adverse ruling from the SBA, you have the right to appeal the decision to the SBA Office of Hearings and Appeal (SBAOHA.) However, this can be a tricky undertaking simply because the only evidence on the record will be considered on appeal. This is yet another reason why you should not risk handling the initial size standard protest on your own. Contact our bid protest lawyers to help you.

 

Help with 8(a) Certification Denials: As a new 8a applicant, you will immediately find that the requirements can be more complicated than they appear.  If the SBA has denied your 8(a) application, one of the reasons could be due to affiliation. Although you are not subject to a bid protest in this scenario, the results can be devastating to your business plans. You still have the right to appeal the decision to the SBAOHA. Given the procedural requirements, hiring a lawyer can be of benefit to you simply because of the specificity required to avoid case dismissal. Our law firm will help you to properly assess your appeal and prepare the necessary court documents.

 

Ostensible Subcontractor Rule and Affiliation Litigation: Part the small business affiliation analysis includes the Ostensible Subcontractor Rule. This is governed by 13 CFR 121. Under this analysis, there are certain factors looked at to determine whether actual or perceived control exists. The SBA also looks at the totality of the circumstances to make an affiliation decision.

 

Understand the General Principles of Affiliation?

Under a size standard bid protest, affiliation exists when one business controls or has the power to control another or when a third party (or parties) controls or has the power to control both businesses. Control may arise through ownership, management, or other relationships or interactions between the parties. See Table of Small Business Size Standards

Control may be affirmative or negative: Negative control includes instances where a minority shareholder has the ability, under the concern’s charter, by-laws, or shareholder’s agreement, to prevent a quorum or otherwise block action by the board of directors or shareholders.

SBA commonly receives questions about whether a business concern is affiliated with its investors. The following are some of the affiliation rules that may apply when a business concern receives an investment, such as from a venture capital company, hedge fund, or private equity firm.

 

Serving Clients in all States

Watson & Associates can represent and defend bid protest based upon SBA Size standard violations in Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, U.S. Virgin Islands, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, Washington, DC, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. 

Cities in which we represent contractors in size determinations include Anchorage, AK; Atlanta, GA; Austin, TX; Chicago, IL; Colorado Springs, CO; Dallas, TX; Denver, Colorado; Indianapolis, IN; Las Vegas, NV; Los Angeles, CA; Miami, FL; Philadelphia, PA; San Antonio, TX; San Diego, CA; San Francisco, CA; San Jose, CA; Santa Clara, CA; and Tampa, FL.

 

Contact us for Immediate Representation

For immediate representation with filing a small business size protest or SBA size determination defense and appeals, contact the government contract attorneys at Watson & Associates, LLC. Call toll free for a free initial consultation at 1-866-601-5518.