The proposed rule is now history. On August 11, 2026, the Small Business Administration (SBA) published its final rule, Reforms to 13 CFR 124.103 To Remove SBA’s 8(a) Program’s Rebuttable Presumption of Social Disadvantage for Individually Owned Firms Only, 91 Fed. Reg. 51568 (Aug. 11, 2026) (the Rule). The Rule takes effect September 10, 2026, and by its own terms applies to all pending applications of individually-owned applicants as of that date. A firm with an application sitting in the queue will therefore be measured against a test that did not exist when it applied.
Continue Reading Prove the Policy, Not the Story: SBA’s Final Rule Rewrites the 8(a) Social Disadvantage Test
Credit Where Credit Isn’t Due: GAO Sustains Protest Where VA Credited the Awardee for the Government’s Own Work
Two proposals rated Exceptional. Two past performance ratings of Substantial Confidence. A price gap of nearly $15 million between the two offerors. On that record, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) did what source selection authorities routinely do. It declared the offerors essentially equal on the non-price factors and awarded to the lower-priced firm. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) sustained the disappointed offeror’s protest, because the past performance findings that made the two firms look equivalent could not bear the weight the agency placed on them. The case is Veros Real Estate Solutions, LLC, B-423965.2, B-423965.3, B-423965.4 (Comp. Gen. July 22, 2026), and it carries an outsize practical lesson: An agency may not credit an offeror with work the offeror did not perform, and it may not paper over a relevancy determination with conclusory adjectives. For contractors competing in best value procurements where technical ratings bunch at the top, the holding warrants close study.
Continue Reading Credit Where Credit Isn’t Due: GAO Sustains Protest Where VA Credited the Awardee for the Government’s Own WorkGrounded Before Takeoff: A Cautionary Tale on the “Late-Is-Late” Rule
Peak summer travel season has jet fuel moving by the millions of gallons, so there is a certain irony in a fuel-supply dispute that turned on an email no one at the agency ever opened. A contractor sent its proposal a day early, got an automated message saying the email was delivered, and lost the competition anyway. The agency never saw the bid. That is the short version of Rick Aviation, Inc. v. United States, No. 25-1604 (Fed. Cl. June 17, 2026), a post-award protest recently decided at the Court of Federal Claims. The opinion is a useful—and painful—refresher on what “received” actually means under the Federal Acquisition Regulation and on how little sympathy a court will extend when the offeror caused the problem.
Continue Reading Grounded Before Takeoff: A Cautionary Tale on the “Late-Is-Late” RuleA Field Guide To NDC Status: Identifying The Defense Industry’s Newest (And Oldest) Protected Species
In December 2025, Section 1826 of the FY 2026 NDAA created one of the most valuable classifications in defense contracting and most companies that qualify don’t know it yet. Qualify as a “nontraditional defense contractor” and you’re exempt from certified cost or pricing data, FAR Part 31, and the entire DFARS business-systems architecture. The kicker?
AI Heats Up: New Executive Order on Promoting Advanced Artificial Intelligence Innovation and Security
What Federal Contractors Should Be Watching This Summer
Summer 2026 has arrived with a new wave of artificial intelligence (AI) policy from the White House. On June 2, 2026, President Trump signed an Executive Order titled “Promoting Advanced Artificial Intelligence Innovation and Security” (the Order). The Order directs federal agencies—on aggressive 30‑ and 60‑day timelines, with key deliverables due by July 2, 2026 and August 1, 2026—to harden federal information systems with AI‑enabled defenses, establish a voluntary framework for pre‑release federal access to so‑called “covered frontier models,” and prioritize criminal enforcement against malicious AI‑enabled cyber activity. Although the Order is framed as innovation‑and‑security policy and expressly disclaims any “mandatory governmental licensing, preclearance, or permitting requirement” for new AI models, it will have immediate operational consequences for federal information‑technology and cyber contractors, AI developers, critical‑infrastructure operators, and their service providers.
Continue Reading AI Heats Up: New Executive Order on Promoting Advanced Artificial Intelligence Innovation and SecurityOHA Remands 8(a) Suspension Built on Hidden-Camera Video
In a sharply worded order issued May 18, 2026, the Office of Hearings and Appeals (OHA) of the US Small Business Administration (SBA) remanded the agency’s suspension of ATI Government Solutions, LLC, from the 8(a) Business Development (BD) Program, finding the administrative record so deficient that it could not meaningfully review whether the suspension rested on adequate evidence. The case is Matter of ATI Government Solutions, LLC, SBA No. BDPT-728 (2026), and the decision is a forceful reaffirmation of two bedrock principles of administrative law in the 8(a) suspension context: An agency must articulate its reasoning at the time it acts, and the record it submits on appeal must actually contain the materials the decision-maker relied on. It also arrives at a uniquely fraught moment for 8(a) firms—and ATI, a tribally owned participant suspended on the strength of a hidden-camera video, illustrates exactly the kind of fast, thinly supported enforcement action that seems to have become business as usual for the SBA in recent months.
Continue Reading OHA Remands 8(a) Suspension Built on Hidden-Camera VideoHalf an Inch from a Quarter-Billion: COFC Tells Contractors to Read the Spec, Not the Industry
Half an inch determined the outcome of a $260 million Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) procurement in Joerns Healthcare, LLC v. United States, a bid protest in which the US Court of Federal Claims (COFC) enforced strict compliance with solicitation specifications. The court rejected the contractor’s reliance on industry standards, holding that unambiguous solicitation terms control evaluation outcomes when agencies verify compliance through stated measurement methods. For contractors competing in FAR Part 12 commercial item acquisitions and FAR Part 15 procurements, the decision reinforces that even minimal deviations from express requirements can render a proposal unacceptable.
Continue Reading Half an Inch from a Quarter-Billion: COFC Tells Contractors to Read the Spec, Not the IndustryCost-Plus Out. Fixed-Price In.
A 2026 federal executive order reshapes federal procurement policy by directing agencies to use fixed-price contracts as the default under FAR Part 16, while requiring written justification and higher-level approval for cost-reimbursement, time-and-material, and labor-hour contracts. The order also establishes agency approval thresholds, carve-outs for R&D and contingency work, and a phased implementation schedule through OMB guidance and FAR Council rulemaking. For government contractors, the change affects how agencies structure acquisitions, allocate risk, and modify existing and future contracts, with significant implications for federal procurement strategy and compliance in 2026.
Continue Reading Cost-Plus Out. Fixed-Price In.Everything Everywhere All at Once: The Contractor DEI Clause Hits HR, Supply Chains, Invoices, and Subcontracts
Federal contractors looking for the “DEI issue” in FAR 52.222-90 may be looking in the wrong place. Yes, the clause is about what Executive Order 14398 calls “racially discriminatory DEI activities.” But that’s only the starting point. The new clause also reaches subcontract flowdowns, records access, reporting obligations, bilateral modifications, suspension and debarment, and False Claims Act (FCA) risk. This isn’t just an HR issue, and it isn’t just a DEI issue. It is a contract-administration issue, a supply-chain issue, and an invoice issue all at once.
Continue Reading Everything Everywhere All at Once: The Contractor DEI Clause Hits HR, Supply Chains, Invoices, and SubcontractsDOJ Stands Up a New Fraud-Fighting Division: What Government Contractors Need to Know About the National Fraud Enforcement Division
On April 7, 2026, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche issued a memorandum establishing the National Fraud Enforcement Division (“NFED”) within the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”). Announced in a corresponding DOJ press release, the NFED is the Department’s first unified litigating division dedicated exclusively to investigating and prosecuting fraud against taxpayer dollars. For the government contractor community, the creation of the NFED represents a meaningful escalation in federal fraud enforcement.
Continue Reading DOJ Stands Up a New Fraud-Fighting Division: What Government Contractors Need to Know About the National Fraud Enforcement Division