The service-disabled veteran-owned small business program rewards real veteran ownership and control, verified through certification. Knowing the ownership, control, and VetCert requirements is how you claim the status honestly and defend it.
A debriefing is your chance to learn why you did not win, improve your next proposal, and decide whether to protest. Request it correctly and the timing protects your rights. Mishandle it and you can forfeit both the lesson and the protest.
Agreeing with another company not to hire each other's workers, or to hold wages down, is now prosecuted as criminal antitrust. In a contracting world full of teaming partners and shared talent, this is a line leaders cross without realizing it.
A GSA Schedule is a powerful sales channel, but only for what is actually on it. Selling out-of-scope items or slipping open-market products onto a Schedule order can turn a convenient contract into a compliance problem.
Calling a worker an independent contractor to save on taxes and benefits is one of the most common and costly mistakes a growing contractor makes. On federal work, misclassification collides with labor standards, cost rules, and fraud exposure.
Before any award, the contracting officer must find you a responsible contractor: capable, financially able, and with a record of integrity. Understanding FAR 9.1 is how you avoid being found non-responsible and losing a contract you won on price.
The Rule of Two requires agencies to set a contract aside for small business when two or more capable small firms will likely bid at a fair price. Knowing how it works is how you claim the opportunities meant for you.
A contractor that outgrew its 8(a) eligibility allegedly kept winning set-asides by routing them through alter-ego companies. The $742,500 settlement shows how shell-company schemes unravel, usually through an insider.
Federal grants come with rules as strict as any contract. The Uniform Guidance governs how you spend, document, and report, and misusing grant funds or faking the paperwork is grant fraud with the same False Claims Act teeth.
Government fraud enforcement increasingly reaches the people, not just the company. Owners and executives can face personal civil liability and criminal charges, and a corporate settlement rarely buys an individual a pass.
