On August 11, 2026, the Small Business Administration (SBA) published a final rule amending 13 CFR § 124.103 to eliminate the 8(a) Business Development Program’s race-based rebuttable presumption of social disadvantage. In its place, SBA adopted a group-discrimination-plus-self-certification test that any individual American citizen may use, regardless of race, ethnicity, or sex. The rule takes
Bradley has been publishing an ongoing survey of state-level bid protest processes and procedures (see, e.g., our posts on “Bid Protests in Georgia,” “Bid Protests in the District of Columbia,” “Bid Protests in New York,” “Bid Protests in Virginia,” “Latest Update on Bid Protests in
In Veros Real Estate Solutions, LLC, B-423965.2, et al., July 22, 2026, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) sustained a protest challenging the Department of Veterans Affairs’ evaluation of the awardee’s past performance. For contractors, the decision is less about an isolated agency mistake than about how past-performance relevance is proved and challenged.
In Strategi Consulting, LLC v. United States, the U.S. Court of Federal Claims recently held that a prior Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II awardee can bring a bid protest when an agency declines to award it Phase III work and instead routes that work to other contractors through existing task orders —
For government contractors, a debriefing is much more than a procedural step following an unsuccessful procurement. Although many debriefings are written, agencies often give oral debriefings, either in person or remotely by videoconference. A well-executed oral debriefing can provide invaluable insight into an agency’s evaluation, identify potential grounds for a bid protest, improve future proposals
Artificial intelligence is rapidly transforming how government contractors develop proposals, manage contracts, write software, analyze data, and perform countless other functions. Tools such as ChatGPT, Claude, Microsoft Copilot, and Google Gemini promise significant gains in efficiency and productivity, but they also raise complex legal, contractual, and cybersecurity questions. As federal agencies continue to develop agency-specific
The federal government’s attempt to prohibit the use of Anthropic’s artificial intelligence technology has created significant uncertainty for government contractors that rely on AI to support contract performance and internal business operations. Although a federal court has temporarily blocked enforcement of key portions of the government’s directive, the litigation underscores how quickly the compliance landscape
On July 20, 2026, President Trump signed Executive Order 14415 titled “Securing America’s Defense Supply Chains and Ensuring Domestic Acquisition of Critical Materials.” While the order initially focuses on critical minerals and other covered materials used in defense systems, its most consequential provisions extend well beyond those materials.
Instead, the executive order signals a broader
The Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals (ASBCA) recently issued an important decision explaining when a federal agency may terminate a contractor for default before contract performance is complete. In Jaxon Construction, Inc., ASBCA No. 64432 (June 24, 2026), the board recognized that although the contractor may have committed numerous performance deficiencies, the
In a significant policy shift that will have immediate implications for the defense industrial base (DIB), the Department of Defense (DoD) announced on July 13, 2026, that it is suspending the implementation of Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) Phase II requirements. The announcement halts what would have been one of the most consequential cybersecurity