Size does matter- Part II

As an addition to the earlier post regarding small business certification, here is a decision by the Court of Federal Claims where the Air Force required a new certification by the business when they were going to issue a task order to an IDIQ contract.

One of the contactors had been a small business when they won their part of the basic contract. However, now they are a large company. By asking for a certification of business size, the Air Force caused the company to be ineligible for award. The contractor didn't like that and took them to court- and lost.

This is a way to keep small business preferences from being misused. The SBA's rules (see earlier post) are a partial fix.

Contracting officers can ensure small businesses get their preferences by requiring certification each time. It takes little effort on the contractor's part to recertify and keeps the integrity of the preference program intact.