Although your federal
customers do have to prepare as if there might be another partial shutdown,
Allen Federal is placing the odds of such an event at well below 50-50. That doesn’t mean that we’re predicting that
all of the issues that led to the first shutdown will magically be addressed,
but rather that there is little will in Congress, especially in the Senate, to go
through another shutdown event for quite some time. It is quite possible that Congress could vote
to fund the agencies in play and decide separately on the President’s border
wall initiative. Another scenario is
that Congress sends another CR to the President who then vetoes it, only to
have that veto overridden. Either way, agencies
currently operating under a CR are likely to continue doing so for the
foreseeable future. That’s not
the best news for contractors, but it does keep agencies open and provides an
opportunity for discussions about future business when and if formal
appropriations are made available.
One wild card to watch is what the President says tomorrow night in his
State of the Union address. That may
provide clues as to whether a grand deal is achievable, potentially resulting
in actual appropriations measures being passed in the short-term. In the meantime, the government is open for
business, albeit with morale and weather issues making it slow going.
Federal worker morale
took an unprecedented hit during the 35 day partial shutdown. One need look no further than the comments
scrolling on the Federal News Network web page to get a glimpse of the
feelings. Contractors are well advised to
show some empathy and understanding as current and potential clients
shake off the cobwebs and get back to work.
Speaking of which, there is a lot of it that has accumulated since the
shutdown. The need for government work
to do be done doesn’t stop because no one is there to do it. Your customers face a daunting backlog of
existing project management, planning for new projects, and training. It will take some time to work
itself out. Add to this the prospect of another
closure (despite the rhetoric, even experienced Washington hands are
uncertain over whether this could happen) and a picture emerges that
there will nothing resembling “business as usual” for perhaps a month and maybe
more. It should be noted, however, that
“wait
and see” is not really a good approach, either. Allen Federal is hearing from companies, and
government agencies, that business is getting done. Larger projects that may not be executed
until warmer weather (!) are, indeed, being planned. The best advice is to know your
customer. Some are ramping up quickly,
while others may have much other work to get to before they feel they can speak
with industry. Don’t take it
personally.
It is an established
government contract rule that small businesses cannot have a large business
perform more than 50% of the work on non-construction government contracts. Congress and the SBA have been quite clear
that they want bona fide small firms to benefit from the award of a contract
and not act as a pass-through. What
about small businesses, though, that subcontract with other small
businesses? Up until now there has been
substantial confusion over whether a small subcontracting with the same type of
small counts against the 50% limit.
A proposed rule would eliminate the ambiguity and make it clear
that, for example, a HUBZone small business can subcontract with another
HUBZone small business and not have that subcontract count against the
limitation on subcontracting rule. The
FAR Council issued the proposed rule December 4th, with the comment
period closing at COB today. Upon
finalization, the rule will allow small businesses to subcontract with other
similarly situated small businesses without having those subcontracts count against
limitation calculations. Rather, the work would be counted as if it
were performed by the prime contractor.
It is important to note that this rule change does NOT impact large
businesses working with a small business on a set-aside contract. Passing through more than 50% of the business
on such a contract is outside the rules
Apparently the specter of planes falling from the
skies was enough to convince the White House and Congressional leaders to forge
an agreement to re-open agencies that had been shuttered for 36 days. The President has signed a Continuing
Resolution passed by Congress that will re-open agencies such as DHS,
Transportation, State, Agriculture and others that had been shuttered through
February 15th. As a
practical matter, however, it is highly unlikely that another shutdown
is in the works after that time given the substantial impact on the
people and programs essential to issues like national security and
transportation safety. A CR will allow
agencies to continue doing what they had been doing in FY’18, at approximately
the same dollar levels. It will also
allow past-due invoices to be paid.
About the only thing that a CR will not allow is the start of new
projects that need CR money to fund them. That still requires an official FY’19
appropriation.
Keep in mind, though, that new projects are being worked on,
and never really stopped, in DOD, HHS, the VA and other agencies that account
for 70% of discretionary spending. Business
was being conducted during the shut-down.
DISA moved forward on its planned massive DEOS cloud buy, GSA edged
closer to issuing ATO’s to EIS contractors, and HHS continued to make
innovative use of technology in acquisition.
There is definitely business to be had in these agencies and
contractors would be wise to focus on the dollars that are definitely
available.
Prospects
for appropriations for agencies operating under a CR are unclear at this time,
but may become clearer as the next three weeks unfold. Stay tuned.
One piece of good news coming from the end of the partial government
shutdown is that contractors may be able to recover certain costs incurred that are
associated with the closure.Several
regulatory clauses, such as the FAR’s Suspension of Work, allow
for contractors to be compensated.
Companies will have to move quickly once the agency that owes them
money re-opens, though, as most of the clauses offer a short timeframe
in which incurred costs can be covered.
Another best practice is for contractors to set up specialized charge codes
for closure-incurred costs. That
way, it is clearly visible to both the contractor and its client that specific
costs were associated with the shutdown, separate and apart from costs incurred
in the course of normal business operations.
Contractors may even be able to collect interest on overdue payments as
well. Guidelines issued by the
previous White House during the 2013 shutdown provided for interest to be paid
under certain conditions. This has been
pointed to by some in government now as a precedent that could allow for
payment this time. It is essential for contractors
to check their specific contracts to ensure that the proper clauses are
included, whether for cost plus or time and material work. Also, be prepared to move quickly so
that you don’t lose any more money than you have to as a result of the partial
closure.