Counsel for Alaska Native Corporations and their 8(a) subsidiaries
We resolve federal procurement disputes for Alaska Native Corporations and their 8(a) subsidiaries, at SBA, at GAO, and at the Boards and Court of Federal Claims.
Alaska Native Corporations operate under a set of procurement rules that no other contractor shares.
ANC-owned 8(a) subsidiaries have sole-source authority, affiliation rules and program requirements of their own, and their awards draw close attention from competitors, contracting officers and SBA. When a protest, audit or dispute arrives, the response has to account for those rules from the start.
We represent ANCs and their subsidiaries in every forum that reviews federal procurement decisions, and we help structure the joint ventures, teaming agreements and mentor-protégé relationships that keep disputes from starting.
Five decisions that shape an ANC dispute
Each one comes with a short window and a record that is hard to change later. We help you make the right call while it still counts.
A competitor challenges your size
Your response to the SBA area office is the filing that matters most. If the case goes to the Office of Hearings and Appeals, the judge generally decides it on the record you built at the area office, and new evidence is rarely allowed in.
You doubt the awardee’s eligibility
A size protest must usually be filed within five business days of learning who the apparent awardee is. If the awardee is itself an ANC subsidiary, SBA’s affiliation rules narrow the arguments available, so the decision to protest needs to be made quickly and carefully.
You lose a competition
Use the debriefing to learn whether real protest grounds exist, and whether winning would actually change who gets the award. A protest that cannot change the outcome is rarely worth the cost.
Your award is protested
The agency defends its procurement, not your award. Intervening lets you protect your own evaluation and the set-aside or sole-source decision behind it.
The agency directs work you did not price
Direction that departs from the contract terms or your pricing assumptions can be a constructive change. These costs add up fast, especially on remote or demanding sites, and they are recoverable when you document them while the work is underway.
Protecting the eligibility your business plan depends on
Eligibility decides which contracts an ANC subsidiary can pursue and which awards it can keep. For ANCs, the questions look different than they do for other 8(a) participants.
Challenges to an ANC subsidiary’s ownership, control or disadvantaged status are sharply limited by statute and regulation, and SBA’s affiliation rules generally do not combine an ANC subsidiary with its parent or sister companies. Those protections are real, but they are not complete.
The challenge that remains is a direct one: whether the subsidiary itself meets the size standard for the specific contract. These cases turn on technical facts, move quickly, and are decided on the record built at the SBA area office. We build that record from the start, and we carry it through any appeal to the Office of Hearings and Appeals.
Every forum that reviews your award
SBA
Size and status protests, and appeals to the Office of Hearings and Appeals
GAO
Bid protests and interventions
The Boards
Contract appeals at the ASBCA and CBCA
Court of Federal Claims
Bid protests and contract claims
Disputes and litigation
Bid protests
Protests and interventions at the agency, GAO and the Court of Federal Claims, including challenges to sole-source and set-aside awards.
SBA protests and appeals
Size and status protests, and appeals to SBA’s Office of Hearings and Appeals.
CDA claims
Requests for equitable adjustment and Contract Disputes Act claims, from certification through the Boards and the Court of Federal Claims.
Terminations
Termination for convenience settlement proposals and challenges to terminations for default.
Prime/sub disputes
Payment, scope and flowdown disputes between primes and subcontractors, on either side of the subcontract.
Miller Act litigation
Payment bond claims and suits on federal construction projects.
Compliance and investigations
Audits and investigations
DCAA and agency audits, Inspector General inquiries and internal investigations.
Suspension and debarment
Responses to show cause letters and proposed exclusions, and administrative agreements that keep you eligible for award.
CPAR responses
Rebuttals to inaccurate or unfair past performance evaluations before they follow you into the next competition.
Structuring and dispute avoidance
JV and teaming agreements
Joint ventures and teaming agreements built to meet SBA rules and hold up when the work starts.
Mentor-protégé agreements
Mentor-protégé agreements and the joint ventures formed under them.
Dispute avoidance
Contract review, notice letters and early strategy that resolve problems before they become claims.
Discuss your matter with an attorney
Tell us about your contract, protest or investigation, and an attorney will follow up.
Bethesda, MD 20817