The Small Business Administration announced the launch of a new Historically Underutilized Business Zone (HUBZone) preview map. The HUBZone preview map shows changes that are scheduled to take effect on July 1, 2023, reflecting updates from the 2020 U.S. Census. Read more here.
Author Archives: Victor Valdez
Funding from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act is finally making it to projects, according to the CEOs of several major public construction companies. Additional federal money from the Inflation Reduction Act and CHIPS Act is also boosting the civil construction outlook, they said. More
Billions of dollars are needed to fully repair, maintain and renovate academic buildings and facilities across the 23 campuses in the California State University system, according to a legislative report. But that is money that the system, and the state, don’t have readily available. Meanwhile, some students have complained about unbearable heat waves in classrooms […]
Skanska’s Western Region is hosting its first Construction Management Building Blocks (CMBB) training program for small construction businesses and is now accepting applications for the free 10-week course, which starts March 7, 2023. Organizing the course to include the entire western region will give participants “access to the pool of personnel that we have across […]
On January 1, 2023, the minimum wage for government contractors under Executive Order 14026 increased from $15.00 per hour to $16.20 per hour. We wrote about Executive Order 14026 and its requirements previously here. There continues to be confusion as to when and how Executive Order 14026 applies, so here are a few key components […]
Last year’s big spending at the Pentagon will continue this year, with small business getting more opportunities to share in the wealth. Defense contract spending rose 6.7% in 2022, hitting its second highest annual total at $436 billion, according to a report from Bloomberg Government. The spike in unclassified procurement resulted from numerous factors including […]
The Department of Defense is tweaking its contracting strategy to place more of an emphasis on meeting small business acquisition goals, even it if means supplanting its use of Best in Class vehicles. The Office of the Under Secretary for Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment released a memorandum on Jan. 27 that described small businesses […]
The annual National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), in essence Congress’ annual budget for the Department of Defense (DoD), commonly includes various riders and attachments that amend or create other federal laws. For example, the 2022 NDAA gives contracting officers a lot more discretion to help out its contractors in light of inflation. We’re guessing we […]
On December 6, 2022, the SBA held a virtual Q&A session to discuss the roll-out of the Service-Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) and Veteran Owned Small Business (VOSB) certification program. They will be assuming responsibility as of January 2023 and the SBA will begin accepting applications for certification on January 9, 2023. Through the […]
On a daily basis, the Department of Defense (DoD) issues innumerable memorandums and orders, as one might expect when dealing with one of the largest institutions in human history. Most of these have little to no impact for most government contractors. However, a recent class deviation is an exception, as it should make things easier […]