The SBA sustained a status protest, finding the challenged firm was not an SDVOSB. Following the determination, the company emailed additional materials to SBA. The SBA emailed back and said the materials didn’t change the outcome. The firm appealed to OHA. While the deadline to appeal from the status determination had passed, the firm argued the email from SBA was a new decision from which the company could appeal. OHA dismissed the appeal. Nothing in the email indicated it was a new status determination.
VSBC Appeal of B.E. Scaife Plumbing Company, Inc. d/b/a TamCo Services, Inc., SBA No. VSBC-273-A
Background
Following a status protest, SBA’s Office of Government Contracting and Business Development determined TamCo Services was not service-disabled, veteran-owned small business. SBA’s determination was based on an adverse inference. TamCo had refused to provide payroll information. SBA assumed the missing information would have shown TamCo’s highest-paid employee was not a service-disabled veteran.
After the determination, TamCo emailed the SBA additional information. The SBA emailed back, stating the new information didn’t change the determination. The SBA told TamCo to remove its SDVOSB status from the System for Award Management.
A few days after receiving the email, TamCo filed an appeal with SBA’s Office of Hearings and Appeals.
Analysis
OHA dismissed the appeal as untimely. An appeal must be filed within 10 days after issuance of an SBA decision. Here, the SBA issued the status determination in December 2022. TamCo didn’t file an appeal until March 2023.
TamCo argued its appeal was timely, because it was appealing from the email it received from SBA after the status determination. TamCo maintained the email was a new or supplemental decision that extended the deadline for appeal. TamCo argued the email made a new determination concerning the company’s SAM registration.
OHA rejected the argument. The email was not an official decision. It was unsigned and contained no appeal rights. The email did not in any way supplement the previous status determination. The email did not make a new determination concerning removal of TamCo’s SDVOSB status from SAM. SBA regulations state a company is decertified as an SDVSOB as a result of a status determination.
–Case summary by Craig LaChance, Senior Editor
