What Goliaths Should Know About Davids: Small Business Government Contracting Considerations for Big Business

Please join Arnold & Porter's Government Contracts lawyers in a discussion of the government's small business preference programs focusing on what large businesses, strategic buyers, and financial sponsors need to know about teaming with and acquiring small businesses that contract with the government.

Small businesses benefit from federal laws and programs that require or incentivize agencies and large businesses to contract with them. While small businesses are the target of these preference programs, they also directly affect large business contractors in various ways. Large businesses and financial sponsors can share in the benefits of the preference programs, but the rules are complex and the risks for noncompliance are substantial. Due in part to the benefits afforded through these programs, small business government contractors often make attractive acquisition targets. However, acquiring a small business usually implicates a variety of complex notice and consent requirements and can undermine the company's eligibility for future awards.

In this webinar, we will provide an overview of the Small Business Administration's contracting programs and the small business and socioeconomic qualification requirements, including recent developments related to the 8(a) program, and then discuss considerations related to small businesses subcontracting plans, limitations on subcontracting under set-aside procurements, mentor-protégé arrangements and associated joint ventures, and diligence and other considerations relevant to acquiring small business government contractors.