Employee or Contractor? Why Getting Worker Classification Wrong Can Cost You the Company
Calling a worker an independent contractor to save on taxes and benefits is one of the most common and costly mistakes a growing contractor makes…
4 min read
Government Contracting News & Insights
Contracting intelligence for small and minority-owned businesses, from the TIKC advisory team.
The archive
All stories
Page 9 of 24 · Newest first
Can You Actually Do the Job? Responsibility Determinations and the Award You Could Lose
Before any award, the contracting officer must find you a responsible contractor: capable, financially able, and with a record of integrity. Understanding FAR 9.1 is…
4 min read
The Rule That Reserves the Work: How the Rule of Two Protects Small Business Set-Asides
The Rule of Two requires agencies to set a contract aside for small business when two or more capable small firms will likely bid at…
4 min read
The Shell Companies That Kept the Set-Asides. A $742,500 8(a) Fraud Lesson.
A contractor that outgrew its 8(a) eligibility allegedly kept winning set-asides by routing them through alter-ego companies. The $742,500 settlement shows how shell-company schemes unravel…
5 min read
Grants Are Not Free Money: The Uniform Guidance and How Grant Fraud Happens
Federal grants come with rules as strict as any contract. The Uniform Guidance governs how you spend, document, and report, and misusing grant funds or…
4 min read
The Company Pays, and So Do You: Individual Accountability in Contract Fraud
Government fraud enforcement increasingly reaches the people, not just the company. Owners and executives can face personal civil liability and criminal charges, and a corporate…
4 min read
The Insider Who Can Sue on the Government’s Behalf: How a Qui Tam Case Really Works
Almost every big False Claims Act recovery starts with a whistleblower. Understanding how qui tam suits, the seal, intervention, and relator shares actually work explains…
4 min read
Stealing an Edge Is a Federal Crime: Trade Secret Theft and Economic Espionage
Taking a competitor’s proprietary data, or letting a new hire bring it to you, can be a federal crime under the Economic Espionage Act. In…
4 min read
Your Subcontractor’s Problem Is Your Problem: Flow-Down Clauses and Prime Liability
As a prime, you are responsible for the whole job, including what your subcontractors do. Flow-down clauses push required terms down the chain, and the…
4 min read
Paid for Work Not Yet Done: Progress Payments and the Billing Lines You Cannot Cross
Progress payments and interim billing let contractors get paid before final delivery, but they rest entirely on honest reporting of costs and completion. Overstate what…
4 min read
The Wage Floor on Every Federal Jobsite: Davis-Bacon and the Risk of Getting It Wrong
On federal and federally funded construction, the Davis-Bacon Act sets the prevailing wages and fringe benefits you must pay, and requires certified payrolls. Underpay or…
4 min read
A Cyber Score of 104 That Was Really Negative 142. The $4.6 Million Lesson.
A defense contractor paid $4.6 million after allegedly reporting a near-perfect cybersecurity score while its real score was deeply negative. The gap between what it…
4 min read
Weekly newsletter
The Briefing
The Briefing is the TIKC weekly federal contracting newsletter covering policy changes, opportunities and practical next steps for small businesses.
- Policy changes worth knowing about
- Opportunities for small and minority-owned firms
- Practical next steps you can act on
