“The SBA’s OHA administrative judges recently sent a warning to all small business contractors that they need to keep an eye on their email inboxes no matter how late in the business day it is. In a size appeal decision, OHA found that even an unread email could derail a contractor’s plans for a size appeal, depending on when it arrived in your inbox.”
“As avid readers of SmallGovCon may recall, timeliness with emails is somewhat of a recurring topic in Federal Government Contracting. Well, in RBVETCO, LLC , SBA No. SIZ-6154 (2022), OHA added its voice to the group of recent decisions related to timeliness of emails received by contractors.”
“In RBVETCO, OHA dismissed a size appeal as late, relying on when the email of the size determination was received in the contractor’s email inbox, not when the email was actually opened by the recipient. (For those of you pulling out your calendars and calculators in fervent anticipation of reading the rest of this post, do not fear, we here at SmallGovCon will break down the dates and times involved.)…”
“For size appeals there are complicated procedural rules, and if you fail to follow these rules they can result in your size appeal being dismissed, regardless of how strong the arguments within it may be. This case should hopefully serve as a reminder to all contractors to keep an eye on your email inbox at all times when you anticipate receiving any important emails from the Government. If you anticipate that you may be receiving some important communication from OHA (or other government official for that matter), make sure to plan out your calendar accordingly because despite your best intentions or circumstances, OHA cannot shift the filing deadline of a size appeal.” Read the full article here.
Source: Leaving OHA Email on “Unread” still Counts as Receipt For Appeal Timing Rules – By Gregory Weber, June 9, 2022. SmallGovCon.
