 Outside of a CMMC, what are some of the major issues that you've seen that are facing small businesses today? Well, if you've ever heard of this e-commerce solutions, they have many different names for it But it was originally called the tell me colloquially called the Amazon amendment because everybody figured Amazon would get it But the idea was, you know Eric you and I we can go on Amazon one click Two-day shipping. It's very easy online retail. Oh, I know which one you're talking about I know that one That's the one that they could just buy direct whatever they want, right? Yeah, I know that one Yeah, so they want the contracting officers The acquisition people to be able to buy just like you and me can off the street right make it a lot easier and so everybody just called it the amazon amendment because they figured it was kind of Most likely it would be amazon that would get the contract to be the go-to source For commercial goods like that that you can just go online and click Now it has later been changed officially to something like the e-commerce solutions The the portal they have all kinds of names, but They've now been very careful to say that it won't necessarily just be amazon There's other players out there, right? We have Best Buy Walmart.com staples all kinds of things like that, right? But here's the issue to watch out for There's two sides of the story. I'll tell you one side one side Would say as far as small business set-asides go We're entitled to 23 by law 23 goes to set-asides to small businesses to accomplish that goal. You'd say well How are we going to count whether it's a small business set-aside when we're using this this new e-commerce when we're using an online platform And the government can just kind of use it the same way the consumer can Well, what some people have very controversially proposed is they would say Okay, well when you use the e-commerce solution you log on to amazon and you go into like the government window of amazon If you buy something From the company that's on amazon if that company, you know the the third party seller If that company is a small business Then those dollars that the government spent on amazon Counts as a small business set-aside now eric, you know where i'm going with this one, right? Keep keep it up Okay, so so what what this is not christoph's opinion? I'm telling you what some people are proposing they're saying that All those purchases that the government could make on a platform like amazon would actually count For the small business act for federal agency goals every year as a small business set-aside So they would need anybody Okay, so let's go to the other side Let's talk about being a small business advocate like eric and i would be The other side of that would say are you kidding me, right? We have a law saying that you're supposed to prop up and help and energize the small business Economy and the engine of growth is small business and you're going to count these buys from amazon Which is one of the largest most successful global businesses ever You're going to count purchases made through that platform as a small business set-aside That's that's probably not going to fly too well with the House and senate small business committees. Let's just leave it at that, right? interesting well interesting Tell me something that An aspect of the federal contract law if small business new better would help them become better contractors I think You don't even have to get to the law part. I would give you Some of the procedures that are involved with just contract administration I think knowing the rules behind modifications That's where you can make or break yourself So I have some articles that I've published. They're out there for free on my website I have a chapter devoted to it in government contracts in plain english my book The difference between a request for equitable adjustment And a claim if you can master those two ways of asking for a modification on your contract I think that's going to help a lot of small businesses and I'd be happy to give you the bottom line up front in plain english right now So If you have a request for equitable adjustment, you're asking for more money. You may be a schedule extension You're asking in writing and it's because of some clause in the contract or some change in circumstance If you're submitting a claim, you're doing exactly the same thing So people get these confused you're asking for more money in writing based on a clause or a change in circumstance The difference between the two Is that a request for equitable adjustment? They call it an rea that counts as contract administration It's not as if you're suing the government. So because of that You are allowed to build a government for the costs of creating that request for equitable adjustment That means that if you hire eric or christoph as your consultant and you hire an accountant as your cpa to help you calculate the costs Of that modification that you're owed You can build a government For those costs and include it with the increase to your contract. That's with the rea route. I didn't know that Now if you submit a claim a claim is the start of formal Dispute it's the claim the claim starts the litigation process and The claim requires a contracting officer to write back to you within a certain amount of time within a deadline They have to write a final decision The final decision is a lot like a judge's decision and it will stand Unless you appeal that Final decision by the contracting officer and from there You can appeal to federal court or to the boards of contract appeal But the point is You can't get there without first submitting a claim you can't just go to court It requires you to submit a claim but a claim is this first step in litigation So you cannot submit those costs of creating preparing the claims such as outside consultants it also you know the claim creates a A deadline that the government has to respond to and it's a little bit more forceful It's a little bit more adversarial because like I said, it's kind of like you're starting the litigation process if it gets to that point So for that reason People usually And if they don't they should they usually consider submitting a request for equitable adjustment first Before they submit a claim Because first of all an rea is not considered as adversarial a claim is You know sometimes people's feelings get hurt and the government says why did you submit a claim? You could have accomplished this another way But the other reason is that there's a there's a cost advantage to submitting an rea But I think that most small businesses that I know would feel like they've received backlash for even submitting an equitable adjustment I think you're right. I think you're right They might get backlash that people would just do the work just suck it up and eat that cost Yeah, they might get backlash But they would definitely get more backlash from the claim because the claim and again This shows you the differences the the claim creates a timeline and it requires A written contracting officer's final decision. It's more formal Whereas with an rea the government doesn't have a timeline. They can kind of sit on your request for months and months So that's another reason why we have the strategy of submitting the rea first and then the claim you kind of see where it goes with the more I wouldn't say it's friendly, but it's less adversarial method of using an rea And then if the timeline is not going where you needed to go and you need to get a little bit more serious Then some come some contractors will opt for a Claim and you know your your point about riling up your client It's a great point and that certainly applies to protests as well Well, let's let's again. Let's go step back right before you, you know, I just gave you a scenario that I'm faced with What do I do? You said you didn't know Do I submit a record? Well, do I send my an rea? For for which circumstance are we the one with the windows where they told me I have to use one of these four suppliers Well, did you get the contract in that case? Yes, I did Okay, so if you already have the contract And look, you know, I'm being careful here. I don't have all the facts We're just odd cast but we have this example But I mean, that's what we're again, I guess I'm trying to get something out of you, christoff You got to give me something what to do like I need something I mean, I can't I set back. Okay. I told you what I actually did Yeah, I ate it Yeah, it's it's gone like the contract's over with it's already gone So it's nothing you could do to save me at this point or sink me. I got you. What should I have done? Well, let's walk through so if the change like that or some kind of a problem that you feel you're owed Compensation I didn't say we're filled. We owed it. I don't know. I don't how do you determine that? How do you determine if you're owed compensation? Yeah, they told me I could use this guy I used them. Then they told me after I got the contract. I can't use them anymore. Yeah Well, I you know, Eric, I will not I cannot cannot just give you legal advice on something like that I just can't I can't do it. I won't touch that one But instead what I'll do is I'll say what's step one and step two If you think you want to get some kind of a change to your contract You want to add money to your contract in some way? Step one is go for the rea And if that doesn't work File the claim now with step one having no timeline the rea does not have a required timeline That's where I would advise you to put something in your request for equitable adjustment saying We do want a written response within x number of days Because if you don't do that the government can really just kind of sit on it for as long as they would like But I would go with that one two punch Request for equitable adjustment first And follow it up with a claim if you don't get what you want in the first one Okay, let's go back But when does a small business request for an equitable adjustment when there is some change In circumstances that has increased your You know the money that you have to spend to keep this contract going um If you need a schedule extension A request for equitable adjustment can cover almost anything as far as time cost and schedule But what people usually ask them for is for more money So There could be an example where the government has given you direction That causes you to hire more people and put more people on staff Maybe your schedules have increased Maybe people are working more than they used to Maybe the government has sent you a change order Um a formal change order that entitles you to a equitable adjustment and the way you get that equitable adjustment And when I say equitable adjustment, that's just a fancy word for money change to your contract a modification, right? We're talking about the formal process of getting that modification earlier You said that there's something in the in the cares act that talks about this. Yes Well, so we're we're dealing with this coronavirus covet 19 And there was the cares act passed by congress and the interesting thing for government contractors that you need to know about If you are in any way shape or form connected with government contracts You need to know about section 3610 3610 of the cares act that was specifically written for government contractors Now what it does is it? You know, I won't say entitles you But it allows you to get a modification to pay Your employees and your subcontractors, which is extraordinary, but your employees and your subcontractors To pay them the minimum billing rate even if they're idle and they cannot work So let me explain in plain English. They don't want government contractors and government subcontractors To be laying off employees Because we're all shut down. We're having changes in work schedules. People can't come to the work site They know that if you're not billing the government if you're not working your regular regular schedule that that employer Is going to start laying off employees So they don't want that to happen. So when the economy goes back into full speed They don't want to have all the federal contracting companies be it, you know, 50 staffing So section 3610 Allows you to get a modification to pay your company more money So that it can actually pay its employees The minimum billing rate on that contract even when they are not working So this is for contractors who cannot work and who cannot telework Due to changes from, you know, the corona virus quarantines or whatever And the idea is that the government will foot the bill for your idle employees so that you don't just boot them off your Your payroll completely So this is something that every federal contractor should examine and see if they're eligible And I would add that it is based on contract per contract Okay, so you have to look at each one of your contracts and submit a request for equitable adjustment or perhaps a claim I'm citing to section 3610 of the cares act and the line has already been forming This is causing a huge flood of modifications and requests for modifications So you want to be at the front of that line and you want to get your modification quickly And to do so you need to have all your ducks in a line You got to have all your documentation and paperwork ready to go