A Small Business JV Must Designate a Responsible Manager. OHA Finds that a Responsible Manager Cannot Share Responsibilities.

SBA regulations require that a small business joint venture must be managed by the small business. Moreover, an employee of that small business must be designated as the Responsible Manager. Here, the joint venture agreement designated a small business employee as the Responsible Manager, but the venture also had a Program Manager who carried out the same duties. OHA found this violated the regulations and granted the protester’s size appeal.

Size Appeal of Acacia7 JV, SBA No. SIZ-6354

• Background – The appellant previously protested Multimedia Environmental Compliance Group JV’s (MECG’s) size status and eligibility. After OHA granted the appeal, MECG appealed to COFC. The Government filed a “Consent Motion for Voluntary Remand.” COFC remanded the matter to OHA. This decision followed.
• Managing Venturer – 13 C.F.R. § 125.8(b)(2)(ii) requires that the small business venturer be the Managing Venturer of the joint venture, and an employee of that concern must be the Responsible Manager. Here, MECG’s joint venture agreement (JVA) correctly created a Responsible Manager position, but also added a Program Manager position that shared many duties with the Responsible Manager position. The two positions seemed on equal footing, as the JVA did not make clear who would make the final decisions. OHA concluded this made MECG to be eligible as a small business joint venture for the subject procurement.

James M. Carter, Richard B. Oliver, David B. Dixon, Toghrul M. Shukurlu, Sarah M. Robitaille of Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP appeared for the appellant. Antonio R. Franco, Meghan F. Leemon, Patrick T. Rothwell, Eric A. Vale, and Kelly A. Kirchgasser of PilieroMazza, PLLC appeared for Multimedia Environmental Compliance Group JV. Gabrielle Hangos appeared for SBA.

— Case summary by Joshua Lim, Assistant Editor.

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