U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Previews Its 'Pathfinder' Contracting Portal: Know the Opportunities and the Risks

Pathfinder's user interface is attractive and intuitive. Contractors will begin navigating the site by clicking one of these buttons:

Then, they can visit a number of "Resources," or they can "Find Opportunities." That selection will allow contractors to 1) bid on open procurements, 2) review forecasts of future procurement opportunities, or 3) submit information about their products and services as part of VA's ongoing market research. Presumably, the opportunities displayed will be prescreened based on the "business type" selected earlier.

For large businesses, the site offers this advice:

Pathfinder is likely to offer many benefits for contractors of all types, but there are some risks to keep in mind. Among them:

• The regulations of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) define what it takes to qualify as an SDVOSB or another type of small business. These rules can be confusing, and large contractors that team with, or invest in, ostensible SDVOSB, minority-owned, women-owned or other small businesses do not always get the benefits they anticipated. Looking at it from the other side, SDVOSBs and other business types that may be entitled to preferences need to beware losing their preferred status if they don't receive and follow good legal and accounting advice when teaming or taking on investors.
• Under the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), contractors are responsible for searching bidding opportunities on the so-called "Governmentwide Point of Entry" (GPE), www.sam.gov. While Pathfinder does link to the GPE, a contractor presumably will have no right to protest if it fails to find a relevant opportunity because of a missing or broken link or other problem with Pathfinder.
• Not every procurement that the VA or other government agency sets aside for a certain business type was properly set aside. Alternatively, a procurement might not be set aside when it should have been. And, a procurement could be assigned an improper NAICS code, which is the designation that determines the line between "small" and "other than small" businesses. Would-be contractors have rights to protest all of these procurement errors.

Pathfinder will not be live officially until June 2022, but you can start exploring it now at the link below.