USFCR Blog

The 50% Rule: How Much of a Small-Business Set-Aside Can You Actually Subcontract?

Aug 19, 2026, 10:30:00 AM / by Kyle Hayes posted in Guides, News, Set-asides, Registration & Compliance Management

Quick Answer

If you win a small-business set-aside, there's a rule that limits how much of that work you can hand off to a subcontractor. For most services and supply contracts, you can't pay outside subcontractors more than 50% of what the government pays you for the job. A lot of contractors have heard this as "51%." That's not right, and getting it wrong can put your award at risk. The good news: once you understand how it's actually calculated, it's very manageable to stay on the right side of it.

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The FAS Catalog Platform: what GSA Schedule holders need to know

Aug 12, 2026, 9:45:00 AM / by USFCR posted in General Services Administration (GSA), News

The FAS Catalog Platform, or FCP, is the system GSA Schedule holders use to keep their contract catalog current and compliant. It's replacing SIP and EDI-832, and GSA is moving contractors onto it in waves.

If you hold a Schedule, you'll end up on FCP. The question isn't whether. It's when, and what you should be doing until your turn comes.

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GSA eLibrary: How to Search Schedules, Contracts, and Vendors

Aug 12, 2026, 9:30:00 AM / by USFCR posted in General Services Administration (GSA), News

GSA eLibrary is where you check who holds a GSA Schedule and what that contract covers. It's free, it's public, and it's the fastest way to find out whether a company is actually on Schedule before you do business with them.

It's also the tool most contractors misunderstand. eLibrary answers a narrow set of questions extremely well. Ask it anything outside that set and you'll come away with the wrong answer, or no answer at all.

Here's what it does, what it doesn't, and where to go for the rest.

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Trade Agreement Act Compliance: What's New

Aug 11, 2026, 10:30:01 AM / by Kyle Hayes posted in News, Federal Spending, Registration & Compliance Management

Quick Answer

Trade Agreements Act compliance means that, on covered federal contracts above a set dollar threshold, the products you offer must be made or substantially transformed in the United States or a designated country. What is new for 2026 is a routine update to those dollar thresholds, effective March 13, 2026. The core compliance rules are unchanged, and because the thresholds adjust on a regular cycle, the practical step is to verify the current figure for a given contract.

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Natural Disasters and USAID: Who Runs Earthquake Response Now

Aug 10, 2026, 3:30:00 PM / by Kyle Hayes posted in News, Disaster Relief, Events, Registration & Compliance Management

Quick Answer

USAID stopped running U.S. foreign disaster response on July 1, 2025. The U.S. Department of State now leads that work through its Bureau of Disaster and Humanitarian Response, announced on March 20, 2026. The bureau still responds to earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, and similar disasters abroad, but with a smaller staff and a narrower focus. Businesses interested in this space should confirm the current agency before reaching out.

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How Contractors Can Prepare for Washington Wildfire Disaster Response Work

Aug 3, 2026, 2:00:00 PM / by Kyle Hayes posted in Guides, News, Disaster Relief, Registration & Compliance Management

Quick Answer

Washington's 2026 wildfire season has burned roughly 425,000 to 450,000 acres, the most since 2021, and fast-moving fires near Spokane have destroyed hundreds of structures. Governor Bob Ferguson requested a federal emergency declaration on August 2, but as of this writing it has not been approved, and only firefighting-cost grants (FMAGs) are active. The practical action for contractors is to get SAM registration and the Disaster Response Registry in place now, because large-scale recovery contracting opens only after a presidential declaration.

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Contingent job offers in government contracting: what they mean and what to ask before you sign

Aug 3, 2026, 11:02:00 AM / by USFCR posted in News

A contingent job offer is a written offer of employment that only becomes real if a specific event happens first. In federal contracting, that event is almost always one of three things: the company winning the contract, the government customer approving you for the seat, or your clearance or suitability processing coming back favorable. Signing one holds a spot. It does not guarantee a job, and it does not obligate you to accept if the condition clears months later.

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Simplified Acquisition Procedures: Important Changes You Should Know

Jul 30, 2026, 10:30:00 AM / by Kyle Hayes posted in Simplified Acquisition Program (SAP), News, Federal Spending, Registration & Compliance Management

Quick Answer

The simplified acquisition thresholds increased effective October 1, 2025, the start of fiscal year 2026. The micro-purchase threshold rose from $10,000 to $15,000, and the simplified acquisition threshold rose from $250,000 to $350,000. The practical effect is that more federal purchases now fall into the faster, lighter simplified buying lane, a space where small businesses compete well and a clean, responsive quote matters more than a long proposal.

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How to Be Ready for Federal Disaster Response Contracts Before the Storm Hits

Jul 22, 2026, 4:55:55 PM / by USFCR posted in News, Disaster Relief

Contractors who win disaster response work are almost always registered, coded, and positioned before the disaster happens. Once a declaration is issued, agencies buy fast, and the vendors who get called are the ones already sitting in the system with the right codes and a clean registration.

That's the hard part to accept. When you watch a storm move toward the coast and think about the debris removal, temporary power, and logistics work that's about to be awarded, the instinct is to go get registered right now. But registration takes time, and the buying window is short. The contractors picking up that work made their moves months ago.

Here's what "ready" actually looks like.

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Security Clearance Levels Explained: Confidential, Secret, and Top Secret

Jul 22, 2026, 3:02:09 PM / by USFCR posted in News, Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI)

T here are three security clearance levels. Confidential, Secret, and Top Secret. Almost everything else you have heard called a "clearance level" is either an access program layered on top of one of those three, or a different kind of vetting entirely.

That distinction trips up more people than any other part of this topic. So let's start there.

What the three levels actually are

The federal government classifies national security information based on how much damage its unauthorized disclosure would cause. The three clearance levels map directly to those three damage categories.

Confidential: Disclosure could reasonably be expected to cause damage to national security.

Secret: Disclosure could reasonably be expected to cause serious damage to national security.

Top Secret: Disclosure could reasonably be expected to cause exceptionally grave damage to national security.

That language is not marketing copy. It comes from the executive order governing classification, and adjudicators apply it literally. The escalating adjectives are the whole distinction: damage, serious damage, exceptionally grave damage.

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US Federal Contractor Registration, Inc. (USFCR) is not a government agency. USFCR, recognized as the largest and most trusted full-service Federal consulting organization, provides a range of services, including SAM registration assistance, small-business certifications, and other government contractor services and technologies.