338: 20-Year GovCon Lawyer: Why Your $10 Billion IDIQ Is Worth Nothing | Isaias "Cy" Alba

Selling a government contracting business triggers a 180-day eligibility rule that can void a set-aside bid if the buyer is not eligible on the day of award, wiping out the time and cost of the proposal. Isaias "Cy" Alba, a partner at the law firm PilieroMazza with 20 years in government contracting M&A, walks through the specific rules that quietly strip value from a small business before a sale, from recertification timing to the False Claims Act exposure that turns a $10 million contract into $30 million in damages. What you'll learn in this episode: - The 180-day rule that can void a set-aside bid mid-transaction, and how to time your pipeline around it - Why buyers pay 3 to 5 times EBITDA for most firms, and why 8(a) companies sell for as little as 1.5 to 2 times - How affiliation and False Claims Act errors turn a $10 million contract into $30 million in liability - The SBIR intellectual property choice that protects your code for 20 years, and the patent move that hands it to the government - The single move that raises valuation most before you go to market: winning full and open work Chapters: 0:00 - Fixing value leakage 18 months before a sale 7:00 - What makes GovCon M&A different from commercial deals 15:00 - What buyers are actually paying for in a deal 21:00 - The pre-deal hygiene checklist sellers miss 29:00 - How sellers raise value in the final 6 to 12 months 33:00 - Asset deal versus equity deal and why it matters 39:00 - Purchase agreement protections: reps, warranties, earn outs 47:00 - The first 30 days after closing a business 53:00 - Rapid fire: overvalued metrics and undervalued risk Mindy gives you the federal opportunities, agency signals, recompete intel, and pursuit briefs that tell you not just what contracts exist, but which ones to chase and how to win them. I am running it live on August 22, free to join. 👉 Register free for Mindy Day, Saturday August 22 🔗 https://govcongiants.com/mindy-launch Connect with Encore Funding: http://govcongiants.org/funding Isaias "Cy" Alba's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cyalba/ Isaias "Cy" Alba is a Partner at PilieroMazza. He counsels clients in a broad range of government contracting matters before government agencies and federal courts that include overall regulatory compliance with numerous regulatory schemes, including FAR and DFARS requirements. Cy also represents companies of all sizes with compliant corporate structuring, mergers and acquisitions, and small business rules and regulations. He handles the prosecution and defense of small business size and status protests and appeals, as well as bid protests and claims and appeals before administrative agencies and federal courts.