2024-2025 Bid Protest Decisions with Far-Reaching Impacts for Government Contractors
Navigating Bid Protest Choices at GAO and COFC
DE Under 3: U.S. GAO Report on Military Spouse Employment Focused on Challenges of Part-Time Work
A Discussion with GAO General Counsel Edda Emmanuelli Perez
GovCon Perspectives Podcast Episode 24: Effective Use of “Open and Frank” Discussions in Bid Protests
Award Protests: Choosing the Forum
How to Assess the Likelihood of Success in Deciding Whether to Bring a Bid Protest
One of the most powerful but often misunderstood tools available to government contractors is the pre-award protest. Unlike post-award protests, which generally challenge the outcome of a procurement, pre-award protests...more
In Kako’o Spectrum Healthcare Solutions, LLC, B-421127.5, et al., May 28, 2025, Kako’o Spectrum Healthcare Solutions (KSHS) protested the U.S. Marine Corps’ award to Cognito Systems, arguing that Cognito’s proposal exceeded...more
On May 7, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) dismissed a protest challenging the terms of a solicitation for being unduly restrictive. The protest highlights three important considerations that contractors should...more
The U.S. Court of Federal Claims recently issued a significant opinion in Gemini Tech Servs., LLC v. United States, holding that the Army’s failure to follow required procedures under the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR)...more
Generally speaking, the U.S. procurement system allows companies competing for U.S. government contracts broad rights to challenge contract awards, as well as the terms of solicitations. There are, however, restrictions...more
In its “GAO Bid Protest Annual Report to Congress for Fiscal Year 2024,” the Government Accountability Office (GAO) revealed the most common reasons bid protests were sustained this past year, including: (1) unreasonable...more
The 2025 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) includes two significant changes to DoD bid protests that are generally not favorable to contractors. (Both changes appear in Section 885 of the NDAA and can be viewed at...more
With just a week to go in FY24, federal agencies are rushing to spend those "use it or lose it" dollars. And while there are a number of reasons that support filing a bid protest when you're an unsuccessful offeror – this...more
The first decision, Kearney & Co. v. U.S., explores the ability of contractors to use labor mapping to bridge differences between an agency's stated needs and a contractor's offerings under its U.S. General Services...more
Many family law practitioners and not a few business owners probably never heard of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). A once active part of the business regulatory environment, the agency was placed on sedatives during the...more
Parties contemplating transactions in the defense sector need to know about a new obligation to provide materials to the Department of Defense (DOD) that will substantially affect their obligations for transactions that are...more
This month's protest spotlight highlights three decisions by the U.S. Government Accountability Office. The decisions feature arguments that unsuccessful offerors often want to make, but that are rarely successful, as well as...more
Impacted by an acquisition where an unusually high number of protests were filed and sustained, the GAO’s sustain and effectiveness rates increased to 31 and 57 percent, respectively. The number of filed Government...more
The Government Accountability Office recently returned to the subject of the unavailability of key personnel listed in contract proposals. ASRC Federal Data Solutions, B-421008, December 2, 2022, 2022 CPD ¶ 294, is a bid...more
Welcome to Jenner & Block’s Government Contracts Legal Round‑Up, a biweekly update on important government contracts developments. This update offers brief summaries of key developments for government contracts legal,...more
We notice a recent uptick in agencies employing an unusual evaluation method – the “advisory down select” – that places offerors in an awkward position when deciding whether, and when, to protest. Given its increasing...more
The Chief Information Officer-Solutions and Partners 4 (CIO-SP4) procurement of the National Institutes of Health’s Information Technology Acquisition and Assessment Center (NITAAC) has garnered a great deal of attention....more
Sometimes the most basic rules can be the easiest to forget. One case in point relates to the key role of competitive prejudice in successful protests. No matter how often contractors hear it, this reality bears repeating,...more
It’s not unusual for defeated protesters to feel as though the explanation for their defeat short changes their arguments. Indeed, this might be the case for every defeated protester (or intervenor, or agency)....more
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recently announced that it will hold a series of public hearings examining whether changes in the economy, evolving business practices, new technologies or international developments might...more
This Week: House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee Holds Hearing on Legislation to Strengthen Medicaid Program Integrity and Fraud Controls... Bipartisan Senate Bill Introduced to Stop Anti-Competitive “Pay-For-Delay”...more