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
The Government Accountability Office’s (GAO) response to congressional inquiry regarding GAO’s bid protest function (Section 885 response), while pushing back against some proposed changes that could disincentive meritorious...more
Protest of: BrightPoint, LLC - B-423392, B-423392.2, B-423392.3 - BrightPoint raised numerous challenges to the Department of Agriculture’s evaluation and award of a task order for information technology services....more
In a recent decision highlighting the critical importance of timely proposal submissions in federal procurements, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) denied a protest by challenging the Navy’s rejection of the...more
SBA Orders Full-Scale Audit of 8(a) Program: What You Should Do to Prepare - The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) recently announced an “immediate and full-scale audit” of its 8(a) business development program. The...more
The Competition in Contracting Act (CICA) of 1984 establishes a procedure that effectively pauses performance of a federal contract award during a bid protest. If a disappointed bidder files a protest with the Government...more
In Wright Brothers Aero, Inc., B-423326.2 (July 7, 2025), Wright Brothers Aero protested the Defense Logistics Agency’s (DLA) reaffirmation of a contract award for aircraft refueling services to Premier Jet Services, arguing...more
One of the primary benefits of filing a protest with the Government Accountability Office (GAO) is that it automatically puts the awarded contracts on hold, stopping the agency from proceeding with performance. To reap the...more
In SMS Data Products Group, Inc., B-423341, et al. (May 29, 2025), SMS Data Products Group protested a task order award to Abacus Technology Corporation for intranet control support services. While the protest raised several...more
The Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) generally requires contracting officials to identify and evaluate organizational conflicts of Interest (OCIs) as early as possible in a procurement. The FAR also requires the procuring...more
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 AIX Tech, LLC, B-423417, et al., June 11, 2025, AIX Tech protested the award by the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) of a task order to Defense Solutions Group (DSG) for strategic advisory support services,...more
Timing is everything when it comes to bid protests at GAO. There is a mountain of GAO case law dismissing untimely protests. Contractors must strictly follow GAO’s regulations to avoid that fate and obtain a Competition...more
This month’s bid protest spotlight features a trifecta of decisions from the U.S. Court of Federal Claims. In MVL USA Inc. v. United States, a consolidated bid protest involving seven protesters, the Court rejected...more
Protect Small Business Opportunities: The “Rule of Two” Faces Potential Elimination - The federal government is actively trying to reduce its size and deregulate agencies across the Executive Branch. As noted in a...more
In Innovative Management & Technology Approaches, Inc., B-423190, et al., Mar. 3, 2025, IMTAS protested its exclusion from a competition run by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) after the agency rejected its proposal...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
Price realism challenges stand out as a common basis for bid protests in federal procurements. A competitor’s unrealistically low pricing may signal a lack of understanding or commitment to contract performance. Price...more
On April 29, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) denied Davenergy-VCI JV, LLC’s protest of a solicitation’s cancellation, holding that the lack of available funding is sufficient grounds to cancel. In denying the...more
In A2A Integrated Logistics, Inc., B-423433, May 20, 2025, A2A Integrated Logistics protested a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) contract award after learning that its proposal had been rejected due to a technical...more
Federal contractors need to be proactive about detecting and neutralizing or mitigating Organizational Conflicts of Interest (OCI). The FAR’s OCI provisions (currently found at FAR Subpart 9.5) promote the fairness and...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
In Davenergy-VCI JV, LLC, B-423332, April 29, 2025, Davenergy-VCI protested the cancellation by the Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) of a solicitation for architectural engineering construction management services for medical...more
In a cautionary decision that reinforces the importance of strict compliance with solicitation instructions, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently denied in part and dismissed in part a protest challenging a...more
GAO just sharpened the distinction between winning and losing protest arguments related to key project personnel. The issue turns on the question of whether the winning proposal included “material misrepresentations” – and...more