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
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
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
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
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
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
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 light of the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) recent efforts to reduce the number of federal government contracts and purportedly streamline the procurement process, it has never been more critical for federal...more
Protest of: TISTA Science and Technology Corporation - B-422891.2; .3; .4 - TISTA challenged the issuance of a task order by the National Institutes of Health to Tantus Technologies, alleging the agency engaged in...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
In 2024, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, the U.S. Court of Federal Claims and the U.S. Government Accountability Office issued five noteworthy bid protest decisions: - Percipient.ai Inc. v. U.S. - Oak...more
The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) 2024 Annual Report (Report) on bid protests provides a comprehensive overview of the trends, statistics and key issues in government procurement challenges over fiscal year (FY)...more
Claims Updates - Associated Energy Group, LLC v. The United States and Kropp Holdings, Inc., No. 23-20 47 (July 2, 2024) - Associated Energy Group, LLC (AEG) challenged the award by Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) for a...more
Federal Circuit Docket - Percipient.ai, Inc. v. United States, Fed. Cir. No. 2023-1970 (Jun. 7, 2024) - In a highly anticipated bid protest opinion, a divided merits panel of Federal Circuit judges reversed the Court of...more
Claims Updates - Yerington Paiute Tribe v. Department of the Interior, CBCA 7818-ISDA (February 1, 2024) The Civilian Board of Contract Appeals affirmed that the Contract Dispute Act’s (CDA) 90-day timeliness deadline...more
Claims Updates - Avue Technologies Corp. v. Department of Health & Human Services, No. 2022-1784 Fed. Cir. (March 6, 2024) The Federal Circuit issued its much-anticipated decision in a case that presented the question...more
In 2023, the U.S. Court of Federal Claims and the U.S. Government Accountability Office issued five bid protest decisions worthy of note: This article provides summaries and discusses how these cases might shape future bid...more