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
In TYD Services, B-423648, July 30, 2025, TYD Services, the incumbent contractor, protested the Army Corps of Engineers’ decision to award a vehicle leasing contract in Qatar to a competitor, Rahman Group, Inc. TYD was...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
The Government Accountability Office’s (GAO) fiscal year 2024 report on federal bid protests includes useful insights into federal procurement trends that can help state and local government agencies mitigate bid protest...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
The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently issued its annual report to Congress on bid protests for Fiscal Year 2023....more
The Information Security Oversight Office (ISOO) released a joint notice on Oct. 5, 2023, providing clarifying guidance to agencies on facility security clearances for joint ventures in the National Industrial Security...more
Each month, Venable's Government Contracts Group publishes a summary of recent legal developments of interest to the government contractor community. Regulatory Updates - The FAR Council has proposed to amend the FAR...more
The United States Government Accountability Office ("GAO") sets a high bar for those pursuing bid protests before it. The ratio of protests sustained to protests dismissed or denied is heavily tilted toward the latter....more
Procuring agencies have wide latitude in developing requirements for their solicitations. When provisions are challenged, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (“GAO”) merely evaluates whether the agency’s justification...more
As experienced protest counsel, we know (i) that you can pick lint off of any procurement; and (ii) because of that fact, a protester alleging error in the procurement process needs to show that the error was “prejudicial.”...more
The end-of-fiscal-year spending spike has federal agencies issuing more notices of award, leaving many disappointed offerors keen to file protests. Post-award protests are subject to strict timelines, so you need a plan if...more
Given how much emphasis federal procurement law properly places on fairness, it can be easy to assume that government buyers must do everything necessary to ensure a fair procurement....more
It’s not always clear where the applicability of one law or rule should stop and the applicability of another should begin. Recently, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) decision in Becton, Dickinson and Company,...more
Our monthly bid protest Law360 spotlight will discuss a handful of interesting bid protests from the preceding month, highlighting the most noteworthy aspects of the decisions for companies competing for contracts and...more
SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION - 504 Loan Program Rural Initiative: Waiver of Limitation on Lending Authority - According to an article in amazonaws.com, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) announced the 504...more
The U.S. Government Accountability Office recently issued a decision in which it clarified the rules regarding bid protests that challenge an agency’s organizational conflict of interest waiver. As discussed below, the GAO’s...more
Our March bid protest round-up brings you disparate treatment, undocumented agency rationales, the duty of candor to courts, the unusual timeliness rules for protests of Organizational Conflicts of Interest (OCIs), and (once...more
On January 30, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued its decision denying Concurrent Technologies Corp.’s (CTC) protest of the U.S. Navy’s award of a support contract for the Navy Manufacturing Technology...more
GOVERNMENT CONTRACTS - Memorandum: Implementation of Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement Final Rule 2016-D002, Enhancing Effectiveness of Independent Research and Development On January 4, 2017, the Under...more
DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE, GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION, AND NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION - Clarification of Requirement for Justifications for 8(a) Sole Source Contracts - The Department of Defense...more
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has exhibited little interest in evaluating the basis for agency decisions to waive organizational conflicts of interest (OCI). Where protesters have challenged agency waiver...more
In two recent decisions, GAO denied protest grounds challenging the ability of contract awardees to satisfy government requirements related to cybersecurity. This posting analyzes those decisions and their implications for...more
Proposal preparation can be a difficult and expensive process. On top of the normal challenges of spending thousands of dollars preparing what a contractor hopes is a successful proposal, they also face the risk of an agency...more
The U.S. Government Accountability Office (“GAO”) recently ruled that the Defense Logistics Agency (“DLA”) properly excluded a large business prime contractor’s proposal from the competitive range based in part on the...more