Since our last Bid Protest Hub article in November, the Government Accountability Office (“GAO”) has published 37 bid protest decisions, two of which have resulted in decisions sustaining the protester’s challenge. As we...more
Since the beginning of Fiscal Year 2024, the Government Accountability Office has published 35 decisions, but only two of which resulted in decisions sustaining the challenge. As contracting activities are busy awarding new...more
Ever wonder what it takes to win a protest?
With GAO’s statistics for Fiscal Year 2023 (“FY 23”) just released, we thought now is the perfect time to share some insights we gained by reading every published decision in...more
The origination of Other Transaction Agreements (OTAs) traces back to the October 1957 launch of Sputnik I by the Soviet Union and the subsequent Space Race. Congress created the National Aeronautics and Space Administration...more
The end of the Fiscal Year is upon us, which typically coincides with a flurry of procurement activity and then a wave of bid protests. As most of you know, there are three primary fora for bid protests: procuring agencies,...more
On March 31, the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) rescinded a Trump Administration rule that provided a faith-based carve-out exempting federal contractors from compliance with certain...more
4/4/2023
/ Anti-Discrimination Policies ,
Carve Out Provisions ,
Civil Rights Act ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Executive Orders ,
Federal Contractors ,
OFCCP ,
Religious Exemption ,
Rescission ,
Title VII ,
Trump Administration
Winning government contracts often comes down to who you have on your team. It should come as no surprise then that government agencies have placed increasing emphasis on key personnel as an evaluation factor in best value...more
On November 1, 2022, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (“GAO”) published its Annual Report to Congress, which contains the statistics for bid protests filed at GAO in Fiscal Year 2022. We have highlighted below...more
In the first two parts of this series, we have summarized what constitutes an Organizational Conflict of Interest (“OCI”) in government procurements, and discussed OCIs’ importance in the bid protest arena....more
We all know that failure to submit your bid proposal on time typically results in rejection. And the list of exceptions to this “late is late” rule is very short, providing only four notable exceptions: (1) an offeror has...more
Last month, we began our three-part series on organizational conflicts of interests (“OCIs”) with an article discussing the different types of OCIs and how they can be mitigated. Now, in Part 2 of our series, we analyze how...more
You might be wondering, “What’s so important about Organizational Conflicts of Interest (“OCIs”)?” The answer is fairly simple: understanding both what causes OCIs and how to mitigate them are critical because unmitigated...more
Federal contractors and subcontractors across the country were forced to rethink their COVID-safety efforts when, on December 7, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Georgia enjoined enforcement of Executive...more
12/9/2021
/ Biden Administration ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employer Mandates ,
Executive Orders ,
Federal Contractors ,
Federal Employees ,
Injunctions ,
Masks ,
Multidistrict Litigation ,
OSHA ,
Social Distancing ,
State and Local Government ,
Stays ,
Subcontractors ,
Vaccinations ,
Virus Testing
It is that time of year again when the U.S. Government Accountability Office (“GAO”) submits its bid protest statistics to Congress as mandated under the Competition in Contracting Act of 1984, 31 U.S.C. §3554(e)(2). On...more
On September 9, 2021, the President issued Executive Order 14042, which applies new rules – including vaccination mandates – to Federal contractors and subcontractors. EO 14042 does not include a weekly testing option and is...more
11/17/2021
/ Biden Administration ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employer Mandates ,
Executive Orders ,
Federal Contractors ,
Federal Employees ,
OSHA ,
Subcontractors ,
Vaccinations ,
Virus Testing ,
Workplace Safety
On September 9, 2021, President Biden signed an Executive Order (EO) to implement COVID safety protocols for Federal service contractors and subcontractors. While the EO did not outline specific rules, it did direct a Federal...more
10/8/2021
/ Biden Administration ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Covered Employer ,
Employees ,
Employer Mandates ,
Executive Orders ,
Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) ,
Federal Contractors ,
Federal Employees ,
General Services Administration (GSA) ,
OSHA ,
Vaccinations ,
Workplace Safety
Accepting money from the Government, whether through a contract, grant, or other transaction, does not come for free. In the commercial world, companies typically engage in a cost/benefit analysis when they make major...more
On November 13, 2013, GAO reaffirmed its view that normalization of costs is impermissible in acquisitions where offerors’ approaches are not required to be the same. In AXIS Management Group LLC, B-408575 (Nov. 13, 2013),...more