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
5/28/2025
/ Bid Protests ,
Compensation ,
Contract Disputes ,
Contract Terms ,
Department of Defense (DOD) ,
Employees ,
Employment Contract ,
Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) ,
Federal Contractors ,
GAO ,
Government Agencies
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
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
The general rule (FAR 14.404-1(a)) is that – once a solicitation is put out for bid – the agency must award the contract to the responsible bidder with the lowest responsive bid.
However, as is usually the case, there are...more
The CDA has a reputation as a “catchall” for disputes between federal contractors and the government – and to a certain extent that reputation makes a lot of sense. As I’ve been covering in this series, contractors can...more
Contractors filed 2,071 bid protests at GAO in 2019– the lowest number in five years.
One possible cause for the decline is the Department of Defense’s enhanced debriefing procedures. Enhanced debriefings mean that...more
Organizational conflicts of interest (or “OCI”) generally exist when one party has access to nonpublic information as part of its performance on a government contract.
OCI — or even the appearance of OCI — can be a...more
Responding to agency Requests for Proposals (RFP) is an exercise in playing follow-the-leader. Contractors should take care to :
•Read the RFP
•Understand the information requested by the agency; and
•Provide that...more
Best Value and Lowest Price Technically Acceptable (LPTA) procurements trigger very different bidding obligations for contractors.
As I’ve detailed in this space before, Best Value procurements place limited importance on...more
Bid protests at the Government Accountability Office (GAO) have spawned a distinct area of the law. With multiple evaluation schemes to consider, there are an ever-growing number of strategies for disappointed offerors to...more
As I’ve covered here before, low-priced, technically acceptable procurements (LPTA) shine a light on a contractor’s ability to provide the required services at the lowest possible cost to the government. Leave your style...more
Federal procurements often include a competitive range of offerors seeking the contract award. The Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) competitive range procedure offers the agency an incremental stage in the competition...more
In today’s Federal marketplace, it is very common to see solicitations that give the Agency the option of entering into discussions with offerors. The primary objective of discussions is to maximize competition and, in turn,...more
Two pieces of advice I often provide to government contractors are:-
1.When responding to a solicitation, give the government precisely what it asks for – right down to the letter. This includes providing the information...more
It seems that when we discuss GAO bid protests, we most often refer to the post-award variety. Your company lost a contract award due to a procurement error by the agency (like the failure to adhere to the RFP requirements...more
Every government contractor that begins performance on a new engagement has the same basic goal – superior performance that bolsters the company’s bottom line and garners excellent past performance ratings from the...more
The most common basis to establish timeliness for a Government Accountability Office (GAO) bid protest is found in Section 21.2 of the GAO’s regulations. Under the regulation, the protester must file the protest “not later...more
In a recent post, I discussed new legislation that could signal an uptick in Best Value procurements for complex service-based contracts. In the view of many (including me), more Best Value RFPs is a win/win for both...more
Government contractors usually find themselves appearing before the Government Accountability Office (GAO) on a bid protest for one of two reasons: (1) you believe that the government erroneously did not award a contract to...more
We often discuss the need for government contractors to Read and React when responding to a proposal: (1) Read the RFP and understand all of the requirements and limitations and (2) React to the RFP’s evaluation scheme by...more
Government contractors know the odds on GAO bid protests – are they are not all that good. Even with a noticeable uptick, the statistics reveal that less than 1/4 (about 23%) of all bid protests were sustained in FY 16. ...more
This is not a unique story – but there is still a lesson for Federal contractors to learn.
A recent GAO decision considered an electronic proposal submitted by email just prior to the 4:00 p.m. deadline. Although the...more