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
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
As many of our readers know, the ostensible subcontractor rule is one way in which the Small Business Administration (SBA) can find affiliation between a small business and one of its subcontractors, potentially resulting in...more
On February 26, GAO denied the protest of Mission Analytics, Inc., challenging the award of a small business set-aside contract to ThunderCat Technology, LLC, explaining that “it is a firm’s responsibility to submit a...more
On February 24, Judge Armando Bonilla of the Court of Federal Claims (COFC) declined to dismiss a challenge to a $648 million award under a Missile Defense Agency (MDA) development deal, finding that the court had...more
3/3/2025
/ Bid Protests ,
COFC ,
Contract Terms ,
Court of Federal Claims ,
Defense Sector ,
Department of Defense (DOD) ,
Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) ,
Government Agencies ,
Jurisdiction ,
Procurement Guidelines ,
Regulatory Requirements
On January 21, in MVL, Inc., et al. v. United States, the U.S. Court of Federal Claims (COFC) struck down a 2022 Executive Order (EO), as well as the implementing Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), signed by then-President...more
2/12/2025
/ Bid Protests ,
Biden Administration ,
CICA ,
COFC ,
Competition ,
Construction Industry ,
Executive Orders ,
Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) ,
Federal Contractors ,
Labor Reform ,
Project Labor Agreements ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Trump Administration
Generally speaking, the U.S. procurement system allows companies competing for U.S. government contracts broad rights to challenge contract awards, as well as the terms of solicitations. There are, however, restrictions...more
2/6/2025
/ Bid Protests ,
Coast Guard ,
Competition ,
Department of Defense (DOD) ,
Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) ,
Federal Contractors ,
GAO ,
Government Agencies ,
NASA ,
Procurement Guidelines ,
Threshold Requirements
On January 8, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) sustained a pre-award bid protest filed by Bass, Berry & Sims PLC (Bass Berry), which challenged the Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers’ (FLETC or the Agency)...more
On November 13, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) sustained a protest by DecisionPoint Corporation concluding that when the Air Force determined EmeSec, a wholly owned subsidiary of DecisionPoint, was ineligible for...more
12/18/2024
/ Acquisitions ,
Bid Protests ,
Bid Solicitation ,
CMMI ,
Dispute Resolution ,
Federal Contractors ,
Federal Procurement Systems ,
GAO ,
Mergers ,
SDVOSB ,
US Air Force
We have addressed on this blog questions relating to jurisdiction at the GAO, Court of Federal Claims (CFC), and district courts to hear suits relating to awards using the government’s Other Transaction (OT) authority....more
On February 14, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) dismissed a protest by Marathon Medical Corporation, an unsuccessful bidder, concluding that its protest was untimely.
GAO reasoned that its strict timeliness...more
On December 21, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) dismissed a protest by ELS, an unsuccessful bidder on a Department of Defense (DOD) task order opportunity, concluding that it did not have jurisdiction to consider...more
On December 20, 2023, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) denied an unsuccessful bidder’s protest, arguing, among other things, that the procurement was tainted by an appearance of impropriety after the agency...more
On November 8, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) denied an unsuccessful bidder’s protest that asserted the Veteran Administration’s (VA) evaluation of Texas Waste Company’s past performance was unreasonable and...more
On November 21, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) denied an unsuccessful bidder’s protest, arguing that the terms of a solicitation were biased and that the awardee failed to comply with a mandatory solicitation...more
On October 26, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) sent its annual bid protest report to Congress, which reflected a dramatic increase in protests filed following four straight years of decline.
The report provides...more
We represented AM General (AMG), an automotive manufacturer that builds military vehicles for government customers, including the Humvee, in a successful bid protest involving a $9.7 billion contract for the U.S. Army to...more
In an opinion first publicly released on November 3, the Court of Federal Claims (COFC) took the somewhat usual, but not unheard of, step of sanctioning the government for mishandling the administrative record (AR) in a bid...more
While most federal procurements are conducted using the onerous regulations set forth in the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) and agency supplements, agencies are increasingly relying on the more flexible, but...more
In the past, we have cautioned readers about the potential impact of transactions on pending awards, particularly on the ability of a contractor to protest. A recent decision from the Court of Federal Claims (COFC) shows that...more
As we previously discussed in a 2019 blog post, since 2018 Bass, Berry & Sims Government Contracts and Litigation attorneys have successfully defended B&O JV in a host of challenges to an 8(a) small business set-aside award...more
After a successful challenge last year to the award of a service-disabled veteran-owned small business (SDVOSB) set aside task order for technology service desk operations by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP or the...more
By failing to object to solicitation terms before the close of bidding, a protester typically waives those objections in a post-award bid before the Court of Federal Claims (COFC). An exception exists, however, where a...more
The government fiscal year runs from October 1 to September 30, and at the end of each fiscal year federal agencies rush to award contracts and commit funding before that funding expires. As a result, our Government Contracts...more
Given the continued high volume of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) transactions in the federal marketplace, buyers and sellers need to be aware of the developing body of case law at Government Accountability Office (GAO) and...more
10/29/2019
/ Acquisitions ,
Bid Protests ,
Buyers ,
COFC ,
Due Diligence ,
Federal Contractors ,
GAO ,
Mergers ,
Risk Mitigation ,
Sellers ,
Standing