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
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
In Lockheed Martin Corporation, B-423294, May 2, 2025, Lockheed Martin protested the Air Force’s handling of potential organizational conflicts of interest (OCIs) in a procurement for Tactical Operations Center – Light...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 a cautionary decision that reinforces the importance of strict compliance with solicitation instructions, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently denied in part and dismissed in part a protest challenging a...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
In a separate post, we discuss how President Trump’s Executive Order (EO) 14240 (Mar. 20, 2025) will affect federal purchasing of information technology. EO 14240 may also change how the federal government buys billions of...more
In FI Consulting, Inc., B-423274 (April 11, 2025), FI Consulting, Inc. (FIC) protested its elimination from a procurement for U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) program support services after the agency rejected its...more
In the recent MicroTechnologies LLC and SMS Data Products Group, Inc. decisions, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) sustained protests challenging the Agency’s failure to perform the required price risk analysis under...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
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
This month’s bid protest roundup highlights one decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, addressing a proposal timely submitted but received late, and two decisions from the U.S. Government...more
On January 8, 2025, in UNICA-BPA JV, LLC, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) sustained a protester’s challenge to its elimination from the competition for failing to have an active System for Award Management...more
President Joe Biden signed into law last week the Servicemember Quality of Life Improvement and National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2025 (NDAA). ...more
On November 15, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) denied a protest from AtVentures, LLC, a mentor-protégé joint venture, who challenged its exclusion from consideration for award on the basis that it was able to use...more
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently released its 2024 Bid Protest Annual Report (Report), providing statistics on protests, cost claims, and requests for reconsideration at GAO this year. In this blog,...more
The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) on Oct. 25, 2024, issued a proposed rule aimed at increasing small business participation in multiple award contracts (MACs) by expanding the application of the Rule of Two to...more
This article is part of a monthly column that provides takeaways from recent bid protest cases. In this installment, we highlight decisions from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, the U.S. Government...more
One forum to raise a protest against the award of a contract is at the agency responsible for the procurement, pursuant to the procedures set forth in Federal Acquisition Regulation (“FAR”) 33.103. The procedures require that...more
Federal government contracts are routinely awarded to companies supplying goods and services to U.S. government agencies. According to the Government Accountability Office, in 2023, the federal government committed about $759...more
Claims Updates - Adapt Consulting, LLC v. General Services Administration, CBCA 7213, 7393 (July 22, 2024) - The Civilian Board of Contract Appeals sustained a contractor’s appeal of its termination for default for the...more
The Procurement Integrity Act (“PIA”), codified at 41 U.S.C. § 2101–2107, is intended to prevent unethical and improper competitive practices from influencing federal procurements. To achieve this end, the PIA prohibits...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
Claims Update - Peraton, Inc. v. United States, No. 23-1539 Fed. Cl. (May 10, 2024) - The Court of Federal Claims rejected the government’s motion to dismiss a contractor’s claims alleging breach of an end-user software...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
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