What time does the day end? Most people would answer that a day ends at midnight. However, a recent GAO decision highlights that, for purposes of filing a pre-award bid protest with the GAO, the business day ends at 5:30 p.m. ET when the GAO closes its doors for the day. Confusingly, this can result in a protest that was technically filed on a Friday after 5:30 p.m. ET, not actually being filed until Monday, the next business day. A recent GAO decision explores this phenomenon and clarifies filing deadlines for pre-award bid protests challenging solicitation terms, especially in the case where an offer deadline is after GAO’s close of business. 

In Oready, LLC, B-424508 et al., (Comp. Gen. June 8, 2026), the GAO dismissed Oready’s pre-award bid protests challenging the terms of three requests for quotations as untimely because they were filed after the GAO’s office had closed for the day on which the submission of quotations were due, even though they were filed before the time for receipt of proposals. 

Each of the requests for quotation issued by the Department of the Interior, Bureau of Indian Education for commercial occupational therapist and certified occupational therapist assistant services specified that quotations were to be submitted by 5:00 p.m. MDT on May 15, 2026 (which would be 7:00 p.m. eastern time). Oready submitted its protests to the GAO on May 15, 2026, after its office had already closed at 5:30 p.m. ET. GAO explained that “the submission after [GAO’s] office had closed meant that each was filed when [GAO’s] office reopened on May 18” and that “Oready had to have filed these protests with [GAO’s] Office by 5:30 p.m. [at the local time for GAO] on May 15 for them to be timely.” 

GAO’s bid protest regulations specifically state that “a document is filed on a particular day when it is received by EPDS by 5:30 p.m., Eastern Time.” 4 C.F.R. § 21.0(g). So, if a protest is filed on Monday before 5:30 p.m. ET, it is filed on that Monday. Conversely, if a protest is filed on Monday after 5:30 p.m. ET, it is treated as if it were filed on the next business day, Tuesday. Additionally, GAO’s regulations require that “protests based upon alleged improprieties in a solicitation which are apparent prior to bid opening or the time set for receipt of initial proposals shall be filed prior to bid opening or the time set for receipt of initial proposals.” 4 C.F.R. § 21.2(a)(1). 

For example, imagine that the deadline for submitting an offer on a particular solicitation is 5:00 p.m. on a Sunday. Company X wants to file a protest based on apparent improprieties in the solicitation under 4 C.F.R. § 21.2(a)(1). If Company X were to wait to file a pre-award protest on this basis until 4 p.m. on Sunday, it would be too late. The protest, it appears based on this case, would be treated by GAO to be filed on that Monday, which is after offers were due on the preceding Sunday. For Company X’s protest to be timely submitted, it would have had to file its protest by 5:30 p.m. ET on the preceding Friday, which is GAO’s last business day before offers were due on the solicitation. 

While Oready openly admitted that its protests were untimely under 4 C.F.R. § 21.2(a)(1), it argued that it had emailed a copy of each of its protests to the contracting officer before the 5:00 p.m. MDT deadline for submitting quotations, so it had effectively filed a timely agency-level protest. Therefore, it further argued that the protests it filed with the GAO on May 18 were timely as they each constituted subsequent protests to the GAO. 

If a protestor has filed a timely agency-level protest, a subsequent protest to GAO is considered timely so long as it is filed within 10 days of protestor’s actual or constructive knowledge of initial adverse agency action. See 4 C.F.R. § 21.2(a)(3). This timeliness exception allows a protestor to file a protest with the GAO even after the time for receiving proposals has passed provided that the protestor has filed a timely agency-level protest. 

Ultimately, GAO found that Oready had not made an agency-level protest and therefore could not avail itself of the timeliness exception in 4 C.F.R. § 21.2(a)(3). There are specific elements that must be included in an agency-level protest, including that the protest makes “a request for an agency ruling” and “be addressed to the contracting officer or other official designated to receive protests.” FAR 33.103(d)(2)-(3). Here, GAO found that “none of the protests was addressed to any official at the Department of Interior or the Bureau of Indian Education specifically, and none requested a ruling from that agency.” Rather, Oready referred to the protest as “a copy of the protest filed with GAO” and the attached protest was addressed to and requested relief from GAO.  

Had Oready properly filed an agency-level protest, the timeliness exception would have applied, and the protests filed with GAO would have been timely as subsequent protests to GAO. While GAO’s regulations allow the GAO to consider an untimely protest if good cause is shown, it declined to do so under these circumstances. See 4 C.F.R. § 21.2(c). Therefore, GAO dismissed Oready’s protests as untimely. 

At first, it might not be intuitive how a protest filed one day really wasn’t technically filed until the next business day. However, this decision illustrates the importance of being mindful of timing and appropriately tracking your deadlines, especially if the office for receipt of proposals is in a different time zone than GAO, or there is a late time for receipt of proposals. If this feels overwhelming, or you need assistance with filing a protest with GAO by the proper deadline, feel free to reach out to us. 

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