In a recent decision, the GAO laid down a stark reminder of its unwavering demand that offers be meticulously compliant with the instructions of a solicitation. In the decision, GAO denied a protest challenging the agency’s evaluation of a proposal as technically unacceptable where certain required proposal information was in pages that exceeded the solicitation’s page limits. The agency’s decision to ignore that information was reasonable and consistent with the solicitation’s terms.
Continue readingCategory Archives: GAO Bid Protests
GAO bid protest decisions, commentary on GAO bid protest regulations, and related topics.
SBIR Program: Agencies Have Broad Discretion Over Phase III Awards, GAO Confirms
A federal agency has broad discretion to make a sole source award under Phase III of the Small Business Innovation Research program.
In a recent bid protest decision, the GAO confirmed that an agency may make a Phase III award when the contract “derives from, extends, or completes efforts made under prior funding agreements under the SBIR program.” What’s more, an agency has “relatively limited requirements to justify a phase III award,” and considerable discretion when it comes to determining whether a new contract fits this definition.
Continue readingToo Little Too Late Taken Literally When It Comes To Agency-Level Protests
In a recent decision, GAO dismissed a protest challenging the USDA’s issuance of a lease contract as untimely where the protester’s communications with the agency did not constitute an agency-level protest, and the protest was filed more than 10 days after the notice that formed the basis of its protest was received by the protester.
Continue readingGAO Dismisses Challenge to Brief Explanation of Award
Depending on the type of procurement, an agency will often provide either a brief explanation or debriefing after an award is made. But those explanations are difficult to challenge, as a recent GAO decision confirmed.
In the decision, GAO dismissed a protester’s challenge to the sufficiency of a two-paragraph explanation. Protester failed to show competitive prejudice or regulatory deficiency in the explanation. Since the protester could not demonstrate either of these conditions resulted from the explanation, GAO dismissed these allegations.
When protesting to GAO after receiving a brief explanation, what do you need to know in order to get your foot in the door? Let’s take a look.
GAO Clarifies Increase-the-Scope Exception For Task Order Jurisdiction
GAO may only consider protests to civilian agency task or delivery orders under $10,000,000 if the protests allege that the order increases the scope, period, or maximum value of the underlying contract. GAO recently dismissed a case for lack of jurisdiction where the protester relied on the underlying contract’s ordering clause to argue that the agency’s amendment to the evaluation scheme was “out of scope.” Let’s take a look.
Continue readingGAO Confirms You Cannot Challenge Another Offeror’s Inclusion in the Competitive Range
An offeror in the competitive range cannot protest another offeror’s inclusion in the competitive range, according to GAO. In a recent decision, GAO dismissed an offeror’s protest as premature when both offerors were included in the competitive range.
After a series of protests and corrective actions, GAO recommended to include a previously excluded offeror in the competitive range for consideration. The competing offeror protested this inclusion, and GAO dismissed the protest.
Why would GAO dismiss this protest? Here is what you need to know.
Continue readingHere’s Why “The Other Guy’s Price Is Too Low” Often Fails As a GAO Bid Protest Argument
Maybe it’s happened to you: your company receives a notice of unsuccessful offeror, and your eyes pop. You can’t believe that the winner’s price is so low. “There’s no way they can successfully perform for that,” you say.
But before you file a GAO bid protest, you should carefully check the solicitation’s evaluation criteria. As one unsuccessful offeror recently learned the hard way, GAO often won’t listen to an argument that “the other guy’s price is too low.”
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