OCI mitigation plans are one of the most common ways for contractors to address any actual, potential or apparent organizational conflicts of interest that could arise if the contractor won the award. For busy contractors, it’s tempting to simply cobble together a generic OCI mitigation plan, perhaps borrowing liberally from whatever questionable websites pop up in a Google search. But as one contractor discovered in a GAO bid protest decision, an insufficient OCI mitigation plan can lead to very bad results.
Category Archives: GAO Bid Protests
GAO bid protest decisions, commentary on GAO bid protest regulations, and related topics.
Army Rejects Large Prime’s Proposal For Failing to Commit to Small Business Subcontracting
For small government subcontractors, here’s some good news from the U.S. Army. In a recent GAO bid protest decision, the Army eliminated a proposal from consideration because the prime contractor appeared to ignore the small business subcontracting requirement—and the GAO denied the prime’s GAO bid protest.
GAO Bid Protests: Email Filings Must Use Correct Address
If there’s anything worse than losing a GAO bid protest, it’s losing a GAO protest on a technicality.
One of the many conveniences GAO offers protesters is the ability to file protest-related documents by email. But protesters must timely file their documents at the email address provided under the GAO’s regulations—protests@gao.gov–or their filings will be disregarded. As one protester learned the hard way, even emailing the document to the individual email address of the GAO attorney deciding the protest isn’t a substitute for using protests@gao.gov.
Large Contractor Downgraded for Inadequate Subcontracting Plan
Many contractors, large and small, will tell you that the government is taking its small business obligations seriously these days. The renewed emphasis on small business can be seen not only at the prime contracting level, where we are finally getting close to the 23% government-wide goal, but also at the subcontracting level.
Contracting agencies are closely scrutinizing large businesses’ subcontracting plans for small and disadvantaged businesses. Case in point: the agency evaluation in L-3 STRATIS, B-404865 (June 8, 2011).
GAO: Oral Advice Doesn’t Alter Solicitation Terms
In negotiated procurements, contractors sometimes enter into discussions with agency representatives. But contractors must understand that oral discussions don’t trump a solicitation’s terms. If a government solicitation includes clear and specific requirements, the agency’s subsequent oral advice to the contrary doesn’t waive or alter the solicitation–a rule confirmed, to one contractor’s detriment, in a recent GAO bid protest decision.
Emailing Your Proposal? Don’t Wait Until The Last Minute
I hate waiting until the last minute to do things. My wife knows that we need to get to the airport with plenty of time to spare before our flight takes off, or I start getting stressed. When I have a filing deadline, I tend to submit my documents well in advance. Sometimes, I have to wait for a client’s sign-off on a final draft, or a last tweak to an exhibit, as the minutes to the deadline tick away. When that happens, people who know me well can see my blood pressure begin to slowly rise.
My way of doing things isn’t everyone’s. For folks who “work best under pressure,” as they say, working right up until a deadline is par for the course. But as one recent GAO bid protest decision highlights, emailing a proposal to a procuring agency at the last minute can be dicey because electronic deliveries are not necessarily instantaneous. Filing shortly before the deadline closes, even by email, may result in a late proposal.
Proposal Submission: Check Agency Security Requirements
During my first summer in Washington, D.C. many years ago, I spent a hot, sticky Fourth of July on the National Mall, eating picnic food and watching the fireworks. I’m sure a few security personnel were around, but I took no notice of them. Flash forward to another Fourth on the Mall—this one post-9/11. On that Fourth, everyone entering the Mall had to pass through security before celebrating America’s birth. I remember mixed emotions—I was glad that the government was focusing on public safety, but frustrated about standing in a long security line just to reach the Mall.
Security is a reality of life these days, especially when dealing with the government. That’s why if you plan to hand-deliver a proposal to a procuring agency, be sure to check the agency’s security requirements well in advance of your planned delivery time, or the proposal could be rejected as late. One contractor learned this lesson the hard way, as described in the GAO’s bid protest decision in B&S Transport, Inc., B-404648.3 (Apr. 8, 2011).