A GAO bid protest was dismissed as premature because the protest was filed before a statutorily-required debriefing was held.
In a recent bid protest decision, the GAO determined that the protest was premature even though the required debriefing had been delayed pending the resolution of a SBA size protest.
When a contractor is declared the winner of a competition, the contractor’s bottom-line pricing is usually revealed to competitors. Typically, the winner has no complaints: it is well-understood that the bottom-line pricing of winning contractors is usually considered public information (the taxpayers have a right to know how the government is spending their money).
But what if, after announcing the supposed awardee’s price, the agency changes its mind and re-opens the competition? The price of the former “winner” is exposed, while the prices of its competitors remain a mystery. It sounds unfair, but in a recent GAO bid protest decision, the GAO refused to require the procuring agency to level the playing field.