Losing an award can be quite tough, especially when you are the incumbent on the preceding related contract. Often, a salve for an incumbent contractor’s pain can be a bid protest which may result in a bridge contract to that incumbent for the period of the protest. This actually was a fairly common practice for many years in federal contracting. Consequently, many contractors have interpreted such an incumbent bridge contract as a requirement, not simply a course of dealing. However, the United States Court of Federal Claims has highlighted the harsh reality that the incumbent is absolutely not guaranteed a bridge contract after a bid protest, and the agency may take other actions with the named awardee without violating the stay’s requirements.
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2025 GAO Bid Protest Report: Numbers Down, Effectiveness Still Even Odds–COFC Shows Increase in Bid Protests
In just a few days the ball will drop on 2025 and we will officially usher in the new year. It’s always a good time for reflecting on the past year and what lies ahead for the new year. And that same sort of review is important when thinking about federal contract bid protests. With that in mind, we are going to take a look at the GAO’s Bid Protest Annual Report. This report is GAO’s summary of bid protests for the previous fiscal year. It contains some important insights for how GAO bid protest numbers have changed from prior years. But as our readers know, many bid protests are filed at the Court of Federal Claims, so this is only one part of the overall bid protest picture.
Here are some key points from this year:
- The key effectiveness metric, showing numbers of sustains and corrective actions at GAO, was similar to prior years, and exactly the same as 2024, at 52% for the 2025 fiscal year.
- Total bid protest numbers were down for the second year in a row, coming in at 1688 new cases filed (a 6% decrease from the prior fiscal year).
Below, we dive into the GAO numbers while comparing to the data we have on COFC protests.
Continue readingGovology Webinar: Avoiding Common Bid Protest Mistakes, September 11, 2025
Bid protests are an unavoidable part of federal contracting—and they seem to be happening more often as competition grows. What many contractors don’t realize is that the outcome of a protest is often determined before it’s even filed. Understanding the rules, timelines, and procedures is critical to protecting your company’s chances.
In this focused course, federal government contracting attorneys John Holtz and Gregory Weber will break down the most common mistakes contractors make during the protest process—and how to avoid them.
Key topics include:
- The difference between bid protests and size/status protests
- What pre-bid protests are and why they matter
- Critical deadlines and how debriefs affect them
- How to get the most from a debrief
- Frequent pitfalls that can hurt the protest success
Please join us for this informative Govology webinar by registering here.
GAO Report Discusses Potential Reforms for Fee Shifting and Enhanced Pleading Standards in Protests
It’s no secret to anyone that the landscape of federal government contracting has been rapidly changing in recent years. For instance, there have been concerns that mentor-protégé joint ventures under the SBA’s Mentor-Protégé Program have been too successful. More recently, changes have been made to small business contracting goals to reduce the agency level requirements for small disadvantaged business (including 8(a) Program) prime contracts. Today, based on a recent GAO report, we are going to take a look at the current state of GAO bid protests which, if you didn’t know, have been around for nearly a century!
Continue readingGAO Pushes Back on 2025 NDAA’s Fee Shifting Suggestion
Diving into the National Defense Authorization Act (“NDAA”) has become something of an annual tradition in federal contracting. There seem to always be some sections that impact federal contracting, pushing for changes in processes or procurements. Part of 2025’s NDAA suggests fee shifting when there is a GAO protest of a Department of Defense (“DoD”) procurement. Basically, the 2025 NDAA suggested that if a bid protest of a DoD procurement is unsuccessful, the protester would be required to pay certain costs. Unsurprisingly, the GAO emphatically objected to this proposed change to its bid protest process.
Continue readingTiming is Everything: GAO Dismisses Post-Bid Protest of Solicitation Terms as Untimely
It is safe to say that every federal contractor, at one time or another, has felt the terms of a solicitation were unfair or otherwise didn’t make sense. Federal agencies are comprised of people, and people make mistakes. Sometimes, then, mistakes make it into the solicitation. Unfair or erroneous terms in a solicitation are a valid grounds for a protest, but it is crucial to know when such a protest is timely. In most cases, if the time for bids has passed, any protest of the terms of the solicitation, be it at GAO or the Court of Federal Claims, will be untimely. There are rare exceptions, but, in general, a protest of terms of the solicitation must be brought before bids are due to be timely. Untimeliness equals dismissal. In this post, we will explore a protest GAO dismissed for this very reason.
Continue readingFAR 52.222-46 Again? GAO Sustains Protest that Agency Price Evaluation was Unreasonable
Agencies get a lot of discretion when it comes to evaluating proposals. We’ve explored several different cases where GAO affirmed this principle. However, this principle is not absolute. Contrary to what some might think, there are limits on an agency’s discretion when it comes to how it evaluates proposals. Recently, the Air Force was reminded of this fact in a GAO protest concerning a price evaluation. We explore that decision here.
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