The GAO lacked jurisdiction to consider the protest of a “bridge” task order valued under $10 million, even though the original order related to the bridge exceeded the $10 million threshold.
In a recent bid protest decision, the GAO held that it had no legal basis to consider the value of the original order in determining whether it had jurisdiction to decide a protest related to a bridge order.
Contrary to a common misconception, a contractor need not list the solicitation’s NAICS code in its SAM profile in order to qualify for contract award.
In a recent bid protest decision, the GAO confirmed that the government may award a contract to a small business even if the awardee does not list the solicitation’s NAICS code in its SAM profile.
When a Contracting Officer determines that subcontracting possibilities will exist under a qualifying unrestricted contract, subcontracting plans are required from all offerors other than small businesses–including entities that do not intend to issue any subcontracts.
In a recent bid protest decision, the GAO rejected a protester’s argument that the subcontracting plan requirement is to be determined on an “offeror by offeror” basis, and held that the requirement to provide a subcontracting plan is broadly applied.
For a member of a joint venture to file a GAO bid protest on behalf of the joint venture, the member must have the authority to do so. If a JV Member’s authority to act is in question, the GAO will dismiss the protest for lack of standing.
In a recent decision, the GAO dismissed a bid protest filed by a joint venture member because the other joint venture member disputed the protester’s right to act on the joint venture’s behalf.
I am back in the Midwest after traveling to Atlanta last week for the National Veterans Small Business Engagement. This annual event was everything it was cracked up to be, featuring an incredible array of government officials, veteran-owned businesses, large prime contractors, and industry leaders.
Thank you to everyone who attended my learning session on GAO bid protests–you were a very engaged audience. Thank you, as well, to the organizers of the event, who assembled an outstanding variety of sessions and kept everything running very smoothly.
Thanks also to all of my veteran-owned clients and contacts who attended from all over the country. It was good to see so many familiar faces, and in some cases to put faces to names for the first time. And most importantly, for all the veterans who attended (and those who were unable to do so this year), thank you for your service to our country.
The GAO sustained only 13% of bid protests in Fiscal Year 2014, down from 17% in the previous fiscal year.
But although some commentators might interpret the numbers as a sign that more non-meritorious protests were filed, the “effectiveness rate” (which measures sustain decisions plus voluntary agency corrective actions) remained steady at 43%. In other words, agencies are taking corrective action more frequently in response to GAO bid protests–but when the agency doesn’t take corrective action, the protester’s odds of success may be long.
GAO bid protests were the focus of my presentation at this year’s Navy Gold Coast conference in San Diego. If you weren’t able to make it to Gold Coast in August, I have good news: the conference organizers have made all of this year’s presentations available online, free of charge.
My GAO bid protest presentation covers the GAO’s jurisdiction, who can file a protest, the timeliness rules, how the protest process works, protest outcomes, success rates, and more. To view my Gold Coast presentation on GAO bid protests, just follow this link. And don’t forget to check out the other great presentations from this year’s Gold Coast conference, too.