Tag Archives: GAO bid protests

GAO: No Set-Aside Challenge After Proposal Due Date

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A prospective contractor has the right to file a GAO bid protest challenging an agency’s refusal to set aside a solicitation for small businesses–but only if the protest is filed before the proposal deadline.

In a recent protest decision, the GAO applied the longstanding rule that “alleged improprieties in a solicitation that are apparent prior to the closing time for receipt of initial proposals be filed before that time,” and held that an agency’s failure to issue a set-aside is an “alleged impropriety” to which the timeliness rule applies.

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GAO: Email Filings Must Timely Arrive At Official Address

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When bid protest document is emailed to the GAO, the document must timely arrive at the GAO’s official protest email address (protests@gao.gov), or the document is not timely filed.

As one protester recently learned the hard way, a GAO protest filing cannot be accomplished by emailing a protest document to any other email address–including the individual “gao.gov” email address of the GAO attorney handling the protest.

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GAO Task Order Jurisdiction: No Exception For “Bridge” Order

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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.

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NAICS Codes & SAM: Listing Solicitation’s Code Not Required

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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.

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GAO: Subcontracting Plan Requirement Applies Broadly

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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.

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Joint Ventures And GAO Protests: Protester Must Have “Standing”

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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.

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Thank You, Veterans!

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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.