Tag Archives: GAO bid protests

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.

GAO Bid Protests: “Sustains” Lower But “Effectiveness” Steady

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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.

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GAO Bid Protests: Gold Coast Presentation Now Available

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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.

GAO Task Order Protests: Protester’s Price Does Not Establish Jurisdiction

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The GAO’s jurisdiction over task order protests turns on whether the award price of the task order exceeds $10 million–not whether the protester’s proposed price exceeds $10 million.

In a recent bid protest decision, the GAO held that it lacked jurisdiction over a task order protest because the award price was under $10 million, even though the protester had proposed a price of approximately $11.4 million.

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Contractor Proposes Unavailable Key Employee, GAO Sustains Protest

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A contractor’s proposal to use an unavailable employee to fill a key personnel position caused the GAO to sustain a competitor’s protest.

In a recent bid protest decision, the GAO concluded that a offeror failed to satisfy a material solicitation requirement concerning key personnel where the employee included in the proposal left the offeror’s employment–and the agency knew that the employee was not available to perform the contract.

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GAO: Pre-Debriefing Bid Protest Was Premature

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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.

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GAO: Agency Reasonably Considered Subcontractor’s Experience

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Absent an express prohibition in the solicitation, the experience of a proposed subcontractor may be considered by an agency in determining whether an offeror meets the solicitation’s experience requirements.

In a recent bid protest decision, the GAO confirmed that the experience of a proposed subcontractor could be considered in an agency’s evaluation because the solicitation did not prohibit the agency from considering the subcontractor’s experience.

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