The GAO will not reconsider a bid protest that has been litigated in the Court of Federal Claims and affirmed by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
In a recent bid protest decision, the GAO dismissed a protest challenging the Department of Labor’s decision to set aside two solicitations for small businesses, because the federal courts had already ruled that the set-asides were appropriate.
To regular SmallGovCon readers this may seem obvious, but protesters keep doing it, so it deserves a post.
By “it,” I mean filing small business size challenges as part of GAO bid protests. As demonstrated once again in a recent GAO bid protest decision, the GAO typically lacks jurisdiction over size challenges, which must be filed with the SBA.
Although an agency may consider the past performance of an offeror’s affiliates under certain circumstances, the extent of the agency’s past performance review is governed by the terms of the solicitation.
In a recent bid protest decision, the GAO held that an agency properly refused to consider the past performance of the offeror’s parent company because the solicitation restricted the scope of the agency’s past performance review.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture improperly awarded a $141 million sole source contract in exchange for the contractor’s agreement to withdraw a GAO bid protest.
According to a recent GAO bid protest decision, the award violated the Competition in Contracting Act, which does not permit an agency to award a sole source contract in exchange for a contractor’s promise to terminate litigation against the agency.
A small business set-aside procurement did not violate the FAR’s restrictions on contract bundling, according to the GAO.
In a recent bid protest decision, the GAO pointed out the bundling occurs when a procurement would be unsuitable for award to small business, and held that a set-aside procurement–by its nature–is not unsuitable for small businesses.
The GAO lacks jurisdiction to decide whether an agency improperly suspended or debarred a contractor from federal government contracting.
In a recent bid protest decision, the GAO dismissed a protest filed by a debarred contractor, holding that the protester’s underlying challenge to its debarment was a matter for resolution by the contracting agency, not the GAO.
A bid protest filing with the U.S. Government Accountability Office will be deemed to be filed on a particular day if it is filed before 5:31 p.m. Eastern Standard Time , according to a recent GAO bid protest decision.
The GAO’s decision in Government Acquisitions, Inc., B-408426, B-408426.2 (Sept. 17, 2013) clarifies that the GAO’s 5:30 p.m. deadline allows for a timely filing “until the clock reaches 5:31 p.m.” Unfortunately for my own curiosity, however, the decision does not answer the more interesting question of what on earth the protester was thinking when it filed at 35 seconds after 5:30 p.m.