Tag Archives: interested party

Why File: A Refresher on Challenging Solicitation Terms in a Pre-Award Protest

Posted on by

It is not uncommon for a disappointed bidder to consider filing a protest only after the agency has issued the award. While this is understandable, sometimes the basis for protesting stems from a misunderstanding of the solicitation’s terms, or that the terms felt unreasonably restrictive. However, unfortunately for the eager protester, it is by that point generally too late to challenge the terms of the solicitation.

In a previous blog, Why File: A GAO Pre-Award Protest, we provided an overview of different reasons to file a pre-award protest. As noted there, the most common basis for a pre-award protest is a challenge to the solicitation terms.

Continue reading →

Back to Basics: Interested Parties

Posted on by

Imagine you’ve submitted a bid for a procurement that you believe your company is a shoo-in for. Nobody comes close to the experience and skills your company brings to the table. A while later, you learn that the new company down the street was awarded the contract. There clearly must be a mistake. The awardee doesn’t have half the experience your company has in this industry. Feeling wronged, you decide to file a bid protest questioning the award at the Government Accountability Office (GAO).

Your lawyer informs you that a bid protest may be dismissed if the protester doesn’t qualify as an interested party. But you were an actual bidder who should have been awarded the contract. Of course you’re an interested party—right?

Continue reading →

Rezoning (Part 2): Updates to the HUBZone Program

Posted on by

Very recently, we went through some more of the potential changes to the HUBZone Program from SBA’s proposed rule from August 23, 2024. In this post, we will look at the remaining proposed changes. SBA’s proposed rule would change HUBZone protests appeals, principal office requirements (which we did discuss a bit before here), HUBZone map concepts, and the HUBZone price evaluation preference (PEP).

Continue reading →

GAO: Protestors Must Show Intervening Offerors Would Not be in Line for Award to be Interested Party

Posted on by

In order to have a bid protest sustained, a protestor must have a reasonable chance of being awarded the contract if the protest succeeded. Often, this just means that the protestor’s own proposal must be acceptable to the awarding agency in the first place. What many contractors do not know, however, is that if intervening offerors would be in line for the award even if the protest was sustained, the protestor will not be considered an interested party by the GAO.

Continue reading →

Late Quotation? No Protest: Protester who Submitted Quotation Late is Not Interested Party, per GAO

Posted on by

You submit a quotation after the given solicitation deadline. The solicitation includes a provision stating, in part, that late submissions will not be considered, but the Contracting Officer (CO) evaluates your quotation anyway. The CO goes with another contractor, and you submit a protest. After all, the CO evaluated your bid, you have an interest in the matter, right?

Per the GAO, you don’t, and your protest will be dismissed. D B Systems (DBS) learned this the hard way.

Continue reading →

Despite Your Interest in a Protest, GAO Might Not Think You’re an “Interested Party”

Posted on by

Let’s suppose that you just received a new solicitation hot off the press. As you peruse it, you find a requirement that you believe is too onerous or unnecessary. So you contemplate filing a GAO protest to challenge that term.

Before doing so, be sure that you’re an “interested party” under GAO’s regulations. Well, I filed a protest, you say, doesn’t that make me an interested party? Short answer: no.

Continue reading →