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The following is an installment in Crowell & Moring’s Bid Protest Sustain of the Month Series.  In this series, Crowell’s Government Contracts Practice will keep you up to date with a summary of one of the most notable bid protest sustain decisions each month.  Below, Crowell Consultant (and former GAO Bid Protest Hearing Officer) Cherie Owen discusses several protest decisions issued in May that provide helpful insights about the GAO protest process.

Continue Reading May 2025 Bid Protest Sustain of the Month: In a Sustain-less Month, a Look Back at May’s Digested Dismissal Decisions
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On June 9, 2025, the General Services Administration (GSA) Federal Acquisition Service (FAS) quietly announced that Transactional Data Reporting (TDR) would be exiting “pilot” status; under Refresh 27 to the Multiple Award Schedule (MAS), TDR will be mandatory for all eligible Special Item Numbers (SINs), effective beginning in the next sales reporting quarter after each contractor accepts the modification, with remaining SINs to be added in future refreshes.  

Continue Reading P-R-C You Later! GSA Previews Final Transition to Transactional Data Reporting for Schedule Contract Pricing
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On June 6, 2025 President Trump signed an Executive Order, Sustaining Select Efforts to Strengthen the Nation’s Cybersecurity and Amending Executive Order 13694 and Executive Order 14144 (the “Trump Cyber EO”). The Trump Cyber EO rescinds and modifies select Biden administration guidance from EO 14144 covering several cybersecurity regimes, including digital identity verification, artificial intelligence, and secure software development practices, and it amends Obama administration guidance from EO 13694 authorizing sanctions on persons involved in malicious cyber activities. We have provided a summary of significant changes made by the Trump Cyber EO below.

Continue Reading Trump Administration Cyber Executive Order Revises Prior Administrations’ Requirements
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On May 29, 2025, the Department of Labor (DOL) announced that it will begin a “phased pause in operations at contractor-operated Job Corps centers nationwide.” The pause is anticipated to occur within a month—by June 30, 2025. To effectuate this pause, DOL has suspended operations at approximately one hundred contractor-operated Job Corps centers.  DOL instructed centers to suspend program activities, transition students home, and implement other transition plans. According to DOL’s Frequently Asked Questions, the Department anticipates that  students will transition to “state and local workforce partners” including American Job Centers and the Labor Exchange system in their home state.

Continue Reading Job Corps Centers: Widespread Contract Terminations due to Agency’s “Pause”
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GAO’s recent dismissal of a protest filed by A2A Integrated Logistics, Inc. provides an important reminder regarding the strict timeliness rules that apply to bid protests. Quoters were required to electronically submit quotations and A2A experienced difficulty doing so. After contract award was announced, A2A emailed the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) stating that it had been unable to submit its quotation. Twenty days later, the VA responded, confirming that A2A’s quotation had not been received; A2A filed an agency-level protest the same day, which the VA dismissed as untimely. A2A then filed a GAO protest.

Continue Reading GAO Dismissal Emphasizes that Attempts to Resolve Concerns with Procuring Agency Do Not Extend the Time to File a Protest
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This week’s episode covers a SBA notice relating to the mentor-protégé program, an Army memo about its transformation strategy, revisions to DCSA Form 328, DOD’s Software Fast Track Initiative, and revisions to DOJ’s Corporate Enforcement and Voluntary Self-Disclosure Policy, and is hosted by Peter Eyre and Yuan Zhou. Crowell & Moring’s “Fastest 5 Minutes” is a biweekly podcast that provides a brief summary of significant government contracts legal and regulatory developments that no government contracts lawyer or executive should be without.

Click below to listen or access from one of these links:

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On May 19, 2025, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche issued a Memorandum creating the Civil Rights Fraud Initiative that will “utilize the False Claims Act to investigate and . . . pursue claims against any recipient of federal funds that knowingly violates federal civil rights laws.” According to the Memorandum, though racial discrimination has “always been illegal,” the Administration posits that “many corporations and schools continue to adhere to racist policies and preferences—albeit camouflaged with cosmetic changes that disguise their discriminatory nature.” In an effort to prevent federal funds from being used in connection with or support of these purportedly racist policies and preferences, the Initiative will wield the power of the False Claims Act, the government’s most powerful tool to fight fraud, waste, and abuse.

Continue Reading DOJ’s Civil Rights Fraud Initiative Bolsters Threat of False Claims Act Enforcement Under “Anti-DEI” Executive Order
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A recent Court of Federal Claims decision addressed a novel fact pattern involving a bid protest (seeking bid preparation costs) relating to an energy savings performance contract (ESPC) and has the potential to expand contractor recovery opportunities in both areas of law.

Continue Reading Court of Federal Claims Decision Offers Potential Recovery Opportunity for Energy Savings Performance Contracts and Task Order Bid Protests
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In a recent pre-award challenge to the terms of a solicitation, a small business contractor challenged the terms of an Air Force solicitation seeking a contractor to provide grounds maintenance at Joint Base Langley-Eustis (JBLE), Virginia.  Award was to be made to the lowest-priced, technically acceptable offeror.  In its protest, K&K JL Services, Inc. challenged two aspects of the RFP’s past performance instructions which: (1) required the submission of two past performance references; and (2) defined relevant size as a project with a value of at least $1 million per year.  K&K argued that these requirements were unduly restrictive of competition because they effectively exclude a number of small businesses that are capable of the work.

Continue Reading GAO Says “No Prejudice” in Challenged Past Performance Requirements Where Protester is Able to Meet Them
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On May 12, 2025, the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency (DCSA) released a new SF-328[1] consisting of 9 questions and 6 pages of instructions that detail the types of supporting documentation requested and identify information required by different responding entities (e.g., corporate, non-profit, academic, etc.). With this SF-328, DCSA is seeking certain frequently requested information and documents with initial SF-328 submissions rather than obtaining these documents through communications or revised SF-328 submissions. Additionally, when completed, the new SF-328 is considered Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI).

Continue Reading New SF-328 Released and Embedded Guidance Seeks More Information Up Front