Photo of Cherie Owen

As the government emerges from its recent shutdown, federal contractors—and their counsel—must prepare for a surge in bid protest activity, especially at the Government Accountability Office (GAO) and the Court of Federal Claims (COFC). The shutdown brought the regular bid protest process to a standstill, and its reopening is set to create unprecedented backlogs and overlapping deadlines. Here’s what contractors should anticipate in the coming days and weeks.

During the shutdown, GAO ceased all operations, including those of its bid protest office. GAO’s Electronic Protest Docketing System (EPDS), which handles all protest filings, was taken offline at noon on October 1, 2025. Contractors and agency officials were greeted by a clear notice: no documents could be filed or accessed while GAO’s offices remained closed. In addition, GAO announced several special procedural rules:

  • Tolling of Protest Decision Deadlines: Any deadlines for GAO decisions on pending protests were tolled for the duration of the shutdown.
  • Extension of Filing Deadlines for New Protests: If a deadline for filing a protest fell on a day when GAO was closed, that deadline was automatically extended to the first day GAO resumed operations—much like a weekend or federal holiday.
  • Extension of Other Filing Deadlines: Any other protest-related deadline (such as submitting a supplemental protest or an agency report) was extended by one day for every day GAO was closed.

At the same time, the Court of Federal Claims technically remained open for new filings. However, most Department of Justice attorneys—who represent the government in bid protests—were furloughed. As a result, nearly all ongoing cases experienced delays, with the DOJ routinely requesting extensions until operations returned to normal.

What Contractors Should Expect Now that GAO and the Court Have Reopened

The end of the shutdown will not mean an immediate return to business as usual. Instead, government contractors should expect a hectic and crowded restart, especially at GAO:

  • GAO’s Busiest Day Ever: November 13, 2025—the first day the government reopens—is expected to set an all-time record for protest filings on EPDS.
  • Deadline Extensions for New Protests: Protests that were due during the shutdown must be filed on the first day GAO reopens.
  • Supplemental Filings Surge: While GAO has extended deadlines for supplemental protests by one day for each shutdown day, many contractors will likely file supplemental protests as soon as GAO is back online.
  • Unmanageable Filing Volume: The wave of filings is likely to overwhelm agencies, which will face a deluge of December 15, 2025 agency report deadlines for protests filed on November 13 (and November 14), as well as a flood of overlapping supplemental agency report deadlines. With so many overlapping deadlines, agencies may find it impossible to respond to every protest fully and on time, potentially leading to record-high rates of voluntary corrective action.
  • Backlogs at the Court: The Department of Justice will also contend with an influx of overlapping filings and deadlines at the Court, which may result in further delays or an increase in voluntary corrective action.
  • Delayed Decisions: Contractors should expect decisions on protests pending before the shutdown to be delayed. Under CICA, GAO is supposed to decide most protests within 100 days, but after the 2013 shutdown, GAO made clear that the statutory decision date was extended by one day for each day of closure. While GAO will try to issue decisions as close to the original deadline as possible, some decisions could be delayed by up to 43 days.

Preparing for the Post-Shutdown Bottleneck

For government contractors, the reopening presents both opportunity and challenge. Contractors need to be prepared for compressed timelines, increased agency corrective action, and potentially significant delays. Now is the time to review solicitation and award dates that overlapped with the shutdown, finalize protest filings, and anticipate longer wait times for resolution. Clear communication—and patience—will be essential as all parties navigate this historic restart to the bid protest process