A recent U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) decision dismissing three pre-award protests as untimely highlights an important procedural trap for would-be protesters. In Oready, LLC, GAO dismissed three protests filed one business day too late, even though they were submitted prior to the solicitation closing date and time.
Continue Reading Timing Is Everything: GAO Dismisses Three Protests Filed Before the Solicitation Deadline but After GAO’s Daily Cutoff Time
The following is an installment in Crowell & Moring’s Bid Protest Sustain of the Month Series. In this series, Crowell’s Government Contracts Practice keeps you up to date with a summary of one of the most notable bid protest decisions each month. Below, Crowell Consultant (and former GAO Bid Protest Hearing Officer) Cherie Owen discusses GAO’s May 2026 decision in Mission Analytics, LLC—Recon., where a protest filing that missed GAO’s deadline by just 50 seconds set off a chain of procedural missteps that ultimately produced five dismissals across a single procurement, and offers some of the most practical filing guidance GAO has put to paper in recent memory.
Continue Reading May 2026 Bid Protest Sustain of the Month: In a Sustain-less Month, a Masterclass in How Not to Protest
The following ’is an installment in Crowell & Moring’s Bid Protest Sustain of the Month Series. In this series, Crowell’s Government Contracts Practice keeps 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 GAO’s April 2026 sustain decision in Owl International Inc., d/b/a Global, a 1st Flagship Company, where the Navy’s mid-procurement course correction created a new problem – one GAO was unwilling to overlook.
Continue Reading April 2026 Bid Protest Sustain of the Month: You Can’t Change the Game Without Letting the Players Adjust
On May 14, 2026, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit issued a stark warning to government contractors: when a bid protest is filed involving your contract, failing to timely intervene can cost you the ability to defend your award. In Global K9 Protection Group, LLC v. United States, the Federal Circuit upheld the denial of K2 Solutions, Inc.’s motion to intervene, finding that K2 had waited too long to act despite having sufficient reason to do so.
Continue Reading Don’t Get Left in the Doghouse: The Federal Circuit’s Global K9 Case and the Duty to Intervene
The following is an installment in Crowell & Moring’s Bid Protest Sustain of the Month Series. In this series, Crowell’s Government Contracts Practice keeps 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 GAO’s only sustain decision of March 2026, N&S Property Services, LLC, where an agency’s technical evaluation repeatedly penalized a protester for doing precisely what the solicitation required.
Continue Reading March 2026 Bid Protest Sustain of the Month: Under the Heat of GAO Review, ICE’s Evaluation Reasoning Melts Away
In a significant decision for government contractors, on April 15, 2026, in Life Science Logistics, LLC v. United States, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit held that bid protesters challenging an agency’s override of an automatic stay of contract performance under the Competition in Contracting Act (CICA) need not satisfy the demanding four-factor test traditionally required for preliminary injunctive relief. In so doing, the Federal Circuit clarified that CICA stay override challenges need only demonstrate that the override decision was arbitrary and capricious—nothing more.
Continue Reading Federal Circuit Holds Challengers to CICA Stay Overrides Need Not Satisfy Four-Factor Injunctive Relief Test
The following is an installment in Crowell & Moring’s Bid Protest Sustain of the Month Series. In this series, Crowell’s Government Contracts Practice keeps 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 GAO’s decision in Morrish-Wallace Construction d/b/a Ryba Marine Construction Co., where a company’s failure to acknowledge a solicitation amendment proved fatal to its bid.
Continue Reading February 2026 Bid Protest Sustain of the Month: GAO Finds Failure to Acknowledge IFB Amendment Was Fatal
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 GAO’s first sustain decision of 2026, which included an important discussion of unequal treatment.
Continue Reading January 2026 Bid Protest Sustain of the Month: GAO Sustains Protest on Multiple Grounds Highlighting Unequal Treatment of Offerors
Last week, the Federal Circuit heard oral argument in Global K9 Protection Group, LLC v. United States, a bid protest appeal concerning, in part, whether an awardee who chose not to intervene at the outset of the protest should have been allowed to do so after its award was enjoined.
Continue Reading Worried Three’s a Crowd? Decline Intervention at Your Own Peril
GAO’s recent decision in Think Tank, Inc., serves as a critical warning for contractors and their counsel regarding the unforgiving nature of GAO filing deadlines. The decision highlights the potentially fatal consequence of missing even a minute on GAO’s filing calendar.
Continue Reading Protester Files Comments Minutes Late, Resulting in Complete Dismissal of its Protest