Bid Protest

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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 GAO’s decision in Anika Sys., Inc., B-422681.5, B-422681.6, Apr. 8, 2025, which found a technical evaluation unreasonable where it showed evidence of disparate treatment and imposed an unstated requirement for solutions to be “innovative and creative.”Continue Reading April 2025 Bid Protest Sustain of the Month: Protester Finds Success Challenging its Technical Evaluation

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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 Cherie Owen discusses GAO’s decision in Perimeter …

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Most protests involve competitive procurements and the many rules governing how agencies are to conduct such procurements. In certain circumstances, agencies are permitted to bypass some of these rules and limit competition. But, as GAO noted in a recently issued sustain decision, the authority to use noncompetitive procedures does not provide the agency carte blanche.Continue Reading GAO Finds Authority to Use Noncompetitive Procedures Is Not Carte Blanche

Photo of Cherie Owen

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 the most notable bid protest sustain decision each month.  Below, Crowell Consultant Cherie Owen discusses GAO’s decision in Metris LLC, in which GAO sustained a protest challenging agency corrective action.Continue Reading February 2025 Bid Protest Sustain of the Month: A Successful Corrective Action Challenge

Photo of Cherie Owen

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 the most notable bid protest sustain decision each month.  Below, Crowell Consultant Cherie Owen discusses The Mission Essential Group, LLC, B-422698.2, Jan. 8, 2025, 2025 CPD ¶ 23, which provides useful insight into the possibility of challenging the evaluation scheme identified in a solicitation.Continue Reading January 2025 Bid Protest Sustain of the Month: Successfully Challenging an LPTA Evaluation Scheme

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In MVL USA, Inc. et al. v. United States, the United States Court of Federal Claims (“COFC”) held that the provisions of FAR 22.505, 52.222-33 and 52.222-34 (collectively, the “PLA mandate”), which required the use of project labor agreements (“PLAs”) on large-scale federal construction projects valued above or at a certain threshold, violated the Competition in Contracting Act (“CICA”). As we previously reported here, former-President Biden issued Executive Order 14063 in February 2022, instructing federal agencies to require construction contractors and subcontractors on projects valued at $35 million or more to “agree, for that project, to negotiate or become a party to” a PLA. A few months later, the FAR Council promulgated a final rule implementing the executive order in FAR 22.505, 52.222-33 and 52.222-34. Continue Reading COFC Holds That Federal PLA Mandate Is Unlawful; Reinterprets Blue and Gold Waiver Rule

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GAO’s recent dismissal of the protest filed by Worrell Contracting Company highlights several important lessons for government contractors.  Worrell Contracting Company, Inc., B‑423208, Jan. 22, 2025, involved a procurement conducted by the Department of Veterans Affairs.  The agency had set the proposal submission date as 8:00 a.m. Eastern Time on September 27.  However, approximately 8 hours before the proposal submission deadline—at 11:39 p.m. on September 26, the agency issued an amendment that was posted to SAM.gov.  The amendment provided a revised price schedule and also extended the proposal submission due date to September 30.  Worrell apparently did not notice the SAM.gov posting and proceeded to submit its proposal by the initial September 27 due date.  Worrell’s submission failed to acknowledge the amendment, as required by the solicitation.  The VA eliminated Worrell’s proposal and made award to another offeror.  Worrell protested its elimination on December 2—more than a month after the proposal due date had passed—primarily arguing that the award was improper “because the late posting of the amendment caused an unfair disadvantage and impacted the fairness of the procurement process.”  Worrell further argued that “the timing of the amendment did not allow for proper or effective notice to all offerors, which is violation of fair competition principles and section 15.203 of the FAR.” Continue Reading Dismissal of Protest Reminds Contractors that Solicitation Flaws Must Be Protested Before the Proposal Due Date

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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 the most notable bid protest sustain decision each month.  Below, Crowell Consultant Cherie Owen discusses Spatial Front, Inc., B-422058.4, B-422058.5, Dec. 6, 2024, 2024 CPD ¶ 30, in which GAO sustained a protest where the agency awarded a contract under the Federal Supply Schedule (FSS) but the required services were outside the scope of the awardee’s FSS contract.Continue Reading December 2024 Bid Protest Sustain of the Month: Protester’s Persistence Pays Off

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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 the most notable bid protest sustain decision each month.  Below, Crowell Consultant Cherie Owen discusses DecisionPoint Corporation- fka Emesec Inc., in which GAO sustained a protest where the agency failed to consider the impact of a recent corporate transaction on an offeror’s pending proposal.Continue Reading November 2024 Bid Protest Sustain of the Month: GAO Reminds Agencies that They Must Consider the Impact of a Corporate Transaction When Evaluating Proposals

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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 the most notable bid protest sustain decision each month.  Below, Crowell Consultant Cherie Owen discusses Hometown Veterans Medical, LLC, B-422751…