Bid Protest

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Photo of Amy Laderberg O'SullivanPhoto of Issac Schabes

In its first published bid protest sustain decision of the new year, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) highlights agencies’ obligation to adequately document a substantive analysis of proposals against the solicitation requirements, even in FAR Part 16.5 procurements.  In SierTeK-Peerless JV LLC, B-422085, B-422085.2, Jan. 2, 2024, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) conducted a task order competition for property management support services among OASIS 8(a) pool 1 contract holders.  The solicitation required TSA to assess the size and scope of offerors’ prior experience as compared to the solicited task order requirements.  SierTeK-Peerless, the unsuccessful offeror, challenged TSA’s award to Strativia, arguing in a supplemental protest that the agency’s evaluation of the awardee’s prior experience was flawed because TSA failed to reasonably assess the similarity of Strativia’s prior experience. Continue Reading GAO’s First Sustain of 2024 Emphasizes the Need for Documented Analysis of Offerors’ Proposals Against Solicitation Requirements

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Subject to limited exceptions, GAO’s bid protest jurisdiction over Department of Defense (DoD) awards of task orders under multiple-award contracts is limited to those “valued in excess” of $25 million.  While that seems straightforward enough, GAO’s recent decision in ELS, Inc., B 421989, B 421989.2, Dec. 21, 2023, highlights the complexities that can arise in calculating a task order’s value.Continue Reading When Determining Task Order Value for GAO Protest Jurisdiction, Look to What the Task Order Says, Not What the Agency May Do 

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The following is the final installment in Crowell & Moring’s 2023 Bid Protest Sustain of the Month Series.  All through 2023, Crowell’s Government Contracts Practice kept you up to date with a summary of the most notable bid protest sustain decision each month.  Below, we cap off 2023 with an excellent GAO decision that provides guidance about the standards an agency must satisfy when conducting procurements under FAR subpart 8.4 and an in-depth discussion of interested party status for companies that are graduating from small business programs.Continue Reading December Bid Protest Sustain of the Month

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The following is an installment in Crowell & Moring’s 2023 Bid Protest Sustain of the Month Series.  All through 2023, 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 Partner Cherie Owen discusses RELX Inc., B-421597.2, Nov. 17, 2023, in which GAO considered an agency’s issuance of a brand-name-or-equal task order.Continue Reading November Bid Protest Sustain of the Month

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Crowell & Moring’s “All Things Protest” podcast keeps you up to date on major trends in bid protest litigation, key developments in high-profile cases, and best practices in state and federal procurement. In this episode, host Christian Curran highlights a recent GAO decision with analysis on key personnel and discussions issues.

Listen: Crowell.com |…

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The following is an installment in Crowell & Moring’s 2023 Bid Protest Sustain of the Month Series.  All through 2023, 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 Partner Cherie Owen discusses several protest decisions issued in October that provide helpful insights about the GAO protest process.Continue Reading October Bid Protest Sustain of the Month

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On October 26, 2023, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) released its Annual Report on Bid Protests for Fiscal Year 2023.

The total number of protests filed and the number of protests sustained by GAO increased significantly compared to Fiscal Year 2022—and GAO’s “Sustain Rate” jumped to 31%.  GAO downplayed these increases to a degree, highlighting that it received “an unusually high number of protests challenging a single procurement”—the Department of Health and Human Services’ award of Chief Information Officer-Solutions and Partners 4 (CIO-SP4) government-wide acquisition contracts—which resulted in over 100 sustained protests.  Nonetheless, even excluding the CIO-SP4 protests, it appears that GAO’s “Effectiveness Rate” (the percentage of cases in which the protester received relief, such as voluntary corrective action or a GAO sustain) was comparable to prior years—at or near 50%.  Thus, bid protests remain an important oversight mechanism for the federal procurement system.Continue Reading GAO’s Bid Protest Sustain Rate Soars, but Is There a Catch?

The following is an installment in Crowell & Moring’s 2023 Bid Protest Sustain of the Month Series.  All through 2023, 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 Partner Cherie Owen and Senior Law Clerk Emily Golchini discuss Guidehouse, Inc., B‑421740, B-421740.2, Sept. 18, 2023, 2023 CPD ¶ 217, which provides helpful insight regarding what an agency must demonstrate to support an adequate personal conflict of interest investigation.Continue Reading September 2023 Bid Protest Sustain of the Month

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The following is an installment in Crowell & Moring’s 2023 Bid Protest Sustain of the Month Series.  All through 2023, 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 Partner Cherie Owen discusses GAO’s decision in Mandex, Inc., involving organizational conflicts of interest (OCIs).Continue Reading August 2023 Bid Protest Sustain of the Month

Photo of Peter J. EyrePhoto of Olivia LynchPhoto of M.Yuan Zhou

This week’s episode covers a new DFARS provision about Commercial Solutions Opening, a bid protest decision about timeliness, significant developments in the SBA’s 8(a) Business Development Program, and updates to the Davis-Bacon Act and Related Acts, and is hosted by Peter Eyre, Olivia Lynch, and Yuan Zhou. Crowell & Moring’s “Fastest 5 Minutes” is a…