The following is an installment in Crowell & Moring’s Bid Protest Sustain of the Month Series.  In this series, Crowell’s Government Contracts Group 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 the protester’s decisive victory in Enviremedial Services, Inc., a case in which Crowell successfully represented the protester in challenging both the past performance evaluation and the best value determination.Continue Reading August 2025 Bid Protest Sustain of the Month: GAO Sustains Protest of Past Performance Evaluation and Best Value Tradeoff on Multiple Grounds

GAO’s recent sustain of the protest filed by emissary LLC provides valuable lessons for potential offerors with respect to organizational conflict of interest (OCI) mitigation plans (and their impact on technical approach), as well as their descriptions of key personnel qualifications.Continue Reading Recent GAO Sustain Includes Valuable Lessons on Proposal Preparation and More

Earlier this year, we highlighted a notable Court of Federal Claims (CFC) decision recognizing that an energy savings performance contract (ESPC) contractor may be able to recover proposal preparation costs under the CFC’s bid protest jurisdiction. Now, in Siemens Government Technologies, Inc. v. United States, another CFC decision has reaches a similar conclusion and goes even further — also highlighting the potential to recover under the Court’s Contract Disputes Act (CDA) jurisdiction.  Continue Reading Court of Federal Claims Recognizes Additional Potential Recovery Opportunities under Energy Savings Performance Contracts

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 the Court of Federal Claims’ decision in CAN Softtech, Inc. v. United States, which partially sustained a protester’s challenge to an agency’s corrective action.Continue Reading July 2025 Bid Protest Sustain of the Month: COFC Decision Demonstrates Continued Viability of Corrective Action Challenges

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 DirectViz Solutions, LLC, B-423366, June 11, 2025, which sustained a protester’s organizational conflict of interest (OCI) arguments.Continue Reading June 2025 Bid Protest Sustain of the Month: Impaired Objectivity OCI Allegations Find Success at GAO

The deadlines for filing a GAO protest are short and strictly enforced.  In post-award protests, the general rule is that a company must file its protest within ten days of when the protester knows, or should have known, of its basis of protest.  However, GAO’s regulations provide an exception to this rule for “protests challenging a procurement conducted on the basis of competitive proposals under which a debriefing is requested and, when requested, is required”—in such a situation, “[the] protest shall not be filed before the debriefing date offered to the protester, but shall be filed not later than 10 days after the date on which the debriefing is held.”  4 CFR §21.2(a)(2).Continue Reading GAO Moves the Goalposts: New Post-Debriefing Timeliness Trap for Protesters